Cultivating gratitude
«This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.» Maya Angelou
Scientifically and socially proven, practicing gratitude daily contributes to your health, success and well-being.
In yoga philosophy
Niyamas are one of the 8 limbs of yoga (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (400 CE)). Santosha is a niyama and is loosely translated as contentment. Contentment is in fact not defined as a passive feeling which must be imposed, but as a practice. Very often when we refer to happiness, we actually mean contentment. While being happy is a temporary feeling based on circumstances, being content is a state of mind, regardless of the context.
To practice contentment, even in the difficult times, it is necessary to acknowledge the thing we are thankful for.
Practising gratitude requires training
We are naturally hard-wired to focus on negative feelings and thoughts. Negative traumas have more impacts on our neurones than the positive situations. This is part of our survival instinct, our brain is a threat radar, alerting us about possible dangers . Nowadays, this functionality is mostly causing us to over worry and stress about the future, with no abilities to enjoy the present moment.
Of course, our modern consumer-oriented world is not helping. We are pushed to constantly produce better, reach higher targets, look more attractive, want and have more. Practicing gratitude requires a full re-programming of our way of thinking, and therefore is an exercise. Some of the most successful public personalities have commented on the topic. Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Tim Ferris say they owe their success to maintaining a gratitude journal.
“I got everything because I practiced being grateful”, says Winfrey.
Sciences and gratitude
Scientists and psychology researchers are now convinced. So far, more than 26 studies around the effect of gratitude have concluded that counting the blessings improves mental health, body functions and general quality of life and relationships.
A 2009 NIH study showed that the hypothalamus, the brain part that regulates our metabolism, cell rejuvenation, sleep, appetite and other bodily functions, is active when we feel gratitude. In other words, being grateful improves our sleep, digestion, skin and other systems in our body… A study led by McCraty in 1998 shows that gratitude increases parasympathetic activity, a change beneficial in controlling stress and hypertension. A 2005 study showed that keeping a gratitude journal decreased depression by 30% for the duration of the study.
More generally, studies seem to conclude that being thankful increases vitally and makes you more enthusiastic. The whys and the wherefores no longer matter, as we have enough evidence and examples that being grateful is a game changer.
In addition, it is a great feeling: suddenly we find ourselves being enough, having enough and deeply rooted in the present moment. Opportunities are more visible and we are not afraid to grasp them.
«Whatever I am offered in devotion with a pure heart – a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water – I accept with joy» The Bhagavad Gita. Yoga knew it all along.
What you are grateful for? Let us know in the comments section.
Thank you.
References:
The Appreciative Heart: The Psychophysiology of Appreciation - Rollin McCraty, Ph.D. HeartMath Research Center, Institute of HeartMath
Happierhuman.com
The Neural Basis of Human Social Values: Evidence from Functional MRI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2733324/
Mindvalley Academy mindvalley.com
A white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley
https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf