By: April Carson
"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Zig Ziglar
One of the most powerful ways to change yourself, live a happier life and have better relationships with others is using gratitude. It's one of the most simple and effective tools that you can use to improve your life.
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude is a quality that many people possess but few use effectively. It's the ability to appreciate what you have, instead of always focusing on what you don't have. The simplest way to describe it is as follows:
Gratitude is an appreciation for what you already have. It's not just a simple thank you, but more of a feeling that there are things in your life right now that you are grateful for. It's being happy with yourself and your life as it is, instead of always chasing some external goal.
This article will teach you why gratitude is important, how to grow it, and how you can use it as a tool to improve your life.
So what exactly makes gratitude so beneficial?
Gratitude is correlated with all sorts of benefits in research. People who practice it report being happier and more satisfied with their life and etc.
Practicing gratitude will make you feel more positive emotions, which allows you to appreciate the good things that happen to you more. This means that it can help prevent depression and anxiety, as well as reduce your stress levels. And it doesn't take anything over an hour each week; just a few seconds each day is enough.
Studies have found out that practicing gratitude also has benefits for your physical and mental health. Research shows that people who practice gratitude sleep better and have stronger immune systems. And studies also show that it can help you treat alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders, and depressive symptoms.
People who express more gratitude:
-Experience fewer depressive symptoms ( 1 ) -Are more optimistic ( 2 ) -Are less lonely ( 3 )-Get better sleep at night ( 4 ) -Have lower levels of stress, specifically cardiovascular reactivity to stress( 5 ), and cortisol reactivity to stress. This means that they have a healthier response to stressors in their life, don't get as upset by them, and can manage them better.
How does Gratitude Lead to Healthier Responses?
Gratitude has been linked with a variety of benefits, but the way it affects our lives is often indirect. For example, a recent study found that gratitude directly caused people to feel more loved . And, because of how important relationships are for our health and happiness, the act of experiencing gratitude directly enhanced people's connection with others.
Another way in which feeling grateful indirectly affects our physical well-being is by boosting positive emotions like hope, optimism, and joy. These emotions then lead people to become more active and make healthier choices.
In fact, a recent study found that optimistic women who feel grateful are less likely to get breast cancer than their pessimistic counterparts. Gratitude is a powerful emotion indeed!
How does Gratitude Make Us Better People?
Gratitude can be a very powerful motivator that can help us see the positive aspects of life and become more confident in ourselves. It can motivate us to take on challenges, be less materialistic, and prevent emotional eating.
Gratitude acts as a motivator because it stimulates feel-good hormones like serotonin and dopamine. These neurotransmitters can help you feel happier and energized in your day-to-day life. When you feel grateful, it can also make time spent with family and friends more enjoyable.
Gratitude can help us fight depression in a number of ways. The first is that it stimulates the production of serotonin in the body which helps people to feel less depressed and anxious. Also, when we are grateful for our lives, we spend less time focusing on what is going wrong and instead think of the good things that are happening. This can help a person to stay positive and not sink into a depressive state.
It affects the way you spend money. When you are grateful for what you have, you are less likely to want to spend your money on material things. Since many people who are depressed often shop as a way of feeling better about themselves, this is one change that can help you drop an unhealthy habit and get yourself out of depression.
FOR MORE ABOUT GRATITUDE, CHECK OUT BILLY'S PODCAST! - 4BIDDEN RANTS: THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
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