Many people in Australia think that Thanksgiving in the United
States is just another over commercialised holiday where people get
together and eat lots of food and spend lots of money on stuff that
retail chains tells them are essential to have for their
Thanksgiving dinner.
However, I think that the original reason behind celebrating
Thanksgiving is a really important one. To give thanks for all the
great people in our lives. This sounds suspiciously like showing
gratitude - which we know from research has a big impact on our
happiness.
Controlled experiments have been carried out showing that people
who record things they're grateful for experience an increase in
joy, happiness, and life satisfaction. This is because when you
focus on things you're grateful for, you amplify good memories
about the past.
So how grateful are you?
To get an indication of how grateful you are already, check out
the Gratitude test on the Authentic Happiness
website.
Why not start writing a
gratitude journal?
Try writing about three to five things or people you're grateful
for before you go to bed, or first thing in the morning, or on the
way to school, uni or work - whatever works best for you.
Want a different option for expressing
gratitude?
If the journal approach doesn't work so well for you, there are
other ways of practicing
gratitude, such as:
- putting aside time to reflect upon the things and people you
are grateful for
- acknowledging an ungrateful thought "work is boring" and
finding a grateful one to substitute it with eg "I enjoy work
overall - I have new challenges and have good friends there"
- talk with a friend on a regular basis about the things you're
thankful for
- express your gratitude through art
- express your gratitude to someone face to face
- write a letter of gratitude to someone, and either send it or
don't! Studies have shown substantial boost in happiness either
way, although the largest boost has been shown when you actually
hand deliver your letter of gratitude (Seligman et al, 2005).
For ideas about how to use some of these activities with your
classes check out the Using gratitude
journals in the classroom page.
So lets start the discussion ... What are you grateful for? You
can leave a comment below as your first entry into your Gratitude
Journal.