As always, at this time of year and with the festivals in full swing, I turn my little scribblings to thoughts of thankfulness. The one quality that I find from this religious festival (for essentially it still is a religious festival though we all may claim it as something else) is that it brings people together in a sense of family. This probably comes from my mother who always insisted that ‘no-one should be alone at Christmas’. It’s when we put down our tools of occupation and prepare for a time of quiet, celebration and relaxed contemplation. We have the time for it. And so, I guess as part of that downtime, I always devote a little space of the break to gratitude - what in the past 12 months am I grateful for? What am I thankful occurred and how can I emulate that in the next 12 months?
Of the nations 50.2% of christians identified in the 2016 census, only a quarter of those persons are actively religious, attending church or services more than once a month. This swells at Christmas time, when retired christians everywhere begin to dust off their family prayer book, choose something nice and march on down to the local church ceremony.
Whilst church may be a casual obligation for some of us, the doctrines of society have predominantly been promoted and informed from our religious predecessors So even though I am a non christian, I’m still affected by the teachings and principles that have been instilled in me through my education in a predominantly christian upbringing. They are still very much a part of me and what I have come to claim as my own ideals to live by.
So I so like to delve into the factors os this education that marry with my own spiritual beliefs and thoughts. One of those factors is graciousness. Appreciation for the blessings that we have been given. Understanding the importance of charity and generosity and giving creedance to all that we are fortunate to have. The definition of gratitude according to the Oxford Dictionary is '“the quality of being thankful. readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness” The latter of this definition harkens to how we can act with gratitude and illustrates that we can action this step in our daily lives.
Being grateful has layered connotations. Some say it is an emotion, others say virtue and then some claim it as a behaviour. So the interpretation of this quality can come down to the individual. Some psychologists say that it can be all three and that each one of these interpretations is valid with gratitude being a temporary emotion (in response to an act), a mood or an ‘affective trait’ that permeates someones personality as an overall trait. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough go further and identify that gratitude is a 2 step process, 1) identifying that something good has happened, and 2) recognising that there is an external influence for said positive outcome.
I like this explanation as it encourages us to identify primarily that ‘something good has happened’. That, in and of itself is a great way to build our positive reflections and confirm to ourselves that something positive has occurred. All too often we focus on the negative and this can send us a circle of ‘woe is me’ if all we can see is the never-ending bottomless pit of negative interactions, perceptions and thoughts. In this way, gratitude is one of those actions that is self serving. It encourages more instances of its result.
It’s a compounding interest of influence. Being grateful leads to psychological well being which in turn leads to better health, which can then lead to more instances of happiness that creates more reasons to find gratitude in life. Summer Allen Ph.D writes in her White Paper “The Science of Gratitude” at UC Berkely that it’s a no brainer - grateful people are happier, more satisfied, less materialistic and have better mental and physical health. The good vibrations buzz feeds into the grateful being. Look at the cultures that permeate this principle, often in countries that don’t have advanced infrastructure and great technological advancement. In what we might define as a meagre existence, they are full of smiles, contentment and relative peaceful pleasure as their cultural influence of gratitude is higher. (yes gratitude is nationalist, with nationality predisposing you to certain levels of gratitude) But it is a value that is worth investing in to try and influence our contentment and quality of life.
Allen also writes about Gratitude Interventions. the things that we can do which covet feelings of gratitude. Journaling being the primary one and most widely used in the pro self-help world. Journaling helps to promote acute identifying and targeting of the positive aspects of your life. “life is like a camera, focus on the picture that you want and discard the negatives of the ones that don’t work.” These actions also help to identify those things which are going right for you, keeping them in your conscious and at the forefront of your thoughts and processes and this helps to recycle those fulfilling thoughts into more moments of goodness.
Identifying people that have helped you to achieve and attain positive things is also a great way to covet gratitude. Actually taking action and writing out letters of thanks to these people or individuals is a known way to harness the power of gratitude and make you feel more empowered and social with your peer set. These types of Gratitude Interventions are proven to covet positive feelings of social connection, achievement and project these attributes into more of your daily life.
So at this time of year it is perhaps a great idea to take some time and see if you can bring some gratitude into your being. The well being benefits are well documented and there are so many readings out there that can point you in the right direction and help your to appreciate the positive influences you have around you. Putting yourself in the position of writing these out, identifying them and taking the time to recognise them can be all you need to start your day a little more positivity, better well being and a jolt of self esteem to boot. You may even find that you sleep better and have make healthier choices in your daily life. Its worth the investment and at this time, its very much in keeping with the reasons for the season… even if you are not a Christmas Elf!
