What is gratitude good for?

At this time of the year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, people seem to start paying greater attention to gratitude.

Being thankful for even seemingly every day events or objects can help change your view of your day or your life. Gratitude has been found to help with stress, anxiety and depression, and to make up people more content and happier in their lives.

Turning on the light switch in the kitchen the other day, I was thinking about how in order to have light in their houses, people had to have candles. And they weren't lighting those candles with lighters or with those packages of cardboard matches either!! To think that within the last 200 years, the light bulb was invented and has become common place. I look at a light bulb, especially the current spirally ones and marvel that someone figured out how to put those particular parts together to create light!

Or, choose an event most of us take for granted such as walking or brushing your teeth, and imagine what your life would be life if these weren't so automatic or assumed. How grateful are you that you have clean teeth when you head off to work?

Taking time every day, even a few minutes, to stop and appreciate all the seemingly ordinary objects or events going on in our lives, can lead to increased contentment and decreased feelings of stress. Sometimes it is suggested that you take time at the end of every day and write out a list of a few things for which you are grateful. While this is a great idea and works well for many, when everything seems to be going wrong in your life or you are exhausted at the end of the day, sitting down to write out a list can seem like a monumental task!

Instead of writing down a gratitude list, chose one object, and spend a few minutes thinking about how the object was created and how much it has changed our lives and probably made our lives easier (you can write too if you want, but I recommend starting with thinking). Or, take a daily event that may seem ordinary and contemplate all that it takes to complete that event or handle the situation.

Here are a few tips to starting the practice of gratitude:

1)      Start small – plan for 1-5 minutes max to think about the ordinary object or event in the day.
 2)      I recommend starting with thinking rather than writing to make it easier for yourself. The easier it is, the more likely you will keep at it. When you decide to write it down this involves more steps such as getting a notebook, and pen. Increasing the complexity of the task will decrease the chance you will continue the practice. The roadblocks start with finding a notebook and then a pen, and by the time you've done those you could have already taken the couple of minutes to be grateful.
 3)      By starting with a short period of time it means it will be less likely that your mind will drift. If you find that your mind still wanders to what is causing you stress that is okay. Just notice it and return to the object or event.

With the increased amount of stress this time of the year, it is a great time to start with the practice of being thankful! Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.