Gratitude Challenge
Dr Jonny Bloomfield
Helping high performers to avoid burnout and reduce health risks. Health Coach | Speaker | Wellness Consultant
Do you stop to give thanks? I’m sure you do, but do you make it a daily ritual? Do you dedicate time towards intentionally giving thanks for all that is good in your life?
In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly (and consistently) associated with greater happiness. In one gratitude study, 3 groups of participants were asked to write a few sentences each week, focusing on particular topics.?
Group 1 wrote about things they were grateful for that had occurred during the week. Group 2 wrote about daily irritations or things that had displeased them, and the Group 3 wrote about events that had affected them (with no emphasis on them being positive or negative).?
After 10 weeks, those who wrote specifically about gratitude were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. Surprisingly, they also exercised more and had fewer visits to the doctors than those who focused on sources of aggravation.
One reason for this is by sharing and experiencing gratitude leads to the release of oxytocin (the feel-good hormone) and also a reduction in other stress hormones. Gratitude, it seems, helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improves general health, helps deal better with adversity, and builds stronger relationships. It has also shown benefits for sleep, reduction of risks for depression, lowers levels of stress, and improves heart health.
The key thing to do is to create a ritual of giving thanks, ideally on a daily basis. You could try any of these practices to see if there’s one (or more) that you can do everyday:
- Write a Gratitude Journal. Try a “Count your Blessings†exercise by writing down 3 things you’re grateful for.
- Family Gratitude. Before or after dinner, everyone shares 1 thing that they’re grateful for from that day.
- Words of Affirmation. Tell someone why you appreciate them.?Give someone a call.
- Go for a Gratitude Walk. Pay attention to your surroundings using all your senses.
- Acts of Service. Do something kind for someone as a show of appreciation
- Write a Letter. Deliver a handwritten letter to a person from your past who has helped you but you have never fully expressed your gratitude.
Your challenge for the next 7 days is to choose a method to express your gratitude and make it a daily ritual (same time every day).
Need a little motivation? Watch this experiment ??
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Have a great week. Keep up all your good habits.
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Sources:
Digital marketer helping law firms stand out online ?? Websites ??Social Media ??SEO+PPC ?? PR ?? Branding ?? Lead generation ?? Website health checks
2 å¹´Love this, Dr. Jonny. From personal experience, i know this is 100% effective and surprisingly so, seeing as it seems such an irrelevant task. But it really works!