Gratitude is the sense of having benefited in some way without necessarily having worked for it.
We are grateful for gifts and favours, and we don’t have to give something in return. It’s not one that quickly springs to mind when we think about emotions, but it may be important in our sense of well-being and in keeping us connected to others.
Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough did some research, starting in 2003, on gratitude. They asked a group of people to list five things each day they were grateful for, and found that those people were much happier that those who didn’t make lists. People who kept making the lists for a long time even started exercising more!
Here at Sankalpa we did our own version of the experiment, and found that keeping the list of good things helped some people to score lower on tests for depression!
Some scientists believe that gratitude helps us to form communities and relationships. When you feel grateful, you are more likely to do something nice for someone else. Then they feel grateful, and they are more likely to do something nice for someone else. Then THEY feel grateful…..well, you get the picture! Doing things for each other without asking for anything in return creates a sense of dependence in a positive way – we learn to rely on each other.
To try this out for yourself, get a small notebook and start writing! List five things each day you are grateful for. You’ll be surprised how quickly you start noticing more and more things that are making you happy.
Can something so simple really make us happier? Tell us what you think!
For further information, see http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons/ or check out “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier” by Robert Emmons.
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