As the temperature begins to drop and the lines at the airport gradually get longer, it’s safe to assume that Thanksgiving is right around the corner. For some, this holiday can bring about a sense of dread, as family gatherings may induce stress, and cooking copious amounts of food can become tiresome. We become so consumed in the cleaning, planning, and traveling that the true purpose of Thanksgiving often gets pushed to the back burner – which is practicing gratitude.
Most notably mentioned during Thanksgiving, gratitude is a key component in cultivating a happy and meaningful life. However, for many of us, it’s something that gets easily overlooked in the scheme of our everyday obligations. I often find that I’m stressed and angered most easily when I haven’t made an effort to think about what I’m grateful for. Giving thanks creates an instantaneous mood shift, and it also comes with major health benefits that last way beyond the holiday season.
Because the body and mind are so closely connected, the way you think and the emotions you feel all have a direct effect on your physical health. That means that holding onto negative emotions, such as anger, bitterness, or resentment, can actually harm your body.
In a study conducted by Joel Wong, Ph.D., and Joshua Brown, Ph.D. 300 college students seeking mental health counseling were split up into three groups. The first group was advised to write three thank-you notes per week to others, the second group was told to write deeply about their most negative experiences, while the third group did no writing activity at all.
The results they obtained from the gratitude group were astonishingly positive. This group reported significantly better mental health than the other two groups because of the letters they wrote while receiving counseling. The group also found that thanking others for their help instead of focusing on their negative behavior liberated the group from harboring toxic emotions in general.
Processing negative emotions are important because this ultimately helps you heal from unpleasant experiences. However, ruminating on the bad times instead of being grateful for what they’ve taught you will only trap you in a state of perpetual negativity. Learning to look at any experience and pick out its positive aspects is a skill that needs to be acquired over time, but can become adopted into your life permanently with practice.
The easiest way to start practicing gratitude is to think of at least three good things that happened to you each day right before you fall asleep at night. This trains your brain to focus on the positive, and move away from a victim or defeatist mentality. Negativity is inevitable, but controlling your response to it is what enables you to learn from it and not let it define you.
Every bad relationship taught you something new about yourself. Every embarrassing moment has the potential to be the funniest party story of all time. Every mistake shows you what you should seek to avoid the next time around. Everything has a purpose, so why not look at it in a positive light?
This Thanksgiving, I encourage you to practice gratitude. But once you wake up from your turkey-induced power nap and begin to move forward, remember how much better you feel when you give thanks, and continue to spread this positivity to those around you. You never know who can desperately benefit from hearing the words, “thank you.”