Gratitude Enhances our Personal and Social Lives

Gratitude affects our lives on every level, whether it's personal gratitude, social gratitude or cultural based gratitude.

There are many benefits of personal gratitude; grateful people are happier, healthier and are less likely to suffer from mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Showing gratitude helps us to develop a positive mental attitude. When we put gratitude at the forefront of our mind, we actively seek out things to be grateful for, it makes it difficult if not impossible to dwell on the negative things in life.

Just as money appreciates in value, if we show gratitude, the people, places and things we surround ourselves with increase in value. It can change our whole life perspective.

One sociological experiment that exemplified this was when a lecturer asked his audience to count how many people were wearing green. He then asked the students to close their eyes. He asked the students 'How many people are wearing red?' Obviously, the students were unable to answer because their focus had been on green, not red. Likewise if we are intently focussed on the positive, looking for moments to be thankful for, we won't notice the negatives, and these negatives will actually diminish!

Gratitude also impacts us socially to positive effect. Social gratitude can help bridge the generation gap between children and the elderly!

Noticing acts of kindness creates a common ground, a basis to build stronger relationships. Expressing gratitude makes us feel more involved, it makes us feel like we are contributing to society. It helps us to build self-confidence, makes us more outgoing and reduces feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Gratitude makes us more empathetic; it makes our whole environment more positive and kinder.

We can see that gratitude is beneficial to our lives on a personal and social level. We can all improve our lives through the power of gratitude, making it a way of life.

This will make the whole world a better place!