Chaplain's Chat

Gratitude is about noticing and actively appreciating the good things in your life. Actively appreciating something involves expressing that appreciation to another. By expressing gratitude, an environment is created where someone else can notice the good moment, savour it and experience that same flood of positive neurochemicals too. By practicing gratitude, we not only improve our attention skills and boost our positive emotions, but we’re also spreading that improvement to others. 

Practicing gratitude as you go about your daily life models appreciation in action for your child. Praising your child is a beautiful way to show them exactly how wonderful it feels to receive expressions of gratitude.  

There is so much research showing the importance of gratitude for our psychological health and wellbeing. It is linked to a host of positive indicators such as self-discipline, emotional warmth, altruism, positive mood, self-esteem and life satisfaction. People who practice gratitude report feeling less bitterness and depression over time.  

Alex Wood, PhD, of the University of Scotland, has found that people who feel grateful just prior to sleep, fall into slumber more quickly, stay asleep longer and report better sleep quality. Focusing your attention on things you’re grateful for, calms the body and the mind. This specific re focus on the positive, is actually changing the brain and building new neural pathways to build a pattern of noticing the good things. The more we train our brains to notice the good, the easier it becomes. 

It’s not surprising why every major discipline that has studied society and humanities, mentions the importance of gratitude. Every major religion preaches its importance, whether toward God or one another. Sociologists say we cannot function as a society without the cooperative behaviour cemented by gratitude. Roman philosopher Cicero called it “the parent of the virtues.” 

I know of quite a few families who, at bedtime, now ask their children to share with them some of the things that made them feel thankful during the day. Cultivating this strength of gratitude, makes our children better people and also makes them feel better about themselves. 

In essence, gratitude costs so little, but it means so much to so many. Making gratitude part of our daily practice, will have many benefits to our overall wellbeing and definitely make the world a brighter place.