“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – William Arthur Ward
Today the United States celebrates Thanksgiving Day – A day set aside every year, as a federal holiday since 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
The holiday weekend is marked by family and friends getting together and having a massive feast. I recollect several years of getting up early on Thursday mornings to prepare a large turkey with all the trimmings – sweet potato pie, glazed ham and off course our Nigerian delicacies.
Apart from the merriment and feasting, it was also a time to reflect and offer some thanksgiving to God. And really, we do have so many reasons to thank God. If you live in Nigeria, a lot of people are groaning because of the current economic conditions and may not look at reasons to be thankful as a result of the external conditions.
As I reminisce during this thanksgiving period, there are indeed many benefits of having a heart of gratitude. I cultivated the habit of writing out at least 5 reasons why I was thankful every day. I developed this habit from one of the exercises my coach had me to do a few years ago. It’s amazing how that changed my mindset.
Recently during a conversation with my brother Chika, he remarked “Nneka, you are always so positive!” This was during our discussion about the long layovers in one of my recent trips. I said I was thankful that it was a long trip because I used the opportunity to complete a 10 hour teaching series on one of Wallace Wattles classics!
According to Psychology today, there are many benefits of living a life of gratitude. Some of them include:
1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Not only does saying “thank you” constitute good manners, but showing appreciation can help you win new friends. Thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. So whether you thank a stranger for holding the door or send a thank-you note to that colleague who helped you with a project, acknowledging other people’s contributions can lead to new opportunities.
2. Gratitude improves physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and report feeling healthier than other people. Not surprisingly, grateful people are also more likely to take care of their health. They exercise more often and are more likely to attend regular check-ups, which is likely to contribute to further longevity.
3. Gratitude improves psychological health. Gratitude reduces a multitude of toxic emotions, from envy and resentment to frustration, regret and depression.
4. Grateful people sleep better. Writing in a gratitude journal improves sleep, according to a 2011 study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. Spend just 15 minutes jotting down a few grateful sentiments before bed, and you may sleep better and longer. No wonder, I always sleep so well (lol)
5. Gratitude raises your level of vibration. As a result, you vibrate positive energy around you, which in turn becomes a foundation of attracting more positive things around you. The laws of vibration and attraction at play here (I will explain these laws at subsequent emails).
If you are not already intentional about raising your gratitude level, here is a challenge to you. Write down 5 reasons why you are thankful every day. Do this for the next 30 days.
Let me know how that goes.