5 Benefits of Gratitude

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~ Marcel Proust

Appreciation and thankfulness are the ways to live with life. Because gratitude is the right way to live, it has many benefits: 

1.      Health: Grateful people boost their immune system, promote their brain function, alertness, energy, and manage their stress better. 

Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations. ~ Robert Emmons, University of California Davis psychologist,

2.      Happiness: Doing the right things makes you feel good. According to this article, as an example, writing letters of gratitude improves well-being  and happiness

Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude. ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

3.      An effective way to cope with life: Gratitude is the way to get peace of mind. Don’t be angry or jealous.  More than just calmness, thankfulness reduces aggression.  In the face of difficulties think of your strengths and you will be able to overcome them with resolve and determination.

Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties. ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

4.      Better relationships: Thankfulness is the right way to treat people. People like to be acknowledged and appreciated. Express gratefulness to those who have helped you in one way or another. Say thank you to the counter staff who have served you. A simple gesture of smiling at people you meet is a wonderful way to lift the mood of another person.

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.
~ William James

5.      Contentment: Focus on what you have and you will be satisfied and contented. When you pay more attention to what you don’t have, you will never be happy.

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more. ~Brother David Steindl-Rast

Gratitude is the source of our strength to live a life of abundance.