Wellbeing & Culture
Gratitude
When I was in Primary School (well in the U.S. it is Elementary School) one of my favourite re-watch movies was this 1960 film entitled Pollyanna, based on a book written in 1913. The film starring a young Hayley Mills, was all about the power of a grateful outlook. Hayley played a relentlessly positive girl named Pollyanna, as she worked through an entire community inspiring the most bitter and angry town members to find something to be glad of/ grateful for. The entire culture of the town shifted. The town at the start of the movie was angry, bitter, segregated, and cold, but ended with gratitude, inclusivity, gladness, and warmth. We have known for hundreds of years that being glad and grateful is good for us.
Gratitude will shift culture. There are mountains of scientific evidence to show how gratitude changes people, both as individuals and in communities. A grateful outlook will lead to stronger relationships, wiser minds, tougher resilience, and better overall health, both mentally and physically.
Sometimes when our lives are full of chaos, we can lose perspective. We start to feel like everything, and everyone is against us. There are two important things I try to remember when my life is full of chaos, and I lose perspective:
- "I am not the belly button of the universe." In other words, the world does not, never has, and never will revolve around one person. Everyone struggles.
- "There are always things I can be grateful for." No matter how bad things get, there is a bright side of life. Being grateful is going to be the best thing I can do for myself.
As gratitude is a bit of a theme for this term, I just encourage you to spend a bit of time in gratitude and thinking of ways to be grateful and glad this coming week. It will do a heap of good if you can.
Videos with evidence of the power of gratitude:
Christina Costa: How gratitude rewires your brain TED
Cheyenne Mason – On behalf of the Wellbeing & Culture team