{"id":118,"date":"2010-11-25T05:54:26","date_gmt":"2010-11-25T05:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html"},"modified":"2010-11-25T05:54:26","modified_gmt":"2010-11-25T05:54:26","slug":"thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html","title":{"rendered":"Thanksgiving and the power of gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Another Thanksgiving is here &#8211; and another opportunity to express gratitude for all God has given us. While, in reality, everyday we&#8217;re alive offers that same opportunity, it&#8217;s good to have a day (actually a glorious four-day weekend for many) dedicated to reminding us to grateful. <\/p>\n<p>Besides being &#8220;right,&#8221; research shows being grateful is actually good for us in all kinds of tangible ways. Here&#8217;s some research findings on how gratitude can improve our daily lives from the <a href=\"http:\/\/psychology.ucdavis.edu\/Labs\/emmons\/PWT\/index.cfm?Section=1\">Emmons Lab<\/a> which studies the effect of gratitude at UC Davis in California: <\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\"><\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">In an experimental comparison, those who<br \/>\nkept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported<br \/>\nfewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more<br \/>\noptimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or<br \/>\nneutral life events (Emmons &amp; McCullough, 2003).<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">A related benefit was observed in the realm<br \/>\nof personal goal attainment:&nbsp;Participants who kept gratitude lists were more<br \/>\nlikely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic,<br \/>\ninterpersonal and health-based) over a two-month period compared to subjects in<br \/>\nthe other experimental conditions. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided<br \/>\nexercises) with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive<br \/>\nstates of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy<br \/>\ncompared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison (ways in which<br \/>\nparticipants thought they were better off than others).&nbsp;There was no difference<br \/>\nin levels of unpleasant emotions reported in the three groups.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">Participants in the daily gratitude<br \/>\ncondition were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal<br \/>\nproblem or having offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles<br \/>\nor social comparison condition. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">In a sample of adults with neuromuscular<br \/>\ndisease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high<br \/>\nenergy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more<br \/>\noptimistic ratings of one&#8217;s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality,<br \/>\nrelative to a control group. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"margin-top: 0in\" type=\"disc\">\n<li>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span><span><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman\">Children who practice grateful thinking<br \/>\nhave more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick,<br \/>\n&amp; Emmons, 2008).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/ul>\n<p>So, it seems God, in His Divine Wisdom, has wired us to function better when we&#8217;re grateful. Being grateful feels good and is good for us. That&#8217;s something to be grateful for.<\/p>\n<p>As for me, I am thankful for God&#8217;s unbounding mercy in my life. I&#8217;m thankful for a great wife, family and friends who have put up with me and helped me during times when I felt helpless and didn&#8217;t even want to put up with myself. There have been a few priests who have shown me kindness and wisdom during tough times in my life, as well. I&#8217;m thankful to them and to everyone else who has helped me along the way &#8212; including those I may have forgotten. I&#8217;m thankful for the enjoyment I get from writing and the sense of purpose it gives me. I&#8217;m thankful to be working and for my overall health. I&#8217;m thankful to be living in a free country where we are all free to express our opinions. I&#8217;ve also had some great pets over the years, including a cute little dog named Charlie who joined our household this year. I&#8217;m thankful for the inspiration I get from all the truly good people in this world. And I&#8217;m thankful for the beauty of the world itself. I should remember all these things the next time my computer acts up or some other triviality gets under my skin.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Here are some pretty good quotes on the subject of gratitude <a href=\"http:\/\/www.quotegarden.com\/gratitude.html\">QuoteGarden.com<\/a>:<br \/><i><br \/>If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, &#8220;thank you,&#8221; that would<br \/>\nsuffice<\/i>.&nbsp; ~Meister Eckhart<\/p>\n<p><i>When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at<br \/>\nChristmas time.