{"id":1936,"date":"2021-09-24T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T09:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2021-09-24T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T09:30:17","slug":"gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/2021\/09\/24\/gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative.\u2019<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The words in the title of this week\u2019s 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 \u2018Here Comes the Waves\u2019). The song was originally published in 1944, in the latter half of the Second World War. This is unsurprising; it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s fur or hair as you stroke it; simply looking at your child playing. These are just a few examples.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

To remind you again of Bing\u2019s sound advice: \u2018You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Accentuate the Positive\u2019<\/a> by Bing Crosby on Lyrically Unstable on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u2018How to bring more gratitude into your life and improve your mental health as a result\u2019<\/a> by Ellen Scott on metro.co.uk<\/p>\n

\u2018The Healing Power of Gratitude. The many ways being grateful benefits us<\/a>.\u2019 By Lisa Firestone on psychologytoday.com<\/p>\n

\u2018Practicing Gratitude. Ways to Improve Positivity\u2019<\/a> by US National Institutes of Health on newsinhealth.nih.gov<\/p>\n

\u2018How to Practice Gratitude\u2019<\/a> on mindful.org<\/p>\n

\u2018A 5-Minute Gratitude Practice: Savor the Moment by Tapping into Your Senses\u2019<\/a> by Elaine Smookler on mindful.org<\/p>\n

\u201840 Simple Ways To Practice Gratitude\u2019<\/a> by Ciara Conlon on lifehack.org<\/p>\n

\u2018The Gratitude Experiment\u2019<\/a> by watchwellcast on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u2018Gratitude is Good for You\u2019<\/a> by John Templeton Foundation on youTube<\/p>\n

\u2018The Power of Gratitude in Uncertainty\u2019<\/a> by Andy Crisis Wisdom on Headspace on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u2018The Science of Gratitude\u2019<\/a> by Tremendousness on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u2018How Gratitude Changes the Brain\u2019<\/a> by Melissa Hughes on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u2018Mental health: What is doomscrolling and how can we stop it<\/a>?\u2019 by Kate Whiting onweforum.org (World Economic Forum)<\/p>\n

\u2018What Is Doomscrolling? Experts Explain Why We Do it\u2014And How to Stop\u2019<\/a> by Korin Miller on health.com<\/p>\n

\u2018How to Stop Doomscrolling\u2019<\/a> on BBC iplayer on YouTube<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018Do you \u201cdoomscroll\u201d \u2013 If so, here\u2019s how to stop\u2019<\/a> by the World Economic Forum on YouTube<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative.\u2019 The words in the title of this week\u2019s 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68830,"featured_media":1937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[124],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1938,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions\/1938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/healthandwellbeing-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}