Gratitude : Positive Psychology & Storytelling - Module 13

 

 

Video : https://youtu.be/P1_mLT0MxGg (Links to an external site.)

 

 

 

Story 13 : Banyan Tree and Kusha Grass -

adapted from story The Blossom Tree  (adapted by Odds Bodskin for Spirit of Trees Website)

Story Reflection Task : 

1) Draw out or write about the relationship between the Kusha Grass, Chameleon and the Banyan Tree. Reflect on interdependence and gratitude.

2) If Gratitude was a colour what colour will it be? Take a page on your journal and colour it with all the colours of gratitude that you feel that come up for you.

 ~~

Knowing Gratitude : 

Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is the true prosperity.

– Eckhart Tolle (spiritual teacher).

There is a hymn taught in school : 

Thank you for giving me the morning, Thank you for every day that’s new. Thank you for even the greatest enemy I can forgive”.

Gratitude comes from the Latin word 'gratus' which means Thankful, pleasing. When we are grateful we are pleased with what has happened , pleased with someone or by the results. But gratitude is not just about being thankful, it has deeper meaning as we show appreciation for something or someone which has long lasting effect on our own positivity and well being. Gratitude has been studied by philosophers, religious heads and captured as songs, poems, quotes, prayers and more. 

According to research by Peterson &Seligman (2004), Gratitude has 3 elements:

1) Being Thankful to the person who gave us a gift or did a favour.

2) Having Positive Emotions towards the person and 

3) An increased desire in us to Give.

 

Some Psychologists classify Gratitude as 

As an affective trait – an overall tendency to have a grateful disposition.

A mood – a daily fluctuation in overall gratitude

An emotion – a temporary feeling when we receive a gift or favour.

 

A leading scientific researcher in the field of Gratitude is Dr.Robert Emmons, who identifies that Gratitude has an effect on our body, mind and relationships. Emmons and Michael McCullough, having done extensive research in this field summarize that Gratitude happens in two stages (2003):

  1. First we recognise that we have positive outcomes. Acknowledging all the good we have in life by saying Yes to life.
  2. Second we recognise there is an external source for this outcome. We are able to acknowledge all those things outside of us that has contributed to our life and well being.

Knowing and being thankful for something and also knowing that this positive outcome for which we are grateful comes from a source outside are important components of Gratitude.

There are also 4 aspects or dimensions to Gratitude that influence the way we experience it. Knowing this deepens our understanding of Gratitude.

(Emmons et al 2003) share these 4 aspects which is especially important for us while we journal or talk about Gratitude.

  1. Intensity - how strongly we feel gratitude.
  2. Frequency – how often we feel grateful (all the little things)
  3. Span – the kind of things that we feel grateful for
  4. Density – how many people or things we feel we need to give gratitude for

Psychologist Dr. Robert A Emmons from University of California has also written a book

Thanks - How the New science of Gratitude can make you Happier.

Here is an interview with Robert ( Bob) Emmons himself : (9.37 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuKIfxVFF7U (Links to an external site.)


 

 

 

Benefits of Gratitude: 

  • Releases strong emotions            
  • Gratitude involves and includes.
  • Enhances well being                    
  • Gratitude nurtures excellence.
  • Increases Optimism                      
  • Gratitude brings Joy
  • Increases Happiness                      
  • Gratitude encourages
  • Better Physical and Mental health       
  • Gratitude builds Resilience.
  • Better Self control

 ~~

Ways to develop Gratitude:

Maintaining a consistent practice of Gratitude that improves mood and making it a way of being (trait) is a very important way to thrive and flourish.

Research studies have shown that Gratitude visits ,  writing a letter and hand delivering to the person and maintaining a Gratitude Journal are all very powerful exercises that has beneficial effects on well being - Emmons and McCullough ( 2003).

