![]() Students were randomly assigned to count their blessings once per week or three times per week, or to a wait-list control. Watch: Harvard psychiatrist says this is the secret to happiness A study found differences between participant groups based on how frequently they wrote down five things for which they were thankful. Gratitude interventions may be detrimental when administered too frequently. Lyubomirsky: If the goal is increasing happiness, yes. They see the world in such a vibrant, excited, new way.ĬNN: Is it possible to overdo a gratitude practice? Spending time with children can help with this, too. I have adapted to it, but if a visitor comes and gasps, “Oh my God!” that might make me go from a 60% level of appreciation of the view to 80%. I live in Santa Monica and have an incredibly beautiful view of the ocean. Lyubomirsky: Sharing your world with others helps you see the ordinary details of your life through new eyes, in a fresh way, making you appreciate them as though you were experiencing them for the very first time. towfiqu ahamed/iStockphoto/Getty ImagesĬNN: You mention that introducing a visitor to the things, people and places that you love can increase gratitude. There are lots of nuances, but the goal is to find a practice that fits with who you are at this moment.įor people who like to write, an effective gratitude practice could be writing thank-you notes to friends and family, Lyubomrisky said. One study found that expressing gratitude by composing a narrative or a letter is more powerful than just writing a list. ![]() Some people love writing, so thank-you letters, whether they send them or keep them private, might be helpful. If you’re going through a rough period, maybe the best way to practice gratitude is by spending time with friends and family and discussing what you appreciate. For them, finding a gratitude buddy to talk with might work best. What works is whatever works best for you at that time in your life. We need more preregistered studies, we need bigger studies, but I’m pretty confident in that finding.ĬNN: If happiness and well-being are the goals, what does an effective gratitude practice look like? ![]() Randomized, controlled studies have also demonstrated causation - that well-being and happiness increase for people when they’re prompted to express gratitude in different ways. Lyubomirsky: The correlation between happiness and gratitude has been well-documented. Want to find calm but can’t sit still? Try this walking meditationĬNN: What does research tell us about engaging in gratitude as a practice? Happy mother and daughter enjoying in walk outdoors in park. To be grateful is the opposite of taking good stuff for granted. Gratitude helps us interrupt hedonic adaptation. It’s the reason why the boost we feel when we gain something good in life is usually short-lived. Lyubomirsky: Hedonic adaptation is our remarkable capacity to adjust rapidly to any new circumstance or event. Gratitude helps you deal with challenges and stressors in your life.ĬNN: You write that part of why gratitude can be helpful is because it disrupts “hedonic adaptation.” What do you mean? For example, if someone’s house burns down, that person could focus on the fact that their family survived to help mitigate the pain of everything lost. In a larger sense, gratitude also highlights a big-picture vantage point that helps you cope with adversity. It’s hard to feel jealous, resentful, angry or anxious when you’re also feeling grateful. Research has shown that gratitude can effectively neutralize negative emotions. Sonja Lyubomirsky: Gratitude bolsters well-being by redirecting people’s attention, reframing their interpretations and coloring their memories toward positivity. Penguin BooksĬNN: In “The How of Happiness,” you call gratitude a “metastrategy for achieving happiness.” How does it work? An effective gratitude practice can look different depending on the individual, Lyubomirsky said.
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