What is GRATITUDE and how is it practiced?

Gratitude, from the Latin word free, "pleasant, grateful", or recognition, is a feeling of appreciation experienced by and/or a similar positive response shown by the recipient of kindness, gifts, assistance, favors, or other kinds of generosity, toward the giver of such gifts.

The experience of gratitude has historically been at the center of the different religions of the world, as well as it has been a topic of interest to ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers and thinkers contemporaries. In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about what is gratitude and how to practice it, with examples, and what are its benefits.

Index

1. what is gratitude
2. benefits of gratitude
3. How to practice gratitude
4. examples of gratitude

If we had to answer the question of what gratitude is, the answer would be related to the definition first coined in 1828 in Webster's famous dictionary: a

If we want to better understand the complexity of this concept and its importance in the scientific field, we must remember that, like many other words, gratitude can have different meanings in relation to the different ethical-philosophical, psychological, social contexts, etc.

To cite just a few examples of gratitude, there are those who consider it a moral virtue, an emotion, an action, a feeling, an attitude or even a personality trait, a social role or even a strategy linked to capacity of coping, also effective in the therapeutic field.

What is the value of gratitude? It is difficult to measure feelings, but the truth is that thanking or being grateful can have very favorable consequences. Next, we will show you the main benefits of gratitude:

• gratitude and happiness: Gratitude brings happiness. Every time something is appreciated there is pleasure, joy and you feel grateful for your progress. If this becomes your habit, you can make the person very happy in life by getting pleasure from its results.
• gratitude and health: gratitude gives a general feeling of strength and will to move forward. A researcher has discovered that there is a strong connection between gratitude and good health by keeping a gratitude journal. By checking it before you go to bed each day, every night would be better and you would wake up the next day refreshed.
• gratitude and profession: The attitude of appreciating people for everything they do, apart from the fact that it makes them stronger, makes them like you. It builds unity and with it the team can achieve a lot as a whole. This helps troubleshoot.
• Gratitude and neurotransmitters: Recently, specialists have begun to refer to gratitude as a natural antidepressant. If gratitude becomes a habit, the effect could be similar to the effects of medication and provide long-lasting contentment and happiness. The only physiological explanation is that it is a positive response on the part of neurotransmitters. And when gratitude is expressed, the brain releases serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that positively affect mood.
• Gratitude and social psychology: Social psychologists believe that gratitude strengthens our relationship with others. It has to do with the feeling that what we have done for others or what others have done for us improves the way we relate to each other.

There are different types of interventions to increase the level of gratitude in people, subdivided into two categories that we will see below.

1. Journal of the three blessings

This method of expressing gratitude has been the most studied and used. An exercise of this type foresees, for example, the journal writing of three things or situations to be thankful for before going to bed. It is a simple and quick technique appreciated by those who practice it, who often choose to continue it despite the end of the intervention.

2. Expressions of gratitude through behavior

When in doubt about how gratitude can be expressed, one of the most used exercises is the writing a thank you letter to the affected person.

In a recent study, people who had to do this exercise had one week to deliver this letter. They were then compared to a control group that had the exercise of writing down their own childhood memories. The results reported an increase in happiness and a decrease in depression in the immediate post-test and after one month for the experimental group.

According positive psychologygratitude is a feeling of appreciation that produces lasting positivity, but it is also a more general feeling directed at life. The difference is in our gaze, in our interpretation of the things that happen to us and those that surround us. In short, showing gratitude allows us to relate differently to each event in our lives and appreciate everything more. Here are some examples of gratitude:

• Feel gratitude and appreciation to the sun that comes out every day to give us its light and warmth and spiritual information of unconditional love for all.
• Feel gratitude for our home that hosts and welcomes us, that is a nest and a refuge and a safe harbor, a place of intimacy and security.
• be thankful for the beauty that nature It gives us and allows us to harmonize our body and connect to universal harmonies.
• be thankful by the chair we're sitting onbecause he welcomes us.
• Feel gratitude for the dove that looks out the window and looks at us or even by co-worker that breaks our boxes because precisely that annoyance shows us parts of ourselves that it is time to consider, nurture, sweeten and love.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is gratitude and how is it practiced?, we recommend that you enter our category of Social psychology.

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• Regulus, M. J. (2021). Start to manage your anxiety, try to be happy and manage your emotions.