Gratitude Deepens Your Relationships
This week I’m starting a new series to look at happiness, joy, gratitude, and thankfulness. As we’ve all been going through a very difficult year, I’ve found myself dealing with the feeling of sadness, and I simply need to take action. So to help myself and hopefully others too, I want to look at how we can focus on subjects like; thankfulness, joy and gratitude to recalibrate our lives, and live again with joy in our lives.
I’m also going to be looking at how “journaling” can help us to focus on what’s important, and affirm what we are learning, so If you’d like a free digital copy of my “Happiness Journal” that I’ve created to help us, as we go through this subject, you can get it from here.
A 2014 study found that when we thank people, it makes them want to be around us more.
In other words, if you’re grateful to people, they want to spend more time with you. After all, when someone thanks us, it makes us feel good. It makes us feel like we’ve helped someone out.
Thankfulness is an exchange of positive energy between two people.
Would you rather be around someone who is constantly putting out the positive energy of gratefulness or someone who is constantly stewing in how unhappy they are?
The answer is obvious.
When we’re grateful to people, it attracts them to us. They want to be around us and develop friendships with us. Gratefulness is magnetic.
If you want to start developing deeper friendships, start being grateful to them today.
You Become Healthier
Gratitude is not just a state of mind. It has real, direct, positive effects on your body as well. Specifically, being grateful makes you healthier in a number of ways.
In one study, participants were asked to either count their blessings or their burdens. The results were amazing.
Those who were asked to count their blessings:
● Had 16% fewer physical symptoms
● Spent 19% more time exercising
● Had 10% less physical pain
● Got 8% more sleep
● Had 25% increased sleep quality
Additionally, grateful people are much more likely to do things to take care of their health, such as going to the doctor.
Clearly, gratefulness is powerful when it comes to promoting good health. When we’re grateful, we’re actively putting out positive energy as some might say, and one of the ways that this can return to us is in the form of better health. The bible tells us that, “life and death, are in the power of the tongue” or “what you reap, you will sow”.
so on the flip side, when we’re constantly putting out negative thought and words of ungratefulness, we do risk having more health challenges.
Want to be healthier each day? Develop a thankfulness regimen just like you would a health regimen.
You Are More Optimistic
When you’re grateful, you’re focused on the blessings coming into your life. You’re preoccupied with all the good you have rather than the things that you don’t have.
The result is that you’re consistently more optimistic.
You believe that good things happen to you because you’re already focused on all the good things happening to you.
Numerous research studies have shown this to be true. Increasing your levels of gratitude leads to increases in your overall levels of optimism.
What you focus on expands. As you focus on being grateful for all that you have in your life, your sense of well-being and optimism grows.
Suddenly, everything seems possible. When you’re optimistic, your eyes are opened to the abundance of the universe and all the glorious possibilities that it offers. You begin to develop the sense that good things are always coming your way, and you really do start attracting those good things.
And when you attract good things, you become more optimistic.
The famous musician Willie Nelson said, “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
If you want to turn your life around today and be consistently more optimistic, get into the habit of counting your blessings and being grateful.
Roy Clayton
PS If you’d like a free digital copy of my “Happiness Journal” that I’ve created to help us, as we go through this subject, you can get it from here.
