What makes you happy? Having fun? Spending time with friends? Delicious food? Making Money?
Your emotions is very important and Psychologists have scientifically proven that one of the greatest contributors to your happiness is the gratitude that you show!
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”
Zig Ziglar
Gratitude is your ability and readiness to show appreciation for an act of kindness done to you, and also to return kindness to others. The study of gratitude in my chosen field of psychology has actually started in around the year 2000, primarily since psychology over the centuries has been focused on the study of distress and not positive emotions. Since then numerous scientific studies have empirically shown the correlation between gratitude and happiness.
Psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, have done much of the research on gratitude.
In their experiment they had one group write daily on what that were gratefully for that day, the second group wrote about what irritated them that day and the third group wrote about major events in their life on that particular day. The subjects did this for a period of ten weeks. At the end of the ten weeks, the group who wrote about what they were grateful for were happier and had fewer visits to the doctor.
You don’t bargain with gratitude, “I will be thankful when I have a new car, or I will be thankful when I have a new job or more money”. Gratitude is being thankful for the car you currently have, for the job your currently have or the money you have in your wallet now.
As a routine, every morning when you wake up, list five things that you are grateful in your life for. Say this list aloud, it could be for a roof over your head, a loving family, a healthy body, a job that pays your regular salary, nice clothes to wear and a car to drive. Bless all these.
Again in the evening before you go to sleep make a mental list of all those nice things that happened to you today. Thank the universe for these. Focus on the positives! Do this regularly for forty-three days, and see the change in your life. To make this really effective start a gratitude journal, take a blank note pad or diary, and on a daily basis before you go to sleep and write the things are you are grateful for. and you able to control you emotions.
According to Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., author of The Happy Couple: How to Make Happiness a Habit One Little Loving Thing at a Time.”Gratitude will help you see that what you have is better than what it is you may think you want.”
“You can talk with a close friend or relative about what’s troubling you; but it’s not the same as professionally-trained experienced psychologist who knows exactly what kind of help you need” – Dr. Prerna Kohli.
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About Dr. Prerna Kohli
She is a 100 women Achievers Award Winner (2016) from the Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee.
Dr. Prerna Kohli is a Clinical Psychologist, a Public Speaker, a Workshop Facilitator and a Holistic Practitioner. She offers Heart-based workshops and lectures that focus on Life Balance, Self-awareness and Inner Peace. Dedicated to sharing her knowledge and compassion with others, Prerna blends intuitive wisdom with solid understanding, creating a powerful holistic approach, specializing in the areas of Emotional change.
Dr. Prerna Kohli is a leading Psychologist in India and provides families, individuals, parents and children counselling on being happy.
