November is National Gratitude Month, a time when you’re encouraged to embrace more gratitude! If you are looking to make space for gratitude, we’ll be happy to help you start your journey. In this article, we’ll define what gratitude is, and explain the benefits you can get from practising it. We’ll also cover different ways you can show more of it, including how to more deeply explore your feelings of gratitude through altered states of consciousness using only your smartphone and the Lumenate app, which is free to download.
What is gratitude and why is it important?
Gratitude is a powerful tool that involves appreciating and reflecting on the things that you’re thankful for. Practising gratitude within your life has been scientifically proven to lead to a more positive mindset and long-term health improvements. It’s been shown to shift neurological pathways, increase mental positivity, strengthen relationships, and generally help you perceive more of the goodness in life.
Gratitude has long been a popular topic discussed by philosophers and religious leaders alike throughout history. Cicero famously quoted that ‘Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.’
So, what exactly is gratitude? In ‘Gratitude as a human strength: Appraising the evidence,’ leading gratitude researcher Robert Emmons and Dr. Cheryl Crumpler define gratitude in the following way:
‘[Gratitude] has been conceptualized as an emotion, a virtue, a moral sentiment, a motive, a coping response, a skill, and an attitude. It is all of these and more. Minimally, gratitude is an emotional response to a gift. It is the appreciation felt after one has been the beneficiary of an altruistic act’.
To further this definition, in ‘Gratitude in practice and the practice of Gratitude,’ Emmons breaks down how one recognises gratitude in the following ways:
- ‘We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.’
- ‘We recognize the sources of this goodness as being outside of ourselves.’
While practising gratitude can certainly feel good and make others feel nice, there have been numerous ongoing studies over the last few decades to prove that there is actually a more scientific link to gratitude and our development.
‘The Science of Gratitude‘, is a white paper prepared for the John Templeton Foundation, which nicely summarises the amazing work done by Emmons and other gratitude researchers at the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. In this paper, Summer Allen, PhD, examines over two decades of research on the experience of gratitude concluding that ‘gratitude is not simply a cultural construct. It has deep roots that are embedded in our evolutionary history, our brains and DNA, and in child development.’
Allen links numerous studies that scientifically link gratitude with our wellbeing and personal development. The article covers an array of different studies on the topic, suggesting that, ‘More grateful people may be healthier, and others suggest that scientifically designed practices to increase gratitude can also improve people’s health and encourage them to adopt healthier habits.’
Notably, scientifically designed practices or ‘gratitude interventions’ such as journaling were shown to help boost the benefits one can get from being more grateful.
In a study called, ‘Positive Psychology and Gratitude Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial’, the researchers demonstrated the benefits of gratitude interventions and conducted an experiment on their effects.
A randomised clinical trial was conducted with 1,337 participants, with 446 of them being in the Gratitude group and the rest in two control groups. Participants assigned to the intervention condition were asked to write daily gratitude lists for 14 days, listing moments they had been grateful for during the day. The results ‘managed to increase positive affect, subjective happiness and life satisfaction, and reduce negative affect and depression symptoms.’
With so many studies emerging with interesting results on the benefits of gratitude, it’s no surprise that more and more research continues to be conducted on the topic, including ways to help people practise gratitude more.
How to practise gratitude
There are many different ways to practise gratitude which will help you experience benefits that come with it. We’ve found that the best and most effective way to practise gratitude is by taking some time out of your day to reflect and write down things you’re grateful for, either in the form of a list, or journaling.
In ‘Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life’, researchers Emmons and McCullough found that those participants who wrote in a journal weekly for 10 weeks or daily for 2 weeks experienced ‘more gratitude, positive moods, and optimism about the future, as well as better sleep, compared to those who journaled about hassles or their daily life.’
If you’re looking for a handwritten approach, you can follow these instructions from the Greater Good Science Center in UC Berkley.
At Lumenate, we pair the method above with stroboscopic meditation, allowing you to more deeply reflect on things that you’re most grateful for to apply them towards your personal growth journey.
When you practise gratitude within our app, you’ll be guided through the process of writing a list of 1-5 things you’re grateful for. Once you have your list, you can start your Lumenate session and with the help of brainwave entrainment fall into a deeply meditative and semi-psychedelic state within seconds, giving you access to your subconscious mind. This state of being allows you to be more present with your thoughts, open to exploring and unearthing complex questions, answers and bringing forth important realisations.
After the session, you’ll be able to reflect even further on what you experienced. While everything will be neatly stored within the app, you also might want to keep a physical journal (as described above) to continue practising gratitude.
Other ways to practise gratitude
While we recommend that you try out our gratitude session for a nice way to get started, there are also other effective ways to help you practise gratitude in your life.
Gratitude Jars
A Gratitude Jar is a jar or box filled with reminders of what you’re grateful for. These jars are a wonderful way to get in touch with your artistic and creative side while also practising gratitude. Therapist Aid has shared a nice worksheet with prompts to get started (while this particular sheet is aimed at children, the overall effect remains the same for adults). Simply put, the jar serves as a vehicle for you to write out what you’re grateful for. You can discuss briefly why you’re grateful for this particular thing (or reflect quietly on it) and then fold the paper for the jar to hold.
Gratitude Letters
Writing direct gratitude letters to loved ones can have a really positive effect on your mental wellbeing. In her article, ‘How to Write a Gratitude Letter’, Gina Hamadey from The New York Times explains, ‘A gratitude letter is like a slightly longer thank-you note. Instead of offering thanks for a physical gift, you are offering thanks for something that was done or said.’ With this approach, not only will you feel great for sharing your gratitude with others, the recipient of such gratitude will also feel amazing, as well.
Morning Pages
Invented by artist Julia Cameron, Morning Pages have a simple focus – write three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, and do it every day, first thing in the morning. The writing doesn’t have to be coherent but it should remain private so that you can feel free to express yourself freely and openly. Julia explains that one does this because, ‘You’re trying to catch yourself before your ego’s defences are in place’.
Making Gratitude a Regular Practise
Whatever way you choose to practise gratitude, we suggest trying to create a habit to include in your routine. The best way to build a new habit is by pairing it with an existing one, or habit stacking. Habit stacking is a powerful way to help build strong routines! Try doing your Lumenate gratitude sessions after doing an existing habit, like brushing your teeth. This is the easiest way to incorporate new elements into your daily routine, allowing you to practise gratitude better.
Conclusion
Practising gratitude can help to create a more positive mindset and lead to more long-term health benefits. Doing this via the Lumenate app also opens up the doors to accessing an altered state of consciousness in a matter of seconds. It’s a wonderful way to illuminate your mind and allow you to dig deeper, learning new things about yourself.
If you’re interested in giving it a try, we invite you to download our app and get started. It’s free to download and you’ll join a community of over 700,000 other people looking to explore their subconscious, learn new things about themselves and practise more gratitude.
As always, if you have any questions on how to begin, we’re very happy to help. Just drop us a message here. Happy exploring.
