Human creatures were always searching for happy and rewarding life from the very first day of the Earth’s creation. During the long centuries, philosophers tried to find the answer to this question, elaborating numerous methods and algorithms. A book Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert Emmons is a contemporary attempt at this problem resolving.
The latest book written by a professor at the University of California reveals the phenomenon of human gratitude as a key factor for life happiness achievement. The results of Emmons’s investigations concerning the various advantages of gratitude are discussed in the work. Gratitude is believed to have a very long history among philosophers and theologians of all times. And only at the beginning of the XXIst century did psychology finally select a deserved empirical place for gratitude having defined its importance in science. The author of the book is the first scientist who worked on the research of gratitude.
Robert Emmons encourages people to focus on “simple everyday pleasures, people in your life, personal strength or talents, moments of natural beauty or gestures of kindness form others”. Emmons has made some striking discoveries, most notable that people who keep gratitude journals are 25% happier than those who do not. If you see all that is wonderful in your life, you won’t be so tempted to concentrate on failure, disappointments, and unmet expectations (Olpin, Hesson, 84).
The ideas depicted in a book can be summarized to the following point. “Gratitude is a deeper, more complex phenomenon that plays a critical role in human happiness” (Emmons, 2). This evident benefit of gratitude seems to be enough to prove the very essence of emotions even for the most cynical person. Emmons highlights the importance of keeping a gratitude journal, to having the restorative sleep to be safe and sound.
The understanding of the fact that we are dependent on each other as well as the other things and processes in the world around us allows us to reconsider our previous worldviews and create a new technique of behavior and thinking. I found the confirmations in a book to the theory that only a person is a creator of one’s own life. Book material provided real facts of how gratitude can lessen depression, or how can it be a weapon against such negative feelings as envy, avidity, offence, and anger.
A very illuminating section covers factors that undermine this virtue, including forgetfulness, comparison thinking, the negativity bias, perceptions of victimhood, and emotional conflicts. Emmons is inspired by those individuals who while suffering have been able to be grateful for little things and hence to transform adversity into learning (Brussat, 57).
This book helped me to respond long held questions. Numeral advices and recommendations presented in a book concerning how everyone build happy and rewarding life break all stereotypes. At the mean time it collects all wisdom od human philosophy and valuable experience. Finally, the author emphasizes that all the world needs is no more than a little thanks.
Of course, the economic downturn in many countries influenced a lot on human thinking. This book is so-called evidence of the unlimited desires of people and their limited possibilities. At the mean time the book stresses that everything can be changed. It is not kind of a “quick read”. For better wisdom absorption it must be read slowly.
Speaking about the background knowledge and experience, we can say that this book is the first serious scientific study of gratitude. It refers to the works of famous theologians’, philosophers’, novelists’, and commentators’ writings from all the world’s religions. Here what Emmons points out.
Our groundbreaking research has shown that grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism, and that the practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness. We have discovered that a person who experiences gratitude can cope more effectively with everyday stress, may show increased resilience in the face of trauma-induced stress and may recover more quickly from illness and benefit from greater physical health (Emmons, 12).
Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier ends by presenting 10 simple practical strategies to readers telling of how to become more grateful person. Some steps include advices of how to keep a gratitude journal, how to think outside the box, how to learn various gratitude prayers, etc.
Our research has led us to conclude that experiencing gratitude leads to increased feelings of connectedness, improved relationships, and even altruism. We have also found that when people experience gratitude, they feel more loving, more forgiving, and closer to God (Emmons, 12)
The material of the book influenced me a lot. I decided to have such gratitude journal. According to the advice of Dr. Emmons, my wall in a bedroom is decorated with a slogan “Life is a Gift – I’m Grateful for It!” Of course, it is hard enough to cultivate a gratitude feeling in oneself. Dr. Emmons understands such peculiarity of human mind, thus he says that such attitude is a “chosen attitude”. To bring up this trait we should consider the necessity to do it and what for do we need to have it? Only in this case our further actions would be correct and successful. If we are not lazy to begin, soon we would see to have gratitude multiple. Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier is easily readable book full of colours and fun evidence. Using them the author reveals the considerable and long lasting benefits of gratitude. He dwells upon the fact that with patience and perseverance, everyone would obtain health, happiness, and strong stable relationships. The secret contains in one simple, but at the mean time rather complex word – thanks.
The benefits of practicing gratitude are understandable. But when stressful or negative events happen in human lives such as a diagnosis of a severe disease or the fact of being fired, people got used to think more negatively. They are not able to see anything positive around them except their problems. Gratitude as a tool facilitating to cope with difficulties is effective enough. It helps to estimate all events with objective appraisal, and find positive moments even in the most negative ones. For example a response to a sweetheart loss can be, “I am offended and hurt that I do not have someone to love. But I am grateful for possibilities to devote my free time to self-improvement and self-realization”.
This makes the person become more present and look forward instead of dwelling on what happened. It doesn’t mean that the person should stop grieving the loss, but that, most important, there exists a choice in how the loss is played out (Porto).
Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier gives reader inspiration to use gratitude and all the profits it can provide into their lives. Emmons inserts a personal opinion at the end of the book when he stresses the following.
I find the sustained practice of gratitude difficult. It does not always come easily or naturally to me, and I effortfully have to redirect ingrained tendencies to take life for granted. That may be the only thing I have in common with Einstein. He had to remind himself, a thousand times a day by his count, of how much he depended on other people. A thousand times a day, I too have to remind myself to be grateful and to remember how much I depend upon other people (Emmons, 185).
In conclusion I would like to emphasize that this book is worth of attention. It may be a perfect tool and instruction for those who want to change their lives, add more positive emotions and life satisfaction.
It is easy to talk about the value of gratitude but much more difficult to walk the talk. The author concludes with 10 Prescriptions for Becoming More Grateful, including keeping a gratitude journal, coming to your senses, using visual reminders, making a vow to practice gratitude, and thinking outside the box (Brussat, 57).
What can gratitude give everyone? According to a book Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, 25% increase in happiness and life satisfaction. Why a book is useful to everyone? It helps to watch old things from the new point of view. It makes people reconsider their mode of thinking and proposes to try simple steps towards the construction of happy rewarding life. Because as Karl Barth said, “grace and gratitude go together like heaven and earth” (Emmons, 90).
Bibliography
Brussat, Mary Ann et al. Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier. A Book Review. Routledge, 2008.
Emmons, Robert A. Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), 2008.
Emmons, Robert A. Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.
Olpin, Michael, Hesson, Margie. Stress Management for Life: a Research-Based Experiential Approach. Cengage Learning, 2009.
Porto, Stacey. Be Happier by Being Thankful. How to Practice Gratitude in Tough Times. 2009. Web.