It is not breaking news to hear that being thankful makes us happier. Researchers have been studying the positive effects of gratitude on mental health for decades. Do a quick search on the benefits of gratitude for mental health and you will find scores of articles and studies done by universities and agencies all over the world basically telling you the same thing: practicing gratitude and thankfulness improves your mental health and makes you feel happier, healthier, and more connected.
Not only do we have the research, but we also have our own lived experiences. I doubt too many people would argue the fact that being thankful makes them feel good. Do another search and you will find quotes from people ranging from Shakespeare to Willy Nelson about how practicing gratitude makes you a happier person.
Above all of this, we also have God’s Word that tells us over and over to remember to be thankful. Truthfully, I love it when science confirms something that God has been telling us to do basically since the beginning of time. It is a reminder that God has designed us and made us to live in this world he created, and has given us instructions on how to do so in a way that helps us to thrive.
But how does it help us to thrive? Why is it good for us to be thankful? Below is a list of ways that gratitude helps us thrive mentally, physically, relationally and spiritually.
Mentally- Do you ever get stuck in thinking about all of the things that you don’t have, instead of all of the things that you do? Do you ever find yourself measuring your own value based on how you compare to others, instead of appreciating your own uniqueness and the unique gifts of others? Practicing being thankful can help you to get unstuck from those negative thinking patterns. The mental benefits of gratitude help us to change our natural negative habits of thinking, and create new positive patterns. When we practice gratitude, it causes our brain to release serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that help us to feel happiness and pleasure. Practicing gratitude on a regular basis can actually help to “rewire” the brain by creating new neural pathways (thanks to that increase in production of serotonin and dopamine). That basically means you can create new habits of thinking and being thankful will become more natural. If you are out of the habit, practicing gratitude on a regular basis might not feel natural at first, and it may even feel hard or uncomfortable, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Practice the behavior (or way of thinking) and the feelings usually follow. Over time, noticing things that you have to be thankful for and expressing gratitude and appreciation will become more of your natural way of thinking.
Physical benefits- There is a huge connection between our mental health and our physical health. If you work to improve one, it often affects the other, and this is just further proof of that. Studies have shown that gratitude practices help reduce blood pressure and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (the part of our nervous system that is responsible for helping our body to get into a state of “rest and digest”.) It reduces cortisol levels which helps us to feel less stress. Studies have even shown that it can improve the quality of our sleep (which makes sense if we have lower cortisol levels and our bodies are in a more relaxed state). These things tied together show that practicing thankfulness and gratitude can help us not just mentally feel better, but to also physically feel better.
Benefits for relationships- Serotonin and dopamine go up when people express gratitude, but they also go up when people receive gratitude. Try saying thank-you in your house more often. Pay attention to and verbally notice the positive things that people do, like when someone takes out the trash, or shows kindness in some way. Write someone a thank-you note or send a text of appreciation to a friend. You may be surprised how those positive acts of gratitude can help you to feel more connected in your relationships. Showing appreciation for each other helps us to move away from a mindset that is only focused on ourselves and our own abilities to meet our needs, and it creates an environment where it is good and healthy to give and receive help from others and appreciate each other’s strengths and abilities.
Spiritual benefits- Along the same lines of learning to see outside of ourselves, practicing gratitude can have spiritual benefits and remind us that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. It reminds us of who God is and who we are in him. It helps us to focus on what is true, instead of our own hard situations.
Why is it good for us to remember God’s blessings? First, let me explain a term in psychology that is labeled by researchers Shai Davidai and Thomas Gilovich as headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry. This term tells us that we have a bias in our thinking that causes us to be more likely to first think of and notice the barriers or hard things in our lives instead of the blessings. In terms of riding a bike, we notice a gust of wind against us (headwind) more than the wind that comes from behind (tailwind) and gives us a push. One study they performed to demonstrate this showed that football fans of various teams all believed that their favorite teams were given especially grueling schedules. This affects our memory, too. Another study showed that siblings remember their parents treating the other sibling better than them. Personally, I can easily remember how hard certain classes were in school, compared to the classes that had less work and lower expectations. We often remember the obstacles we had to overcome to achieve a goal, more than we remember or recognize the ways we were helped by systems, situations, and other outside forces.
So what does this have to do with thanking God? Headwind/tailwind asymmetry reminds us that our minds bend towards remembering the hard. Israel, when they wandered in the desert for 40 years, grumbled and complained. They had to be reminded that it was God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. It was God who fed them, protected them, and guided their way to the land he had promised them. We, like Israel, can find it easy to remember the negative things we have endured and had to overcome, instead of remembering the ways that God has rescued us. We naturally remember our hardships. They are often the focus of our stories. But the Bible is full of reminders of where we need to put our focus- indicative statements that tell us who God is and what he has done. 1 Peter 2:24 reminds us that Jesus bore our sins, and because of his sacrifice, his wounds have healed ours. In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that we are going to have troubles in this world, but to remember that he has already overcome the world. These are reminders to be thankful that we are not alone in facing our battles, or in healing our hurts. In expressing gratitude, it is also a reminder that God loves us because He is good, not because we are good. Ephesians 2:4-10 reminds us that it is God who is rich in mercy and love, and has saved us by grace, not as a result of our own works or merit.
In remembering to express our thankfulness to God, it helps us to trust him and want to follow him. In remembering the indicatives (those statements that tell us who God is and what he has done) it makes us want to follow the imperatives (statements that give us instructions.) Remember, God has designed this world. The instructions He gives us tells us how to thrive in His world. When we practice gratitude, we see these instructions as a gift of love, not as constraints, orders from a tyrant, or a list of things we need to do to earn God’s love. We want to make the world a better place, and love our neighbor.
Practicing gratitude and thankfulness is beneficial in so many ways, and there are so many ways to go about doing it more. Set aside a few minutes before bed to pray and thank God for his blessing, keep a running list in a journal of things that you are thankful for, and add to it regularly. You can also go back and look at it when it feels hard to remember. Make a habit of sending notes or texts of thanks or gratitude on a regular basis. Set an alarm on your phone for a random time in the day, and then when it goes off, take that moment to pause and recognize something you can be thankful for in that moment. Find your own ways to remember to practice gratitude, and enjoy all of the benefits it brings!
Comments