Thanks-Living: A Key to Happy Living
Practicing thanks-living allows you to easily identify and appreciate the good things around you. Many people struggle with sadness, anxiety, and depression at this time of the year. But research suggests a positive link between thanks-living and happiness. Moreover, thanks-living may well be an easy and accessible way to boost your happiness. It generally helps you reflect, cultivate satisfaction and self-worth, and improve your sense of purposefulness and connectedness.
Health benefits of thanks-living
Research has also shown that thanks-living has far-reaching effects on our health. When people are thankful and grateful for things as they are, it reflects on their physical health. They are more likely to exercise, eat better, and take care of their health. Lowered stress level, reduced pain and improved immune systems have also been pointed as benefits of being thankful. Even lower blood pressure and positive effects on the heart have been linked to practicing thanks-living.
Overall, our psychological well-being and productivity is improved when we are more optimistic, can boost our self-esteem, and can enhance our positive emotions. When we feel deep happiness, our body produces neurotransmitters like dopamine, which is associated with pleasure and serotonin, and this helps to regulate mood. It also causes the brain to release oxytocin, a hormone which induces feelings like trust and generosity that has been shown to promotes social bonding and feelings of connectedness.
Practicing thanks-living
The best way to make thanks-living a habit is not to wait for special moments. Pay attention to your everyday functioning. Start identifying things you might take for granted, and then take a moment to be thankful for them. For instance, considering positive actions and events that may seem small, common-place or inconsequential are practical examples of things to start with. And just like the muscle, when you exercise your thankfulness more often, you are more likely to experience its benefits. Keeping a gratitude journal is another proven and practical way of exercising thanks-living. Journaling every day is correlated with an increase in happiness.
Journaling every day about what we are grateful for has proven to and remains to be extremely beneficial. However, when pressed for time during busy workdays, and even on the weekends, there are other ways to adapt thanks-living into our schedule. These include exercising, meditation, meaningful interactions with friends and family, sightseeing, hiking etc.
Our Mind Wellness Chat @ Serenity
We recently hosted a Mind Wellness Chat on Twitter Space. Sophie Ogiri, our guest speaker, spoke on Gratitude: The key to happy living. She explained that thanks-living is a way of life that if implemented could improve the quality of life not only for us, but for others. Our Mind Wellness Chat happens virtually once a month. It is a chance to explore topics that directly affect our mental health and wellbeing. Follow us on social media (@patconsultingng) for regular updates.
Remember, when we regularly express gratitude, we develop a unique ability to find the good around us. This is not to say that we should deny or ignore the bad. Nor does it mean that we should turn a blind eye to suffering or refuse to speak of sorrow. But amid the negative experiences of life, we should actively seek the positive, identify it, celebrate it, and recount it for others to hear. Lean into this attitude of thanks-living all year-round to experience its significant mental and physical health benefits.
#PATCares
