From the Chaplaincy Team

'Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.' (Science and Health, p 3)

Why gratitude is good for you

                                                                                  From Larissa Dubecki RACV 20 October 2020

Following Victoria’s inaugural Thank You Day public holiday on 23 October, experts say showing gratitude can be good for our health. 

Everyone loves a public holiday. But this year there’s extra reason to be grateful for the state-wide downing of tools. While the Grand Final Eve public holiday has become another COVID casualty, thanks to the AFL competition decamping to Brisbane, in its place for this year was Thank You Day.

The re-framing of the holiday is designed to show gratitude to everyone who has made sacrifices to stem the spread of COVID-19. Victorians have certainly had to dig deep to grapple with rolling lockdowns and their attendant deprivations. But far from being a one-day-only proposition, practising gratitude can change your life for the better.

The power of gratitude

Study after study has found that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed, says clinical psychologist Lynne Woolfson. “When a person is unable to appreciate good events, and overemphasises bad or unfortunate experiences, it greatly affects their ability to flourish, to be calm and be happy,” she says. 

One study at Indiana University found that students tasked with writing a letter of gratitude to someone else once a week for three weeks showed significantly better mental health 4 to 12 weeks afterwards compared with students who either wrote down negative emotions or had counselling alone. 

The gift (to yourself) that keeps on giving

Gratitude is a feedback loop, explains Lynne. When positive things happen, we feel better, which makes us think better thoughts and so we continue on the loop of doing good things in order to make others and ourselves feel better in general. 

Of course, some people are naturally optimistic and positive, while others are much more predisposed to glass-half-empty gloominess. “The good news is that gratitude is not a genetic predetermined trait,” says Lynne. “It can be learned.” 

So, I have to pretend everything is great?

Not at all. Practising gratitude doesn’t mean turning into Pollyanna, says Deborah Jepsen from Melbourne Child Psychology. “Gratitude is simply cultivating a genuine appreciation for what we already have.” Essentially, it’s a way of pausing briefly to reflect on something good you have in your life right now, instead of always striving towards something in the future such as that work promotion, the new car or the house renovation.

Practice makes perfect

Like AFL footballers putting in their hours of practice on the training field, you too can work on your gratitude muscle. “Gratitude is an attitude,” says Lynne, “it’s a choice.” Writing down things for which you’re grateful can be a powerful tool (no fancy journal needed, although if that’s your thing, go for it). Write something down on a scrap of paper, count your blessings in your head, or go and tell someone what they mean to you.

Take a gratitude challenge

Deborah suggests newcomers to the idea of practising gratitude start with a 30-day challenge. Each day write down three things for which you are thankful. Try being specific: for example, “I am grateful for the way my child likes to hug me,” rather than, “I am thankful for my kids.”

“Being grateful for a 30-day challenge just attempts to make gratitude a habit, rather than something you do every now and again,” says Deborah. “We can then reprogram ourselves to look on the brighter side of life. It’s not ignoring the shadows, but shining light into the darkness, so we can see our blessings – or what we are grateful for – more clearly.”