Be grateful on World Gratitude Day
World Gratitude Day is celebrated every year on the 21st of September. The celebration of this day is an opportunity for individuals and organisations to celebrate their blessings and be grateful.
What is gratitude?
Gratitude, in the simplest of terms, means ‘being thankful’ and ‘showing appreciation and kindness’. In Harvard’s positive psychology research, gratitude is consistently associated with happiness. This feeling is known to generate positive emotions in people, improve health, give strength to cope with hard times, build strong relationships and take value and live life to its full potential.
Why should we express Gratitude?
Gratitude is an emotion that not only helps to identify and highlight the goodness in your life, but also inspires you to do all you can for others. It helps you appreciate everything good that is happening in your life and thus bring happiness to you. It also inspires you to give to others. Giving thanks where appropriate can make you very happy. At the same time, it opens a world of opportunity to do good to others. Gratitude, as unassuming as it is, offers huge health benefits such as:
- Stress buster
- Increase in emotional resilience
- Increase in empathy
- Improvement of mental and physical wellness
In an organisation, gratitude inevitably contributes to building a positive work culture and helps co-workers feel good about themselves and builds strong teams.
How exactly do we do this?
It is simple… just say ‘thank you’. You owe a ‘thank you’ to the Universe for all the goodness you encounter in your life and you owe a ‘thank you’ to your boss, colleagues, friends and family for every nice thing they do for you.. It need not be complicated. Just practice saying ‘thank you’ to everyone.
Whether you say it to their face, or use WhatsApp, Zoom call, email or a handwritten note, a ‘thank you’ is a gentle reminder that you are appreciating that person for their ways.
At Wendy Brooks & Partners, we do our “gratitudes” every Wednesday along with our check-ins.
Gratitude has a wonderful effect on people, and tends to create a ripple happiness effect for yourself and everyone who comes in touch with you, Do you want to try it out and see what a huge difference ‘gratitude’ brings into your life?
Start by trying it out TODAY:
- Start with a journal – Have a mini-diary where you write down all the things that you are grateful for. Keeping a journal has been shown to increase people’s sense of happiness by constantly encouraging them to acknowledge happy and positive moments of the day – irrespective of how insignificant they appear.
- Fill up a Gratitude Jar – Everyday, write something that made you happy on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. Write about everything – your accomplishments, your LOL moments, things that made you smile, memories worth saving, the beauty of nature, etc… and open it up on the New Year. Not only will you experience an immense sense of happiness, but also you will be motivated to be kind, humble and helpful towards others as well.
- Do a good deed – Do something nice for someone. Generosity has a knack of going forward while leaving an imprint of happiness on your heart and mind as well. Check-in with an old friend, buy something from a local business – maybe even promote their work, maybe help someone in need or cook a special dish for your folks! Every kind thing you do will generate ripple effects of happiness all around you.
Make it a habit to start your day by saying ‘thank you!’ and soon enough your heart will overflow with joy.
Happy World Gratitude Day everybody! Thank you for reading!