Gratitude.pptx Gratitude
Gratitude.pptx Gratitude.pptx Gratitude.pptx Gratitude.pptx
(Tammara Shaw)
Gratitude is something that everybody could practice and benefit very much from it. There are many different ways to practice gratitude and learn more about it every singe day, but there are also a few key elements to be able to grasp the concept. First, one needs to attempt to practice gratitude daily and make it a routine in their life. In this transformational change, the person may not notice a significant change at first, but give it a week or so and you will see your life enhance right before you. Second, when you practice gratitude you learn to be happy with what you have instead of depending on all the materialistic items that you want. You always have exactly what you need, and when you realize that, it is an amazing feeling. This brings us to the third key element. Once you become satisfied and content with what you do have, you will start being even more grateful for everything in your life weather it is non-tangible, or a simple book that you can pick up each day. Many people take for granted a lot of the things in their life, but watching a simple sunset could bring you the most joy and happiness that you could ever need. (Tammara Shaw)
The word “gratitude” has a number of different meanings, depending on the context. However, a practical clinical definition is as follows—gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself; it is a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation. The majority of empirical studies indicate that there is an association between gratitude and a sense of overall well being. However, there are several studies that indicate potential nuances in the relationship between gratitude and well being as well as studies with negative findings. In terms of assessing gratitude, numerous assessment measures are available. From a clinical perspective, there are suggested therapeutic exercises and techniques to enhance gratitude, and they appear relatively simple and easy to integrate into psychotherapy practice. However, the therapeutic efficacy of these techniques remains largely unknown. Only future research will clarify the many questions around assessment, potential benefits, and enhancement of gratitude.
-Randy A. Sansone MD, Lori A. Sansone MD
(Ian Reed)
Gratitude: /ˈgratəˌt(y)o͞od
Noun
The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Synonyms
gratefulness - thankfulness - thanks - appreciation
: the state of being grateful : thankfulness
- Let me express my sincere gratitude for all your help.
- We remember with gratitude those who died defending our country.
(Ian Reed)
(Tammara Shaw)
Peer Reviewed Articles
An article by Berkeley shows the positive effects of gratitude on the body and mind:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good (Ian Reed)
Psychology Today: Gratitude and Journaling; The Combined Benefits
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/prefrontal-nudity/201211/the-grateful-brain (Ian Reed)
Gratitude can have an overwhelmingly positive effect on overall well being. An article by Harvard discusses the findings of how students well being was influenced by what they were told to write about in their journals. Take a look, it's very interesting.
Here are some links for various activities you can do for practicing gratitude.
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_ways_to_give_thanks
http://www.ucalgary.ca/wellnesscentre/files/wellnesscentre/Practicing%20Gratitude.pdf (Ian Reed)
Many Religions focus on the importance of gratitude in their teachings, an article from Baylor University discusses the results of an experiment conducted researching this connection.
Gratitude in Religion
Sansone, R., Sansone, L. Gratitude and Well Being: The Benefits of Appreciation.Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2010 November; 7(11): 18–22.
This article explains to you what gratitude is from a clinical perspective and how different exercises when practicing gratitude, is able to enhance ones life. You are able to see a completely different view of gratitude coming from a more scientific point of view. This article lets you realize that the effects of gratitude are no joke and the practice of gratitude is truly life changing. (Tammara Shaw)
Algoe, S., Haidt, J., Gable, S. Beyond Reciprocity: Gratitude and Relationships in Everyday Life. Emotion. 2008 June; 8(3): 425-429.
This article uses a study within a sorority to search for an outcome that gratitude is able to promote healthy relationships. The article uses a real college experience to show how gratitude can change your life no matter what age or scene you surround yourself with. You are also able to see the effects that gratitude is able to have on young adults. (Tammara Shaw)
Breen, W., Kashdan, T., Lenser, M., Fincham, F.Gratitude and forgiveness: Convergence and divergence on self-report and informant ratings.Pers Individ Dif. 2010 December 1; 49(8): 932–937.
