What a Morning Bike Ride Taught Me About Gratitude

Recently, I took a bike ride and ended up at the Fort Lee Historic Park about a mile from my apartment. It was about 10 AM and I was in a bad mood that I couldn’t shake. I attributed it to the ongoing pandemic and its impact on our country.

As I sat looking out across the Hudson River, I began thinking about gratitude. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, “gratitude is a strong feeling of appreciation to someone or something for what the person has done to help you.” But there is also another type of gratitude, the kind that arises when you have a realization that life itself has been good to you.

To my left, I saw the magnificent George Washington Bridge shining in the morning sunlight. A plaque nailed to a tree told me that this grassy hill, about 200 hundred feet above the river, was the site of Washington’s retreat from New York during the summer of 1776.

A small building behind me had been the primitive living quarters for a dozen of Washington’s soldiers prior to the evacuation. As I imagined how hard their lives must have been, I suddenly felt a rush of gratitude for the men who fought and died for our Revolutionary Cause.

I walked over to a few cannons which pointed toward New York from the bluff. I thought about Washington, Hamilton and the other Founding Fathers who 250 years ago conceived and implemented the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, thus giving us the framework by which we live today.

I thought of all of the other Americans I had never met; men and women who had given me the gift of freedom and a fulfilling life. Some had built the roads I drove on. Others had produced the scientific discoveries that transformed our world. Still others had created a healthcare system that saved my life more than once. It was then that I realized that the list of people to whom I owed a debt of gratitude was endless.

By the time I left the park, I felt at peace. Being consciously grateful had obliterated every negative thought in my mind. Gratitude is indeed a powerful tonic for loneliness and despair. I believe that if we embrace this undervalued but extremely useful tool, it will make our lives happier, healthier and more meaningful.

How Does Being Grateful Help Us?

A growing body of research has discovered an unexpected set of benefits derived from being grateful. Just one example: Scientists at the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego discovered that habitually grateful people experience better heart health and less heart inflammation than those who are not habitually grateful.

While aging is inevitable, feelings of sadness and despair need not to be a part of the process.

Giving thanks can transform your life. Numerous studies have shown the correlation between practicing gratitude and experiencing greater happiness, despite one’s circumstances. Here are just a few of the benefits that accrue when you practice gratitude: Gratitude replenishes consumption. We use up energy during the day and being grateful refills us with new energy.

1. GRATITUDE improves our mood. Since you can only hold one thought at a time in your brain, being consciously grateful makes it difficult to have a negative thought.

2. GRATITUDE enhances our sense of well-being and makes us more optimistic. It improves our psychological and mental health and mental strength.

3. GRATITUDE improves our bonds with other people and opens up new possibilities for friendships.

4. GRATITUDE improves our memory.

5. GRATITUDE produces increased self-control by improving our focus and self-discipline.

6. GRATITUDE calms our nervous system by decreasing cortisol levels and increasing the production of oxytocin, a hormone that promotes bonding with other people.

7. GRATITUDE helps us to sleep better.

8. GRATITUDE improves our self-esteem and reduces our tendency to compare ourselves with others.

9. GRATITUDE makes us more resilient by improving our psychological health and increasing our mental strength.

10. GRATITUDE gives us a broader view of the meaning of our lives and helps develop stronger morality.

11. GRATITUDE enables us to experience a deeper sense of spiritual connection.

Two Exercises to Help You Harness the Power of Gratitude

There are several ways to practice gratitude. I have found that the simplest one is, at the end of your day, to write down on a post-it note one or two things that happened during the day for which you were grateful. If you need more than one post-it note, great! Stick the note(s) on the inside of your bedroom door in a spot that you will you will look at in the morning. When you write these down, experience how they made you feel.

Continue this for 21 days and you will build a long-term habit.

I have also found it useful to do a simple early morning exercise. It is the first thing I do when I awake. In this case I’m not writing anything down, but just thinking of the things that happened the day before for which I was grateful. Sometimes I say them aloud. I find that this practice creates a good feeling before I get out of bed.

Remember, whatever practice you choose, if you commit to doing it for a few weeks, you will eventually reap the benefits of gratitude by making it a daily part of your life.