Positive Education
Melanie Sluyters
The Art of Being Grateful
The idea of exploring gratitude is to firstly recognise that it is an emotion and can be defined as ‘a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift’. - Jans-Beken et al., 2020
Gratitude can be a personal response towards someone or something, or it can be part of your makeup as a person, hence why it is identified as one of the 24 character strengths. With gratitude being part of the character strengths it therefore can be something that can be practised and worked on throughout our lives.
Throughout the College we explore the idea around gratitude on a regular basis. It is highlighted in wellbeing lessons, and in conversations in our everyday practice with the emphasis on what it brings to both us as individuals and us as a College.
For some the explicit teaching has allowed staff and students to embrace the importance of being grateful, and focus on the positives not the negatives. Staff and students are recognising that being grateful and showing gratitude is great for establishing, building and maintaining relationships, as well as having a positive impact on one's physical health, including brain health.
‘We have learned that gratitude helps people focus on the positive aspects of their life. Gratitude can help build and maintain relationships with others, resulting in hope, life satisfaction, and more proactive behaviours toward others’. (Passmore & Oades, 2016).
Click on the following link to read more about the importance of gratitude on the brain.