Читать книгу Active Hope - Joanna Macy - Страница 33

Recent research has shown that people experiencing high levels of gratitude tend to be happier and more satisfied with their lives.² Are they grateful because they’re happy, or does gratitude make people happier? To find out, volunteers were asked to keep gratitude journals, in which, at regular intervals, they recorded events they felt thankful for. Controlled trials have shown this simple intervention to have a profound and reliable impact on mood.³ Indeed, the results are so striking that if a medication were invented with similar benefits, we’d probably see it described as a new wonder drug.

The process of keeping a gratitude journal focuses your attention on things you feel good about. If each evening, before you go to bed, you ask yourself, “What happened today that I’m pleased about or thankful for?” that question will direct your gaze. You start searching your memory for moments that bring a smile to your face or that trigger a glow of appreciation. They might be small things, such as a conversation with a friend, a moment watching a bird in flight, or the satisfaction of completing a task. When we’re busy, moments like these can too easily pass us by. Keeping a gratitude diary builds them into a pool of memories we can keep dipping back into.

When we get into the habit of keeping this kind of journal, we train our minds to notice the upside of life more easily and quickly. Experiencing gratitude is a learnable skill that improves with practice. It isn’t dependent on things going well or on receiving favors from others. It’s about getting better at spotting what’s already there.