This article shows a study on how gratitude and forgiveness have a high correlation upon one another and also how forgiveness and gratitude relate to many other factors such as emotional and personality factors. Unknowingly by many people, the power of gratitude may affect your life in many more ways than just bringing positive influences into your life. (Tammara Shaw)
(Tammara Shaw)
Books
The Secret Gratitude Book
The Secret is an international phenomenon that has inspired millions of people to live extraordinary lives. Now The Secret Gratitude Book provides an incredibly powerful tool to live The Secret, and to bring joy and harmony to every aspect of your life. Filled with insights and wisdom from Rhonda Byrne, this beautiful journal offers a framework for practicing the power of gratitude each day, enabling you to attract every magnificent thing you want into your life. (Ian Reed)
Even Happier: A Gratitude Journal for Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
Learn to be Happier. Week by Week. In this week-by-week guided journal, Tal Ben-Shahar offers a full year's worth of exercises to inspire happiness every day. Using the groundbreaking principles of positive psychology that he taught in his wildly popular course at Harvard University and that inspired his worldwide bestseller Happier, Ben-Shahar has designed a series of tools and techniques to enable us all to find more pleasure and meaning in our lives. 52 weeks of new exercises, meditations, and “time-ins” A journal to record your thoughts, feelings, and personal growth Life-changing insights of philosophers, psychologists, artists, writers, scientists, and successful entrepreneurs This is no ordinary self-help book that you read and toss aside. It's a complete, user-driven journal filled with proactive challenges, thought provoking questions, and “time-ins” that allow you to pause and reflect. You can engage in these activities every day to stimulate your creativity, enhance your sense of empowerment, enrich the quality of your life, and, yes, feel Even Happier. (Ian Reed)
The Gratitude Book Project: Celebrating 365 Days of Gratitude
What are you grateful for? The assignment: Answer the question "What are you grateful for?" in 200 words or less. The result: 365 inspirational pieces, one for every day of the year, including: * The soldier who skipped his nightly run and saved his life * The nervous excitement of entering a classroom for the first time...as the teacher * The magic number tally of cars, kids and cats that make a marriage * The everyday front porch where everlasting love was found * The great vision and personal insights gained despite being blind * The treasured handwritten letters from grandparents to an 18-year-old college freshman * The dad who laughs so hard when telling a joke he can t get the punch line out And much more! There are stories of gratitude for our young and not-so-young bodies. The green lights giving us the okay for full speed ahead, and the red ones slowing us down so we can take a breath. Appreciation for refrigerators, red chairs and carrot cake. And the moms, dads, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters who bring smiles every day, plus the fur families of cats, dogs and bunnies who are the happy thoughts of life. There's even thankfulness for the trials that make us stronger. Read them all at once or day by day and enjoy the stories, the laughs and the moments celebrating gratitude. (Ian Reed)
Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy, By: Nancy Leigh DeMoss
This book is a religion based devotional book with exercises to show you how to practice gratitude day by day. It points out how once you accept gratitude into your heart, it can bless you more than you could have even imagined. This book urges you to realize that by being grateful, you are able to push the more negative feelings and thoughts out of your life. (Tammara Shaw)
Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Every Day of Your Life, By: M.J. Ryan
This book allows you to express gratitude and realize that you have everything you need in your everyday life, and that is what will bring you happiness. The author of this book emphasizes that if you are focusing on gratitude and positive thoughts, then you will have no negative conflicting emotions. The power of being filled up by gratitude leaves no more room in our life of these bitter unhappy emotional thoughts. (Tammara Shaw)
Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life, By: Angeles Arrien
This author uses her book as a mental challenge to practice gratitude throughout a full year with creating new foundations each month. This author uses many stories and past experiences to help hide you throughout the year. This book really helps the reader overcome negative thoughts and turn them into into more positive loving grateful thoughts that you can use in every segment of your life. (Tammara Shaw)
(Tammara Shaw)
Media Elements
Robert Emmons: What Good Is Gratitude?
Robert Emmons discusses why practicing gratitude has a trans-formative effect on our social and emotional well-being. (Ian Reed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRV8AhCntXc
Daniel Siegel: What Is Mindsight?
Daniel Siegel explains the idea of "mindsight" and how it can promote mental health. (Ian Reed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jwGU7h2HdY
The Art and Science of Mind-Body Medicine
The wide array of mind-body therapies has been reported to positively influence physical health. Dr. Kevin Barrows is founder and director of mindfulness programs at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, where he helps patients to cope with the stress of everyday life and the stress of illness. He explores the art and science of mind-body medicine. (Ian Reed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLP2gWZuYGQ
Robert Emmons: Challenges to Gratitude
In this video, Robert Emmons talks about the challenges to gratitude. These mainly relate to stress and how to combat it. (Ian Reed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl5i1skE3vg
This video shows you how the power of gratitude is able to open up many new doors for yourself and many of the people around you. The video clip helps you realize that you can start by being grateful for the most simplistic things, such as your own breath. It also highlights how you should look more into the things you have been blessed with instead of focusing on what you don't have at the moment. (Tammara Shaw)
This video shows how a gratitude challenge is able to point out how either the smallest or largest and most simplistic things are what truly makes one genuinely happy. Once you start writing about the things you are grateful for, you can begin to enjoy so many other things throughout your day. You really begin to understand the true power of gratitude and how it can change your life. (Tammara Shaw)
This video points out things in your life that you might take for granted, but when you look at the bigger picture, you're able to be extremely grateful for these objects that are already right in front of you.This clip helps you step back and take a bigger look at everything you have been blessed with. (Tammara Shaw)
(Tammara Shaw)
SUMMARY OF PRACTICE REFLECTIONS:This summary reflection will include lessons learned, as well as suggestions for personal and professional applications of these practices for transformational change.
On any given day a stranger might do something nice for you, hold open a door, return a smile, or even pay for your drink while you wait in line, but how many of us truly notice when to be grateful? You may go through a whole day and not even notice the 100 things that you should smile about, that's why my first practice this semester was the practice of gratitude.
