Gratitude Doesn't Have To Wait For Thanksgiving!

By Kristen Sohlman, HBA, RP

​Gratitude is an emotion expressing thankfulness, appreciation, and kindness to someone or something.  Gratitude is a part of positive psychology and studies have shown that we can deliberately cultivate or create gratitude in order to increase well-being, happiness, energy, optimism and empathy.  

A simple act of gratitude expressed regularly can have positive impacts on relationships with others, connectedness, becoming more social, as well as developing more meaningful, deeper and healthier relationships. 

Gratitude can be expressed through writing a list or a daily journal identifying the things we are grateful for, and remember this is not necessarily monetary things and can include being grateful for having courage, for friends and family, or even for the quiet times in life.  Gratitude can also be expressed to people in our lives directly by saying thank you, or expressing our thankfulness through a kind act such as helping someone, by having a listening ear, or even engaging in a random act of kindness. 

​How will you express your gratitude?
~When we consciously list all that we have, we realize that we have far more than we thought!
 
References:
Amin, A. (2017). The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life. Happier Human. [Website] Retrieved from http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/