“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward.

One of the topics covered in my book Be First Class is practising gratitude and how by doing so it helps to contribute to increased happiness levels. It is also a subject that I cover in my talks and always receives lots of interest from participants.

During my presentations I make mention of some research by Robert A. Emmons and Michael McCullough. They are two of the leading scholars on the topic of gratitude.

They have researched and written about its power to boost happiness. In one of their studies, they carried out research with 3 experimental groups over 10 week period.

  1. The first group was asked to write down five things they were grateful for that had happened in the last week for each of the 10 weeks of the study. This was called the gratitude condition.
  2. The second group was asked to write down five daily hassles from the previous week. This was the hassles condition.
  3. The third group simply listed five events that had occurred in the last week, but not told to focus on positive or negative aspects. This was the events or control condition.

Before the experiment began participants had kept daily journals to chronicle their moods, physical health and general attitudes. These were then used to provide a comparison for after the experimental intervention.

People who were in the gratitude condition felt fully 25% happier – they were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives and they even did almost 1.5 hours more exercise a week than those in the hassles or events condition.

For many years, I have taken a few minutes each day to write down 3 things to be grateful for in a journal.This simple practice helps to remind me, even if I had a challenging day, that there are always things to be grateful for in life. This helps to sustain my happiness levels.

Recently I was really counting my blessings when I reflected on some of the stories in the news. These included school shootings in Florida, USA, civilians being caught up in the conflict in Syria, the number of homeless people having to sleep in sub-zero temperatures in the UK, the number of people having to use food banks and two young children being killed in a hit and run accident. I could include more but I’m sure you get the point.

It made me think about the subject of gratitude even more. What occurred to me as I reflected was that are quite a few things to be grateful for as soon as you wake up in the morning.

This is what I came up with in just a few minutes:

  1. I woke up and I am breathing!
  2. I have healthy eyesight and can see the time on the clock radio
  3. I have a lovely wife and family to share the adventures, blessings and gift of life
  4. I can hear the birds singing
  5. The sun is shining through the bedroom window
  6. I have running water to fill the kettle
  7. There is electricity to power the kettle
  8. I’m loving the music on the digital radio and the quality of sound
  9. There is hot water when I turn on the shower
  10. The fridge has milk for my tea there is juice and fresh fruit for my breakfast and some porridge.

I thought that I have only been awake for a few minutes and already I have discovered so much to be grateful for without really having to think too much. It occurred to me that it’s so easy in the busyness of life to fall into the trap of taking things for granted.

After I’d had these thoughts I came across someone who had created a list of 100 things to be grateful for. They were saying that doing so helps to maintain positivity and happiness levels and promotes an optimistic outlook to life.

This week, why not take a few moments out for reflection and consider what 10 things would be on your gratitude list when you wake up in the morning.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk