The Benefits of Showing Gratitude.

If you're like most people, you probably haven't given much thought to gratitude. In fact, I bet you've seen this word so many times that it doesn't even register as a word anymore. But if we use our imaginations for a moment and pretend that gratitude is still new to us—and it really is!—we'll see how powerful it can be in our lives. Let's start with the benefits of showing gratitude:

Grateful people reap many physical, mental and spiritual benefits.

Gratitude is a habit, and you can practice it just like any other habit. Just as brushing your teeth before bed every night helps to form the habit of brushing your teeth after eating all day, showing gratitude will help form the habit of focusing on what you have rather than what you don’t have.

Gratitude is also a choice—you choose whether or not to be grateful in any given moment. When someone offers you their seat on the bus or train, do you take it? Or do you grumble about being late for work? By making a conscious choice in these situations, we build our character and strengthen our ability to show gratitude when it matters most: when life gets tough or someone does something nice for us.

By learning and practicing these skills now (even if they feel awkward at first), we set ourselves up for success later on down the road when things get rough—and trust me, they will get rough! One thing that I've learned from my years as an undergrad student struggling through school while working full-time: there's always something worse than whatever it is that happens in one's own life right now.

Longer life expectancy.

As you might imagine, there's no one single factor that determines how long you live. There's a multitude of factors that can play into your life expectancy, such as genetics and lifestyle choices (such as smoking and drinking). But research shows that gratitude can be an important part of the equation when it comes to longevity.

A study published in Social Indicators Research looked at data from nearly 7,000 participants who completed surveys about their levels of gratitude each year for 10 years. The results found that people who were grateful lived an average 2.5 years longer than those who weren't grateful. This was true even after researchers adjusted for other factors like age, gender and socioeconomic status.

Improved mental health.

When we’re grateful for the things we have in life, it can help us be more positive. Gratitude is linked to lower levels of anxiety, depression and stress. It also makes people happier and more optimistic about what the future holds for them. In addition to boosting mental health, gratitude can help you feel more empowered in your life—like you have control over it (instead of feeling like life just happens to you).

Better physical health.

While the benefits of gratitude are many, the one that stands out most is the positive impact it has on your physical health. Gratitude is a powerful antidote to stress, which in turn helps you sleep better, eat better and exercise more. Stress can negatively impact your health in multiple ways. It can impair memory and concentration, increase the risk for heart attack or stroke, cause high blood pressure and even lead to depression or anxiety.

Gratitude helps counteract this by reducing irritability and improving moods overall -- making you more likely to smile at strangers! Enjoying life more leads people to engage in more healthy activities such as going outside for walks every day rather than staying indoors glued to their phones all day long (which isn't exactly doing wonders for our brains either!).

Greater empathy and reduced aggression.

• Gratitude is a great way to connect with others.
• Gratitude helps you be more compassionate towards others.
• Gratitude helps you understand your problems aren’t unique.
• Gratitude helps you be more patient with others.

Deeper relationships.

Gratitude is a powerful emotion. When you are grateful for the things and people in your life, it can have a positive impact on every aspect of your life—from work to relationships. One way gratitude can improve relationships is by increasing trust and connection between two people. When you feel grateful for someone or something, you're more likely to open up about yourself, which helps build trust with the person or thing that you're grateful towards. And when you have trust in someone, then it's easier for both parties to express their feelings openly without fear of rejection or judgment from one another. This leads us back around again: sharing more about ourselves helps us connect with others more deeply and intimately than ever before!

Greater happiness.

Being grateful for what you have can actually increase your happiness. In a study by researchers at the University of California, Davis and UC Berkeley, participants who practiced gratitude reported higher levels of positive emotions and lower levels of negative emotions than those who did not. The more grateful people are, the happier they are likely to be.

All in all, gratitude is a powerful tool for improving your life and increasing your happiness. By simply acknowledging what you already have, you can boost your own mood, reduce stress and increase the chances of living a long, healthy life.

Our family at Coaching Season wishes you and yours all the best and a very Happy Thanksgiving! Schedule a free chat with us today CoachingSeason.com