  1. Keeping a Gratitude Journal
  2. Writing 3 good things that happened everyday (research based evidence shows this has significant impact on well being)
  3. Saying Thank You to whatever is offered to you
  4. Appreciating Others ( Appreciative Inquiry is a method employed in formal settings to identify strengths and acknowledging individuals .

 

Gratitude Journaling for meaning making:

Maintaining a gratitude journal that elaborates specific instances for which we are grateful.

Focusing on the people in our lives for whom we are grateful and writing in depth about them.

Also looking at how life would be without all these elements is a way to develop deeper sense of meaning and gratitude.

 

Highlights of this Module :

1) Seligman et al state that Gratitude is Being Thankful, Having Positive Emotions and a desire to Give.

2) It may be a trait, mood or emotion

3) According to Emmons et al, we must recognize the positive outcomes, then acknowledge the source from where it came.

4) 4 dimensions of Gratitude : Intensity, Frequency, Span, and Density

5) Ways to develop Gratitude : Journaling , 3 good things and Looking at what if these things were not there.

 

Topic Reflection Task:

  • Audio record or Write down 3 Best things that happened in your life giving details of how this made you feel.
  • Draw a Gratitude Jar and draw out as words or pictures what this jar holds for you.

 ~~

Research :

Emmons et al.,2003 (Pg. 141 of Edited and Remixed Tao of Positive Psychology)

(McCullough et al., 2001; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Pg. 140 : Edited and Remixed Tao of Psychology 

https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratitude

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Narrative Practices - a love letter

  Dear Narrative Practices and Ideas, How are you? Have you found all the people you need to find? My hopes and dreams for you is that you reach every storyteller-soul and re-author their thinking and ways of being! The song “Rekhe iddara sake” from kannada movie Chinnari mutha has the following words: Listen to the song here  Are mere wings enough? Birds need the sky to fly high. Are mere legs enough? Deer need speed to jump high. Are mere flowers enough? It needs the wind to spread the scent. Mere water is not enough A river needs the valley to make a river. Mere clouds are not enough Isn't Earth required for rain to pour upon? Are mere eyes enough? Do we not need objects to see? Is mere voice enough? Do we not need a song to sing together?!   This song reminds me that a person does not exist in isolation or in small confined relationships. We are more than that one relationship; we are all that we seek in our landscape. We are agent...
Read more

The Land tells me .... ( a poem) - Versespace 16

Image
  The land offers me a memory, intangible as it can be, A memory of royal, benevolent Rajas. I wonder who his Rani was and then I slip into the memory again. Land is granted, temples built, and priests brought in from faraway lands. I wonder if the Raja and his escorts come back today to witness what they bestowed, Will they know it or even recognise it?   Lord Ganesha is the guardian of this temple, He is still worshiped in his own little shrine, placed at the entrance. Yet the main deity lies forgotten somewhere in the nether regions of the temple, While their replacement is feted in the sanctum-sanctorum.   Human memory is so fragile and ephemeral. Old is lost and abandoned, While New is painted and polished. We forget stories of the old and wish to reinvent every wheel again.   It is time to Remember the past and acknowledge it. And let go our greed for new and nearer things. It is time to Reclaim all that we already have...
Read more

625 Moons and counting! - Externalising the story of my past, present and future through the landscape metaphor!

Like all stories, mine is a nested story.  Stories within stories. Yet it starts at the very beginning - a very good place to start. When you sing we begin with DO RE ME , when we read we begin with ABC, when we tell a story we begin with One upon a time.... there lived a person who knew a huge big tree! Let me open the door to the landscape of my birth and growing up. It was a Forest of Adventure! We had a huge tree near our lunch ground in school and the moment bell rang we would call dibs on who would get to climb the tree and eat while sitting on it. Life was full of adventure. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton was my favorite book growing up and climbing trees was my favorite thing to do. Every day was an adventure. I eagerly looked forward to the new day – not for the studying part, but for the newness that awaited me at school and dance and sometimes music class! Dance class was in a community hall with place to play in front and even huge gulmohur trees! My dance teach...
Read more