Eve Message: The Spiritual Practice of Gratitude
Today I want to introduce you to a spiritual practice that can make a huge difference in your mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. In fact, I hope to convince you to try adding it to your daily routine. It’s the spiritual practice of gratitude. What better time could there be to begin this practice than at Thanksgiving time, when we are celebrating all that we have to be grateful for?
Here are some of the scientifically documented benefits of gratitude:1
· It improves mood, increases positive emotions, and can help manage grief
· It reduces anxiety and depression symptoms and increases happiness by reducing stress hormones and releasing feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin
· It improves memory, concentration and focus
· Gratitude reduces risk factors for heart disease. It reduces blood pressure and heart rate and it slows/regulates breathing.
· It improves sleep.
· It strengthens the immune system.
· Gratitude improves social relationships, increases social bonding and fosters healthy relationships. It actually stimulates the production of the love hormone, oxytocin
· It reduces toxic emotions, including envy, jealousy, resentment, frustration and aggression—even the desire for revenge.
· Gratitude improves decision making skills, and it correlates with moral judgment.
· It reinforces will power, helps prevent over-eating and assists in recovery from addiction.
· It can reduce inflammation and increase pain tolerance
· It can even reduce A1C and help regulate blood glucose levels
· Gratitude improves self-confidence and self-esteem
· It can increase life-span and resilience and helps us cope with traumatic events
· It increases patience and the capacity to forgive
Behavior can change biology. Just like engaging in unhealthy behaviors can lead to poor health, engaging in healthy behaviors can lead to improved health. I have a saying: Attitude is half the battle—usually the half that determines whether you’ll win or lose that battle. The easiest way to practice gratitude is to set up a gratitude jar. This is a great way to start kids off. You can use a mason jar, a cookie jar or any empty jar that once contained something else, like mayonnaise or pickles. Or you can use a box. Decorate it, if you desire. Then each day (as often as you want) write down (or draw) one or more things you are grateful for on a slip of paper, (use colored paper to make it more fun and attractive) and place it in the jar. At regular intervals, (weekly, monthly, seasonally, yearly, etc.) or whenever you feel sad or need to be reminded of how blessed you are, pour out the contents and read the slips of paper. I suggest that, when the jar gets full, rather than throwing them away, you get a scrap book and paste them in it—at least the really memorable ones—so you can look back on them and be thankful all over again.
Another simple way for adults and teens to practice gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal. This doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to write essays or prayers or even complete sentences. A journal entry can be as simple as a making a list of the things, events, actions or people for whom you are thankful each day. Don’t be afraid to start small, listing things like the ability to see, hear, walk, or talk, sunshine, snow, ice cream, popcorn, and so on. Gratitude is gratitude. Over time, begin to note special people and events, and record the reason you are thankful for them that day—something someone said or did, or the way it was said or done? Maybe it was the timing. Did it make you laugh or get you out of an unpleasant task or meeting? Of course, it’s perfectly fine to just write, “I’m grateful for sunshine and ice cream.” But if you sat in the sunshine and had ice cream with an old friend you hadn’t seen in a while, add those details to reflect on. Don’t limit yourself. Record little things as well as big, important ones. It’s important to appreciate the small things in life.
If you really hate writing, you can record your thoughts using a tape recorder or the talk to text function on your phone. Or you can record it on video. But remember, behavior changes biology, so, writing it out by hand will probably give you the most benefit, because it involves more of your body and brain. If you want to make it feel more spiritual, after making your daily entry, you might consider saying a simple prayer of thanks for all the things you listed. There are just two rules: First, stick to the good stuff. This is an exercise in positivity. Second, keep it simple. Don’t make this hard to do, or turn it into something you resent doing.
It doesn’t really matter what time of day you practice this. If you journal in the morning, you will start your day off in a positive mood, with the attitude of gratitude, and that will affect the way you respond to things as the day unfolds. If you journal at night, you will go to bed in a good mood and a more relaxed state, and you are likely to sleep better and more peacefully, which will help you start the next day off well, and allow you to better deal with frustration and negative events. Either way, it will become a positive cycle. Of course, you can write in your journal at night, and then read the entry again in the morning, and double your benefit by reinforcing that attitude of gratitude and triggering the biological effects both morning and night. It’s important to go back and read portions from time to time, to trigger the memories and the associated feelings, to remind yourself that life is good. Whatever you do, whenever you do it, make it part of your daily routine, like brushing your teeth and combing your hair.
Of course, writing thank you notes and sending them is also a way to practice gratitude, and so is simply saying, “Thank you,” in the moment. To be honest, you can actually write thank you notes that you don’t ever send, and you will still benefit from the exercise. But the long-range goal should be to actually start expressing your gratitude more often. As time goes on, it should become easier and more natural to say, “Thank you” to people in the moment, or to express gratitude with a card or note or reciprocal kindness and cheer. This is important, if you want to reap the full social benefits of gratitude.
I suspect that the Psalmists practiced gratitude, and that’s why, even the Psalms of lament eventually turn around and end in praise. Sometimes I think that’s why the scriptures tell us time and time again to give God thanks and praise. I’m sure it makes God happy when we do it, but I suspect God wants us to do it because it’s good for us. In a broken and sinful world, gratitude is necessary to our health and our faith. It’s a source of strength and resilience. In our Gospel reading for today, only one leper who was healed came back to express his gratitude to Jesus. My guess is that he benefited more than the rest, because he, alone, practiced gratitude. I wish the same for all of you. Practice gratitude. It’s good for you.
1. “35 Scientific Benefits of Gratitude.” https://research.com/education/scientific-benefits-of-gratitude