RAMAKRISHNAN. S
I AI & DS
Gratitude can be defined in multiple ways. It generally means a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation that is expressed towards someone who helps you. Everyone is grateful for at least one thing in their lives. Being grateful helps us feel positive about ourselves and others. Gratitude is essential for our mental health and should be part of our daily routine.
Human beings often tend to dwell on the negatives rather than the positives. It is an inherent part of human behaviour I think. For many of us, this can even serve as a coping mechanism. This brings us nothing but hopelessness and anxiety. Being grateful fixes that. Research suggests that a grateful person cannot be depressed. It is not like we have nothing to be grateful about. Even when everything is going south one can find a hundred things to be grateful for. In his work “In Praise of Praise” Tom Crabtree suggests that everyone needs to be praised as this has a very strong impact on one’s mental well-being. If our good behaviour has gone unnoticed and we are not appreciated or thanked for our deeds we will refrain from doing it. Being a Child psychologist himself, Tom Crabtree explains how just a few words of affirmation do wonders for the mental health of children. It holds true also for adults. We, humans, are social beings and we inherently have the need to feel appreciated and thanked. So the power of gratitude goes a very long way in building up our mental health and in maintaining a positive environment.
Gratitude has numerous benefits both physically and psychologically. It ensures people to focus on the positives in their lives. Research has shown that being thankful can improve sleep, mood, and even immunity. It helps in reducing stress and anxiety. It has such a calming and soothing effect on the brain. Gratitude helps build highly healthy interpersonal relationships. Being grateful genuinely makes you happier. It is a two-way bridge and it makes both the parties involved happier. Being happy is not only good for mental well-being but also for physical well-being. It brings us peace and contentment. It improves our self-esteem and makes us feel more confident about ourselves. So we should incorporate being thankful into our daily lives as it has multiple benefits.
It is fairly an easy thing to do. Maintaining a gratitude journal really helps. It is also very easy to maintain and helps us to focus on happy positive things in life. We should write down things we are grateful for every day in that journal. Of course, there are good days and bad days but even on bad days we can find at least three things that we have been grateful for. It puts us in a positive head space and makes us find light even in the darkest of nights. At the end of the year reading that journal also makes us happy. Words hold so much power. So saying thank you and actually showing your gratitude even towards a small favour helps in boosting positivity. It is a very easy thing to do. Saying thank you to someone also makes them feel validated and appreciated. To sum it up, gratitude is a beautiful thing that brings us peace and positivity. But we should keep in mind that Gratitude is not the elixir for happiness. It is a hard road to take but the journey will definitely be worth it. The happiness we get from gratefulness is not short-lived. It is the consistent attitude of gratitude, not just occasionally counting your blessings, that enhances well-being in our lives. So let us all take this as a sign to be grateful and try to be more positive about even the simplest of things like thanking your mum for the delicious meal she has prepared for you, thanking your sibling for fetching you water, thanking your friend for lending you a pen, or thanking Nature for its beauty and the peace it brings you. Gratitude will make your life beautiful and this world a happy place!
