Spending more time thinking about what you’ve got, is less stressful than spending a lot of time worrying about what you don’t.
While we often speak of “having gratitude” it is really more about being something than having something. In his April 2011 conference talk: “As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten”
http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng
Elder D. Todd Kristofferson (quoting Elder Dallin H. Oaks) spoke of the importance of becoming. “The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become. It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.” While it is important to have gratitude, it is more important to “be” grateful. To have a grateful heart and to become one of the meak of the earth.
Many years ago while working with adults with disabilities one of the women I worked with who, like many others, had significant and chronic physical problems. When she would visit with me and I would ask how she was doing, she would often say that ‘her little finger was doing great.’ She would almost always focus on what was going well in spite of what was going wrong. This doesn’t mean that she buried her head in the sand and neglected doing what she could do for the rest of her; but that her focus was on what was going well. This is an attitude shared by many famous artists and other successful people who accomplish a great deal not in spite of what is going wrong; but because of what is going right.
The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies
"Abstract
In two longitudinal studies, the authors examined the direction of the relationships between trait gratitude, perceived social support, stress, and depression during a life transition. Both studies used a full cross-lagged panel design, with participants completing all measures at the start and end of their first semester at college. Structural equation modeling was used to compare models of direct, reverse, and reciprocal models of directionality. Both studies supported a direct model whereby gratitude led to higher levels of perceived social support, and lower levels of stress and depression. In contrast, no variable led to gratitude, and most models of mediation were discounted. Study 2 additionally showed that gratitude leads to the other variables independently of the Big Five factors of personality. Overall gratitude seems to directly foster social support, and to protect people from stress and depression, which has implications for clinical interventions."
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656607001286
Gratitude when it is needed most: Social functions of gratitude in women with
metastatic breast cancer.
"Abstract: Theory and evidence suggest that everyday positive emotions may be potent factors in resilience during periods of chronic stress, yet the body of evidence is scant. Even less research focuses on the adaptive functions of specific positive emotions in this critical context. In the current research, 54 women with metastatic breast cancer provided information about their emotional responses to benefits received to test hypotheses regarding the social functions of gratitude. One set of analyses provide support for the hypothesized role of ego-transcendence in feeling gratitude upon receipt of a benefit from another person. As predicted, in a second set of analyses, grateful responding to received benefits predicted an increase in perceived social support over three months only for women low in ambivalence over emotional expression. These findings add to evidence regarding the social causes and consequences of gratitude, supporting a view of gratitude as an other-focused positive emotion that functions to promote high-quality relationships. Discussion focuses on the chronically stressful context as an important testing ground for theory on gratitude and other positive emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)"
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2011-12880-001/
WHY GRATITUDE ENHANCES WELL BEING: WHAT WE KNOW, WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JYj4KStQjhIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA248&dq=gratitude+stress&ots=kVfNor3AC0&sig=1WjhlCX7j-TGexBDGmenzf8aQKo#v=onepage&q=gratitude%20stress&f=false
Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration
"Abstract
This paper presents a new model of gratitude incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life", incorporating not only the gratitude that arises following help from others, but also a habitual focusing on and appreciating the positive aspects of life. Research into individual differences in gratitude and well-being is reviewed, including gratitude and psychopathology, personality, relationships, health, subjective and eudemonic well-being, and humanistically orientated functioning. Gratitude is strongly related to well-being, however defined, and this link may be unique and causal. Interventions to clinically increase gratitude are critically reviewed, and concluded to be promising, although the positive psychology literature may have neglected current limitations, and a distinct research strategy is suggested. Finally, mechanisms whereby gratitude may relate to well-being are discussed, including schematic biases, coping, positive affect, and broaden-and-build principles. Gratitude is relevant to clinical psychology due to (a) strong explanatory power in understanding well-being, and (b) the potential of improving well-being through fostering gratitude with simple exercises."http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735810000450
Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Affect and Beliefs
"AbstractForgiveness and gratitude are positive psychological characteristics that are connected to well-being. This study examined these connections in an understudied population of psychotherapy outpatients and examined the extent to which affect and beliefs mediated these relationships. Participants were 72 outpatients who completed a battery of assessments as part of a standard intake protocol. Results showed that forgiveness and gratitude were both positively and strongly associated with well-being and largely, though not completely, mediated by affect and belief. Forgiveness and gratitude may have an important place in the positive psychologist’s repertoire of well-being enhancing techniques and exercises in general, and may be particularly powerful with a clinical psychotherapy population."
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