Gratitude

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‘Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative.’

The words in the title of this week’s blog article are lyrics from a very old Bing Crosby song. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1946, (composers Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer; the film was ‘Here Comes the Waves’). The song was originally published in 1944, in the latter half of the Second World War. This is unsurprising; it’s at times when life feels really hard that people can be prompted to reflect on focussing on the upside of life, despite the struggles at hand.

Similarly, last year when the pandemic was at its height, wellness experts, social media influencers and journalist,s encouraged us to focus on kindness and gratitude as an antidote to the difficult life circumstances we were facing. There is good reason for this. Research has found that simply by expressing gratitude for even tiny aspects of our lives, we can increase our sense of wellbeing and happiness. And I mean tiny things: the smell of your morning coffee; being able to have a shower every day; the feel of a blanket or duvet keeping you warm; the feel of your pet’s fur or hair as you stroke it; simply looking at your child playing. These are just a few examples.

Research has also shown that creating a routine of focussing on gratitude in our everyday lives can produce changes in the physiological structure of our brains. These changes to the hypothalamus and the pre-frontal cortex trigger the release of positive endorphins which help us to feel happier and increase our resilience to stress and mental health problems. I think it is truly amazing that something so simple and low cost can bring about such phenomenal benefits. It has to be worth a go, doesn’t it?

It is probably true that we are all worn down by the past 18 months. There are many reasons for this, some simple, some complex. But one of the reasons is the waves of negative messages we receive about what is going on in our daily lives and what the future holds. It’s not only mixed messages about the risk of Covid 19; we can all see the problems with food supply when we shop; we read or hear about the long term lack of transport systems behind this; and, of course, there is the ever-present, background pressure of the climate crisis/emergency.

Experts tell us that human beings have developed to focus on what has the potential to harm us and learn everything we can about those dangers. Knowing as much as we can about dangers mean we are more likely to survive when presented with them. This is the reason that the news we get presented to us is always about the threats we are facing: illness, famine, floods, war, terrorism. Also, in order to give more intellectual space to processing these important, life-saving messages, we naturally diminish our thoughts and considerations on the many good things we have in our lives. We are programmed to quickly take for granted all our benefits. We have phenomenal access to news nowadays and it is so easy to continuously feed ourselves with the stress-provoking messages in the media. There is even a new term for it: doomscrolling.

Take a look at some of the articles and videos below to learn more about starting a gratitude practice. You can make it as simple or comprehensive as you wish. It doesn’t need to cost any money; it will only involve you investing time, and not even a lot of that can help you reap positive benefits.

To remind you again of Bing’s sound advice: ‘You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.’

‘Accentuate the Positive’ by Bing Crosby on Lyrically Unstable on YouTube

‘How to bring more gratitude into your life and improve your mental health as a result’ by Ellen Scott on metro.co.uk

‘The Healing Power of Gratitude. The many ways being grateful benefits us.’ By Lisa Firestone on psychologytoday.com

‘Practicing Gratitude. Ways to Improve Positivity’ by US National Institutes of Health on newsinhealth.nih.gov

‘How to Practice Gratitude’ on mindful.org

‘A 5-Minute Gratitude Practice: Savor the Moment by Tapping into Your Senses’ by Elaine Smookler on mindful.org

‘40 Simple Ways To Practice Gratitude’ by Ciara Conlon on lifehack.org

‘The Gratitude Experiment’ by watchwellcast on YouTube

‘Gratitude is Good for You’ by John Templeton Foundation on youTube

‘The Power of Gratitude in Uncertainty’ by Andy Crisis Wisdom on Headspace on YouTube

‘The Science of Gratitude’ by Tremendousness on YouTube

‘How Gratitude Changes the Brain’ by Melissa Hughes on YouTube