Gratitude Can Change Your Life (RIGHT NOW)

“When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.” - Kristin Armstrong

While the quote above may be colorful, there is a harsh reality that lingers:

The past 2 years have been incredibly difficult for so many people in the meetings industry.

If this time has been difficult for you, I have some good news.

Focusing on gratitude is an opportunity to make all of this better.

Dr. Rick Hanson can relate. In his blog post, How Gratitude Can Change Your Life, he wrote, “The intention with gratitude is not to put pressure on yourself to positive-think your way out of painful experiences, or to deny their existence. Nor is it to create long lists that don’t have any meaning for you and feel false or insincere. The aim is simply to direct your focus away from dwelling on what’s not going well in life, whilst still acknowledging the existence of the pain. ”

How Gratitude Changes Your Life

Changing your focus from pain to gratitude can help you make it through difficult times. Here are a few ways that it will help.

Gratitude improves your physical health

Struggling with depression causes you to feel bad physically. I know because I’ve been there. Many people get stuck in this vicious cycle. Your mental health pulls down your physical health, which then causes you to feel even worse mentally; and it continues to cycle around, pulling you further away from where you want to be. Yet, multiple studies have proven that increasing your level of gratefulness will help stop the cycle.

Gratitude helps you sleep better

You sleep better when you focus on gratitude, which makes sense. Depression causes us to focus on the things that are going wrong or the troubling situations that are happening around us. It can cause feelings of anxiety and hopelessness. It is difficult to get a good restful night of sleep when we are worrying about everything and everyone. However, when you begin to spend the last few minutes of the day writing things you are grateful for it shifts your focus. You go to sleep thinking about the things that you are thankful for instead of the things that worry you. Many studies have tested this theory, and the test groups continuously find that they are getting more sleep and waking up more rested.

Gratitude helps you exercise more

Did you know that increasing your level of gratitude can also cause you to exercise more? Who knew it was that simple?

Professors Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. and Mike McCullough conducted a study with participants in three groups. One group was to record five things they were thankful for during the week. The second group was to document five things that were a hassle from the week. The last group was merely asked to record five things that happened that impacted them over the week. It was their choice if they were in positive or negative situations. After ten weeks, the professors found that the group that focused on positive experiences were exercising on average 1.5 more hours each week.

Exercise releases endorphins in your brain that help boost your mood. When we are going through troubling times, this boost can help us make it through the day. Regular exercise contributes to self-confidence. These are critical positive changes that we can experience more of when we increase our level of gratitude.

Gratitude changes your perspective on life

Life is life, plain and simple. We have good times, and we experience bad times. We will face troubles and blessings, and there are some things that we will have no control over. However, we do have control over how we respond to life.

Think about someone you know that is a “glass half full” kind of person. No matter what is happening in this person’s life, they seem to have a good attitude towards it. They find a way to put a positive spin on it. Now, I’m not talking about people that are living in denial. I’m talking about the people that can acknowledge what a situation is, but then choose a positive response to it. Gratitude will turn you into this type of person.

In the article, The Neuroscience of Why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier, Ocean Robbins writes, “Several studies have shown depression to be inversely correlated to gratitude. It seems that the more grateful a person is, the less depressed they are. Philip Watkins, a clinical psychologist at Easting Washington University, found that clinically depressed individuals showed significantly lower gratitude (nearly 50 percent less) than non-depressed controls.”

On A Personal Note

One of the fond memories that I have of this year was going to my first MPIGNY in-person event in over two years. In the days leading up to the event, I felt the same anxiety that many of us continue to feel in anticipation of live events. Once I arrived at the event...for some strange reason...it all disappeared. 

The time flew by as I reconnected with old friends and met new friends. I drove home overwhelmed with joy and GRATITUDE for restarting my MPIGNY membership in  the beginning of 2020. Attending the event lifted my spirits and served as a small reminder that I need to keep moving forward despite how difficult the past 2 years have been.

So, I get to publicly say, “Thank you MPIGNY”!

And....thank YOU for taking a few minutes to read this.