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Happy Parent Series
- Part 1: THIS EPISODE
- Part 2: Four Powerful Ways to Practice Gratitude
- Part 3: Gratitude in Tough Times
- Part 4: Why Pleasure and Success Won’t Make You Happy
- Part 5: The Secret to Enduring Happiness
Over the fall season on my podcast, I’ll be focusing on happiness and parenting. How can parents feel more fulfilled in their parenting vocation? I’ll take a look at the advice of happiness experts and spiritual masters.
I’m beginning the series by exploring how we can cultivate a greater sense of gratitude, because there’s a link between gratitude and happiness. (This gratitude is a little series within the larger happiness series.)
- In this episode, I give a quick run-down on the benefits of gratitude.
- In my next episode, I’ll look at some ways we can cultivate a life of gratitude.
- In another show, I’ll share how we can experience gratitude even in response to setbacks or suffering.
The Benefits of Gratitude
Here’s an outline of what I cover on this episode on the benefits of gratitude:
- Physical/health benefits: Grateful people are healthier than less grateful people, perhaps because they exercise more and have more robust immune systems. They also sleep better.
- Emotional/psychological benefits: People with a grateful disposition have better relationships and experience less stress and depression. They also have better “emotional intelligence” than less grateful people. This means they’re able to understand and control their own emotions, and they’re better able to recognize the emotions of others.
- Spiritual benefits: Cultivating gratitude is the first step to spiritual growth, because sin often begins with a refusal to recognize the gifts we have received from others and from God. When we make gratitude a habit, we develop the virtues of humility, charity, and trust in God.
Resources
Books
Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make you Happier (Robert Emmons). Emmons is one of the leading experts on gratitude and human well-being. This book offers a nice overview of the benefits of gratitude.
The Little Book of Holy Gratitude (Faber). This wonderful book explains (among other things) some of the spiritual benefits of cultivating gratitude.
Articles/Studies
Gratitude Improves Sleep (Science Direct). People who reflect on their blessings before they go to sleep have better sleep quality, perhaps because they are less stressed.
Gratitude and the Perception of Social Support (Science Direct). People with a grateful disposition perceive greater social support around them, and they experience reduced stress and depression.
How Gratitude Combats Depression (Dr. Deborah Serani). Gratitude practices elicit a surge of feel good hormones like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.
Beyond Reciprocity (PsychNet). The role of gratitude in strengthening relationships/communities.
Benefits of Expressing Gratitude: Expressing Gratitude to a Partner Changes One’s View of the Relationship (Lambert, et al.) This is the study I mentioned that looks at how the grateful person’s perception of the gift giver changes. When we thank others and acknowledge a gift, it draw them toward us but it also draws us toward them.
Gratitude and Emotional Intelligence (Neil Peterson). See number three in article.
Are Americans Less Grateful? This article explains the study I mentioned on the show. Americans do probably express gratitude less easily than folks in other cultures, but do we feel less grateful?