Asking the Hard Questions
The Gratitude War
Giving thanks is more than an addition to your morning routine
Productive day, positive attitude, constructive outlook, healthy mind and body. What is one word that you think correlates all these things? Gratitude. Now more than ever, gratitude has earned the spotlight from self-improvement literature to therapists treating depression. Yet the benefit from the focus on gratefulness remains to be seen in society as a whole. What link are we missing to sustain a mind of thankfulness?
When researching gratitude, you will come across its many psychological and physiological health benefits. Practicing thankfulness has been shown to foster an intense resilience that helps you battle stress and tough times. Daily gratefulness is linked to a decrease in cortisol, inflammation, and an increase in feel-good hormones like oxytocin.
Furthermore, forget the antidepressants and consider adding gratitude into your daily routine. Gratefulness activates specific neural circuits that increase the production of dopamine and serotonin- the neurotransmitters which reinforce a state of bliss.
Also, if you are struggling motivating yourself to lead a healthier lifestyle try practicing more gratitude. Researchers have found that being more grateful may be correlated to living a physically healthier life.
Okay, you get it. Your grateful for gratitude and all its possible benefits to your life, but why do writers, psychologists, and life coaches need to remind and teach us about it?
A better question: Why are we naturally inclined to be ungrateful? There’s a thanksgiving dinner icebreaker.
What is the whole reason behind practicing gratefulness anyways? To make yourself feel better? To gain the health benefits of firing those positive neurotransmitters? To feel productive because you have a centering routine? These are prime examples of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.
Sustaining an attitude of gratefulness takes more than just willing yourself to answer What are you grateful for today? after waking up. You cannot will yourself to be happy and you cannot will yourself to be grateful. As humans, dissatisfaction and discontent come easy to us. In order to sustain an attitude of gratitude we need to examine the object of gratitude.
Gratefulness for material things, things that do not last forever, comes and goes. We cannot even ground our thanks internally within ourselves because once the trials come something has to pull us back to center. Something bigger than yourself and greater than yourself. True, lasting gratitude must be found outside of us.
When the end goal of practicing gratitude is materially and feelings based, you are only winning the battle not the war.
This discussion has to do with asking the hard questions. What is your actual motivation to do good work? Maybe, it is for the feeling that comes with serving others or to fulfill your purpose. Let’s get to the center, foundation, origin of why we do what we do.
If you go deep into American history, you will discover George Washington was not that most successful of a general. He lost many, many battles during the Revolutionary War. Yet, he thought outside of the box, took risks, and trusted in something outside of himself. That’s how you win the war.
