RESEARCH INTO THE EFFECTS OF GRATITUDE shows it can make people feel happier and more hopeful, optimistic, positive and satisfied with their lives. It’s also known to be an antidote or neutraliser to negative emotions. In other words, if you’re feeling negative – angry, fearful, jealous or defensive, for example – doing a gratitude exercise can help dissolve those feelings.
EXERCISE 1 Take a moment to think of something that makes you angry and note how you feel. Then think of something that makes you feel grateful – linger on that sense of gratitude for a while. Now see what that does to the anger and all the feelings associated with the anger. What emotion are you left with? How did your feelings change? The effect is physical, too. There’s a difference in heart-rate variability among people who are thinking of things that make them angry compared with things that make them feel grateful.