We’ve all seen videos about making gratitude lists or being grateful for our everyday lives, but is there any correlation between being grateful and being happy? Today on Lifestyle Lift I want to share with you 4 reasons why being grateful makes you happier.
1. More gratitude equals more happiness
Gratitude had the power to make you feel happier. A study conducted by psychologists from the University of California and the University of Miami confirms this theory.
In one such study, the researchers asked a group of people to write a few sentences every week about a particular topic. One group was instructed to write about things that didn’t make them happy. Another was instructed to write about things that they were grateful for. The control group was instructed to write about things that had occurred but with no focus on being positive or negative.
The group that was instructed to write about things that they were grateful for were far happier and more optimistic about their lives than the group that had focused on things that had occurred in a negative light.
2. Focusing on what’s good
One of the reasons why gratitude can change your life is because it changes your focus. Whatever we focus on, we gravitate towards.
When we live in a state of lack and negativity, we can only notice negative things. It’s easy to see something in a negative light when you’re focused on that. It’s very easy to see all the problems surrounding a situation when your thinking is habitually geared towards that and only that.
In turn, if we try to see things in a positive light, even when problems arise, It’s easier to see problems as manageable or even meaningless.
If you’ve ever met a person who is always positive, you know just how true this statement is. Even when something goes wrong, they look for the silver lining in the situation. If they can’t find one, they simply state that something good will eventually come out of whatever they’re going through.
3. Gratitude gives strength to your goals
Gratitude helps you to succeed by first creating a platform for internal success.
As long as you’re happy, healthy and grateful in your mind, body, and spirit, you can reach for your goals without too much external distraction. But, when you lack these things because you’re unhappy with your current state of affairs, you live in a state of negativity and it’s harder to push forward.
When you’re so focused on things that are wrong with your life, how can you possibly push towards goals that are potentially years away from becoming a reality? You can’t.
4. Improving the quality of life
Your mental health, wellness, your emotional fortitude, spiritual aptitude, emotional hygiene, and your physical strength can all be improved from the simple and basic behavior of gratitude.
Gratitude can change your life by quite literally improving the quality of it. There are studies that have uniquely linked gratitude with life satisfaction. People who are grateful are far more stable in their lives. There’s a stability that exists when you can appreciate the importance of things in your life, no matter what shape, size or form factor they might take on.
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