Honestly, at first I chose this topic because I thought it would be easy, easy to notice and easy to write about I mean you can always be grateful for so many simple things! Take our lists for example, Ms. McCormick asked us to write about 100 things we are grateful for, at first, I bet it was hard to come up with the first 20, but then you got rolling and suddenly everything that was just a simple pleasure became something rewarding in your life, and 100 things seemed to not be enough. I know that once I started writing I had a hard time cutting my list down, friends, family, life, and even just something like chapstick were things to be grateful for, I mean, who isn't thankful to have chap stick here in flag on a nice dry day!? Simple enough right? So I decided to dig deeper. One of our requirements was how were to track our participation in our practice, I chose to involve my roommate. Once a week (on Friday, before the "long" weekends) my roommate and I would sit down and discuss 3 things that we were grateful for that week, and no it couldnt not be something trivial like chapstick (although a blessing from the gods). It made me step back and think, it really made me think.
During one of the weeks I was practicing gratitude my friends mother became hospitalized after a serious stroke, to which she ended up losing a part of her brain, this got me thinking. Family, yes I am grateful for family, everyone can roll that right off their tongue without even thinking, but more importantly my family is healthy, and my family is safe. This is one example of many that taught me that gratitude is not about just being thankful for something it's about realizing what you have not in comparison to someone else but what you have when you aren't looking (what you shouldn't take for granted).
I think this practice can be used in all aspects of life whether its personal or professional. I think some businesses might even benefit greatly by teaching employees the great aspects behind gratefulness, the fact that its giving them a pay check or that they even have a job. Something as simple as me going home for the summer because I have a summer job lined up didn't hit me until this reflection journal, some people don't even have a job. More importantly though gratitude can help on a personal level. We all read and commented about how gratitude can make a person healthier, not just in the aspect that it makes you more aware of life but in the fact that it literally can make a person healthier physically. For example my roommate was thankful for her health, but she realized she was missing a healthier aspect of her life and started going to the gym. She then became a self-aware personal grateful for the full health and potential of her body.
Overall I am a happier person being able to write about gratitude for my journal assignment, it helped me open my eyes to a world important to me and show friends and family that what we have we can't take for granted! :)
(Elizabeth Washko)
Summary
My other transformational practice was gratitude. I really enjoyed this participating in this practice because it opens your eyes to what you really have and get to experience every day of your life. Before taking part in this exercise I took so much for granted and was never really mindful of everything life has to offer. By actively writing down what I was grateful for each day I started to see just how wonderful much of what we have truly is. It also made me realize that nothing I am grateful for is small; examples of this would be things like running water, sanitation services, the love of friends and family, and especially my health. I think each day we walk through life not thinking twice about what we have and how we live, but when you really start to examine everything you start to realize just how grateful you should be. (Ian Reed)
Summary of Reflection
Just as there are personal practices for raising one’s level of consciousness, there are collective practices by means of which an organization can do the same. This idea implies that we cannot improve the conditions of society without raising the level of consciousness of individuals. It also implies that social reform must include the work of facilitating deeper personal change. This semester I had the pleasure of personally experiencing Inspiration/Altruism and Bodywork. The bodywork I experienced was kinesiology and reiki at the peaceful horizon message therapy center in Peoria, AZ. They provided amazing service and brought awareness to my life.
At first it was very difficult to be altruistic; these days’ people are such skeptics and are suspicious towards others who want to do good things. I started off my journey the weekend of February 10, a good friend of mine became very ill and was struggling to care for her four kids. I offered to babysit for the weekend. When she tried to pay me for my service I refused. I can see in her eyes how much babysitting meant to her. The next weekend I had a distressed friend, when she called me she could barley talk better yet breathe. I lent her a listening ear and inspired her to tackle her problems. During that same week I found the cutest little Scottish terrier. I can tell she belonged to someone because she was well groomed and her coat was shiny as a diamond. I kept her at my house, feed her and played with her until her owners came and got her four days later. I was starting to like this altruistic act. I was feeling great. Through my acts I was able to remind myself how powerful my opportunities to give can be. It gave me some sense of balance. I didn’t feel the need or desire to seek reimbursement. I felt my soul had been cleansed; I had a feeling of renewal.
Lessons Learned
From my first practice I learned Altruism involves the unselfish concern for other people. It involves doing things simply out of desire to help, not because you feel obligated out of duty, loyalty, or religious reasons. These acts are probably things we do every day without even noticing them. These simple acts may involve holding the door open for someone, listening to a friend, donating money, or rescuing a small puppy. The lesson learned for me is doing these selfless acts will bring you joy and happiness. When we expect things from others because we helped them, it is only then we feel stress and less joy. By expecting something in return for your own act of kindness we tend to feel disappointed when that person does not return the same act of kindness. I learned to give and act with an open heart. This act has changed my state of mind and my sense of well-being.
In closing, I didn’t have any bad experiences. I loved the practices I got to participate in and I plan to continue them in my life. I hope you all had the same amazing experiences. My suggestion is before you go into any new act clear your mind and body of any negative thoughts. Enjoy your experience with an open mind, heart, and soul so you can reap the benefits. (Shelita J Pauley)