Gratitude and Positivity

Victor was a stubborn and ill-mannered teenager who had a habit of finding fault in everything and everyone. To him, his parents were not wealthy enough. He would complain to his friends about how he wanted to get something but could not because his parents could not afford it. On their part, his parents had tried to get him to understand the value of money and be grateful for what he had, but he refused to learn. Even when they wanted to please him, he would respond with indifference or criticism but never a word of appreciation.?

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As he entered adulthood, his daily demeanor reflected his ungrateful disposition. Every morning began with a scowl, and his grumbling continued throughout the day. This negative attitude made it increasingly challenging for him to accomplish his goals or for anything to go his way. Relationships grew strained, and his overall quality of life suffered. When Victor decides to seek help for his negative mindset and outlook on life, he is stunned at his discovery. Through therapy and self-reflection, he discovered the transformative power of gratitude.

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Recognizing the consequences of his ingratitude, Victor started to change his attitude. He learned to appreciate the love and efforts of his parents, the value of what he already had, and the significance of being thankful. Over time, he mended relationships with his family and friends and began to experience a more fulfilling and joyous life. Seeking help had opened his eyes to the attitude of gratitude, a lesson that would guide him throughout his life, making him a happier, more appreciative, and ultimately, a better person.

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Gratitude is often associated with pleasantness and highly desirable life outcomes. It is certainly not an easy or automatic response to life situations, but our natural response to undesirable consequences is resentment and entitlement.

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Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, decreased materialism, and more because the experience of gratitude encourages us to appreciate what is good in our lives and compels us to pay this goodness forward, (Allen, 2018). More so, it is associated with powerful effects, such as lower stress, higher resilience, and greater happiness overall. Research has found that these benefits extend to marriage as well, fostering positive feelings and a stronger connection between spouses (Macfarlane, 2020)

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Yoshimura and Berzins (2017) also affirm that cultivating gratitude is one of the more straightforward routes to a greater sense of emotional well-being, higher overall life satisfaction, and a greater understanding of happiness. Also, people with a greater level of gratitude tend to have stronger relationships in that they appreciate their loved ones more, and because their loved ones feel the appreciation, they tend to do more to earn it.??

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Armenta, Fritz and Lyubomirsky (2017) affirm that positive emotions expand people's thought-action repertoires and allow them to build psychological, intellectual, and social resources that lead to self-improvement. When we decide to focus on the positive side even in turbulent situations, our minds act fast and bring up ways to leave that negative situation, but when we focus on the negative side of a problem, we keep worrying and get angry over it, then we become stuck, and it affects us mentally and physically.??

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Be kind to yourself and those around you. Remember that people who feel more gratitude also experience more positive and fewer negative feelings daily (Mezielis, 2022).

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References:

• Allen, S., (2018). The Science of Gratitude. John Templeton Foundation. Greater Good Science Centre, UC Berkeley.
• Armenta, C. N., Fritz, M. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2017).?Functions of Positive Emotions: Gratitude as a Motivator of Self-Improvement and Positive Change. Emotion Review, 9(3), 183–190.?doi:10.1177/1754073916669596?
• Macfarlane, J. (2020).?Positive psychology: gratitude and its role within mental health nursing. British Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 9(1), 19–30.?doi:10.12968/bjmh.2019.0040
• Mezielis, C., (2022). The Association between Gratitude and Positive and Negative Affect in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study. Faculty of Behavioural, Management, and Social Sciences Department of Psychology, Health & Technology University of Twente, Enschede
• Yoshimura, S. M., & Berzins, K. (2017).?Grateful experiences and expressions: the role of gratitude expressions in the link between gratitude experiences and well-being. Review of Communication, 17(2), 106–118.?doi:10.1080/15358593.2017.1293836

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