CHENNAI : Eat less junk and exercise often is a proven formula for good physical health. But what about mental health which is an oversized bowl filled with sweet, sour and spiced-up emotions and experiences? Gratitude, says Shawn Achor, Harvard researcher and author. “Writing down three things you’re grateful for every day for 21 days in a row significantly increases your level of optimism, and it holds for the next six months,” he says.
A quick Google search will yield several results about the science of gratitude directly related to better mental health. A study in December 2017 by Christina M Karns, William E Moore, and Ulrich Mayr in their paper, The Cultivation of Pure Altruism via Gratitude, found that people with higher levels of gratitude appeared to have an altruistic brain, as shown by the response of their ventromedial prefrontal cortex and other brain areas associated with feelings of reward. The area in the brain is responsible for learning and decision-making process.
“Gratitude works through neuroplasticity in creating new neural pathways that increases focus through the prefrontal cortex and lowers stress and fear by activating the ‘emotional thermostat’ called the amygdala,” said Margaret Stockley, founder of the Professional Organization for Wellness Certification, in an interview with Elite Daily.
Count your blessings
A muscle, a notebook and a pen. Three key tools to write gratitude notes, which feature heavily in Mumbai-based Suvalaxmi Chakraborty’s life. In 2015, Chakraborty started attending the Ekatva Gita classes, which focuses on spiritual healing and transformation. One of the core lessons she took away from their sessions is that incorporating gratitude into your life doesn’t just change your attitude, it also changes the structure of your brain.
Writing down gratitude notes soon became her daily ritual. The initial days were overwhelming, she says, adding, “I’d run out of people or incidents to be thankful for and it became repetitive. The process gets better with time and experience. After a point, you feel from within and the thoughts become free-flowing. You will start being grateful for indirect things like the food on your plate, to the person who cooked, and to the farmer who cultivated the vegetables.
You start noticing things that were once considered insignificant. It might be their job to do those things, but do we acknowledge it? It’s the little and basic things like a safe flight that we often ignore. The more you appreciate things, the more the universe will conspire for good moments in return,” says, Chakrobroty, founder and director of Espandere Advisors.
Notes of thanks
What is a gratitude journal? It is a record of all that you are thankful for in your life — daily. The milkman who brings milk every morning, the cab driver who ensures a safe ride to office, the conservancy worker who cleans your streets. The list is endless. Taking a moment to acknowledge the goodness that others bring in our life helps us refocus on the have and not the lack.
Chennai-based Ruchi Mohunta, a positive psychologist, believes that the seed of gratitude sown at a young age reaps good mental health benefits. Mohunta and her teenage daughter Parthivi hold a gratitude pebble in hand every night while discussing and expressing their thanks for the day’s happenings. “I started maintaining a gratitude journal four years back.
I divide my clients and friends into two groups on WhatsApp. They are asked to journal the things they’re grateful for so that it becomes a habit in 21 days. I call it gratitude challenge. There’s also gratitude shower, where you recollect things you’re grateful for while having a shower. People who don’t have time can be grateful this way too. I’m practising what I’m preaching. My daughter follows it. It’s called role modeling. Unless you do, you cannot expect people to listen to you,” shares Ruchi.
Gradual growth
So how difficult is it to say thanks? Until a few years back, Mangesh Kishty VP & BU head of Luminaries, Eveready Industries India Ltd, was outspoken and temperamental. Negativity clouded his thoughts and decision-making. He was seeking a solution when he decided to check out Ekatva Gita’s monthly workshops. Gratitude, he soon found, is a rich emotion. “One of my key lessons was on gratefulness.
I stopped comparing my life with others and started valuing things I already have in my life. I realised that I’m only an atom in the universe and it’s a collective energy that’s contributing to the happenings in my life. The relationship with my wife and people around me started flowering. My anxiety, body aches and tension reduced. I started feeling optimistic. We have a gratitude journal as part of the sessions. I don’t fill my journal regularly, but whenever time permits. But by writing, the thoughts get registered in the mind. It’s never too late to start,” shares Kishty, who became cognisant of others’ contributions in his life through his gratitude notes.
While the science of gratitude might be a more recent area of rich research, Oprah Winfrey started a gratitude journal in 1996. Every day, she wrote down five things she was grateful for. “You have to physically write them down because there is power in the words. Even simple things like fresh flowers or someone held the door open for you, if you consciously go through the day and acknowledge, you are more alive and receptive to things that come in your life,” she says, in a YouTube video.
According to Dr Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a leading scientific expert on the science of gratitude, being grateful can have a dramatic and lasting effect on your life, “Gratitude reduces lifetime risk for depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, and is a key resiliency factor in the prevention of suicide.” He asserts that being thankful can block toxic emotions such as envy, resentment, regret, and depression.
Echoing his findings, Mohunta explains, “When positive emotions are let out, the endomorphin level in the brain is enhanced. Dopamine and serotonin, the two neurotransmitters, are secreted in larger quantities, resulting in happiness and increasing productivity.”
Get IT going
Deepa Shankar, a psychology student and a personal assistant to Kartika Nair, the founder at SynchroShakti, a personal development brand, believes in the law of attraction. Writing down positive things every day reflects in one’s wellbeing and helps attract similar grateful moments, she asserts. “We’re so caught up chasing after things. All it takes is five minutes to be grateful. Find reasons, look for moments, people and the good things that come your way.
This will ease the process. Every day after meditation, I write down. Gratitude is a gradual process. You don’t feel the results immediately. But it reflects in your wellbeing,” says Shankar.Gratitude is a currency that only increases in its value and the practice of saying thanks is a nourishing experience for the brain muscles. Because after all, saying thank you with reckless abandon has no side effects.
Gratitude Apps
Gratitude
Personal Growth and Affirmations on Android and iOS has a 21-day challenge to make journaling a habit. You make an entry after making that day’s notes. The home page has a list of journals from fellow users that you can read to get inspired.
Positive ripple effect
The Little Book of Gratitude by Robert A Emmons, a positive psychologist, throws light on the benefits of gratitude and teaches easy techniques to foster gratitude every day. It also includes an 8-week gratitude plan. Through easy practices such as keeping a daily gratitude journal, writing letters of thanks, and meditating on the good we have received, we can improve our health and wellbeing, enhance our relationships, encourage healthy sleep, and heighten feelings of connectedness.