12 Facts About
Grateful People
The American Holiday of Thanksgiving is a good time to focus on gratitude. Gratitude is a common human emotion and a virtue among adherents of many religions.
Christians are encouraged to count their blessings and offer thanks each day.
In psychology, gratitude is a positive emotion expressed toward those who have given some gift or benefit. In the case of religious people, the gift can come from God.
It’s no surprise that there is a positive correlation between religiosity or spirituality and gratitude.
The Grateful Living
12 --What’s true about grateful people—
compared to those who are
low on gratefulness?
2. Higher life satisfaction
3. More vitality
4. More optimism
5. More generous
6. More helpful
7. More likely to attend religious services
8. More likely to practice their faith
9. Less interested in material goods
10. Less likely to judge success in terms of
possessions
11. Less envious of others
12. More likely to share
Research Notes
Gratitude journals work. People who kept a weekly gratitude
journal felt better about their lives, were more optimistic, reported fewer
physical symptoms and exercise more than those in other groups who recorded
hassles or neutral life events.
Making a gratitude list helps personal goal attainment.
Young adults who performed daily gratitude exercises had
increased alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy
compared to people in other research groups—people who focused on hassles or comparing
themselves to others who had less.
Writing letters of gratitude increased happiness and life
satisfaction and decreased depressive symptoms.
A four-week gratitude program resulted in higher life
satisfaction and self-esteem compared to people in a control condition.
Both gratitude and forgiveness were linked to well-being in
a sample of people receiving psychotherapy.
Women appear to gain more from gratitude than men do. Compared
to women, men were less likely to feel and express gratitude. Men were more
critical when evaluating gratitude and overall benefited less than women did.
Women who were breast cancer patients benefited from
gratitude when they were open to others. Gratitude promotes high-quality
relationships.
Happy Thanksgiving
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