&nbsp; Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with<br \/>\nlegs?<\/i>&nbsp; ~G.K. Chesterton<br \/><i><br \/>The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped<br \/>\nyou.<\/i>&nbsp; ~John E. Southard<br \/><i><br \/>Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture<\/i>.&nbsp; ~Kak Sri<!--contest winner 20101113, http:\/\/twitter.com\/kaksri\/status\/3604762373128193--><\/p>\n<p><i>As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself<br \/>\ndaily.&nbsp; The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning<br \/>\nupon a blessed world.&nbsp; <\/i>~Terri Guillemets<\/p>\n<p><i>If a fellow isn&#8217;t thankful for what he&#8217;s got, he isn&#8217;t likely to be thankful for<br \/>\nwhat he&#8217;s going to get.&nbsp;<\/i> ~Frank A. Clark<\/p>\n<p><i>The unthankful heart&#8230; discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep<br \/>\nthrough the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every<br \/>\nhour, some heavenly blessings!&nbsp; <\/i>~Henry Ward Beecher<br \/><i><br \/>Praise the bridge that carried you over.<\/i>&nbsp; ~George Colman<\/p>\n<p><i>He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but<br \/>\nrejoices for those which he has.<\/i>&nbsp; ~Epictetus<br \/><i><br \/>Gratitude is the best attitude.<\/i>&nbsp; ~Author Unknown<\/p>\n<p><i>Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of<br \/>\nour thanksgiving.&nbsp;<\/i> ~W.T. Purkiser<br \/><i><br \/>If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness.&nbsp; It will change your<br \/>\nlife mightily.&nbsp;<\/i> ~Gerald Good<\/p>\n<p><i>There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude.&nbsp; It is<br \/>\naccompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently<br \/>\nrewarded by the performance.<\/i>&nbsp; ~Joseph Addison<\/p>\n<p><i>Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.<\/i>&nbsp; ~Estonian Proverb <\/p>\n<p><i>Thou hast given so much to me,<br \/>Give one thing more, &#8211; a grateful<br \/>\nheart;<br \/>Not thankful when it pleaseth me,<br \/>As if Thy blessings had spare<br \/>\ndays,<br \/>But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.<\/i><br \/>~George Herbert<\/p>\n<p>There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful<br \/>\npeople.&nbsp; ~R.H. Blyth<\/p>\n<p><i>As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation<br \/>\nis not to utter words, but to live by them.<\/i>&nbsp; ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy<\/p>\n<p><i>We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.<\/i>&nbsp;<br \/>\n~Cynthia Ozick<br \/><i><br \/>Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things<\/i>.&nbsp; ~Horace<\/p>\n<p><i>Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not<br \/>\ngiving it.<\/i>&nbsp; ~William Arthur Ward<\/p>\n<p>Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another Thanksgiving is here &#8211; and another opportunity to express gratitude for all God has given us. While, in reality, everyday we&#8217;re alive offers that same opportunity, it&#8217;s good to have a day (actually a glorious four-day weekend for many) dedicated to reminding us to grateful. Besides being &#8220;right,&#8221; research shows being grateful is actually&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,16,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-gratitude"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Thanksgiving and the power of gratitude - Catholics Media and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thanksgiving and the power of gratitude - Catholics Media and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Another Thanksgiving is here &#8211; and another opportunity to express gratitude for all God has given us. While, in reality, everyday we&#8217;re alive offers that same opportunity, it&#8217;s good to have a day (actually a glorious four-day weekend for many) dedicated to reminding us to grateful. Besides being &#8220;right,&#8221; research shows being grateful is actually&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholics Media and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-11-25T05:54:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. 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Besides being &#8220;right,&#8221; research shows being grateful is actually&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html","og_site_name":"Catholics Media and Culture","article_published_time":"2010-11-25T05:54:26+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html","name":"Thanksgiving and the power of gratitude - Catholics Media and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-11-25T05:54:26+00:00","dateModified":"2010-11-25T05:54:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2010\/11\/thanksgiving-and-the-power-of-gratitude.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thanksgiving and the power of gratitude"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/","name":"Catholics Media and Culture","description":"Catholic Church News and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}