Research Proves Benefits of Gratitude

The word gratitude comes from the Latin gratia, meaning grace, or gratefulness. Its root is linked to kindness, beauty and giving (Emmons & Shelton, 2002). When I feel grateful, I can connect with the feeling of being more beautiful. I feel more beauty on the inside, I feel kinder, softer to myself and others.

We can express gratitude towards others, something greater than self (like nature or Source) and towards self. Gratitude as an idea is woven through all of the major religions and seems to connect people to one another and something more than the self.

For me it brings me into the moment, into the ‘now’. When I am truly grateful for what I am witnessing, doing, being, being with, being offered, receiving. In any moment there is always so much to be grateful for. It is just a matter of gently turning the mind in that direction.

Turning the mind toward gratitude. Tomorrow I will post some ideas to help with that turning. One to get going with is journaling one thing a day you are grateful for. Just one. It might be the sun, or your home, or a relationship. Choose one thing and be grateful for.