the science of mindful gratitude

I heard the greatest program on NPR the other week on the benefits of mindfulness. I even told Greg about it when I got home, about how there is so much to the mind-body connection, and that our health, pain tolerance, and general well-being is often effected by our minds. Then I told Greg about the placebo effect (that in many instances if we think we're taking a real drug, even if it's only a sugar pill, the benefits are the same--suggesting that our minds are powerful tools of health). But when he started asking more specific questions, I got all flustered because I don't remember "facts" and "figures," per se, I remember general concepts. And I don't like people pushing me on details, I find that to be rude. So we ended our discussion on mindfulness right there, with me slightly annoyed, and completely mindful of it.

While I wish I could give you the link to this podcast, I can't find it. So I guess you're going to have to take my word on it. However, there is a lot of other, more printed evidence (for you statisticians) of how mindfulness effects things like gratitude, and how things like gratitude effects our health. I think I find this concept so intriguing because while we all have our innate dispositions and genetic make-up, we can each have some impact on improving our own health and lives.

Without doing too much research (maybe that's why Greg doesn't take my word for it), I think that mindfulness is being aware of the present. We tend to focus on the past, fixate on the future, and do a lot of things without thinking (because who wants to think about mundane tasks?), but mindfulness is being fully aware in the present. This is the opposite of our culture, we want to be mind-less most of the time, always distracted. Mindfulness is the opposite of jumping on your phone every time you have a spare second; it's being present in your circumstances (in a traffic jam, making supper, going for a walk) and noticing the connection of your mind, body and surroundings. Mindfulness is doing something, or being, on purpose.

One thing that we can do on purpose is be grateful, and not just because it's Thanksgiving. In The Mindfulness Project blog, they write, "As we start paying more attention to our thoughts, we notice where we block ourselves from appreciating the good things in life.... We can’t feel grateful for things we don’t notice, and so mindfulness and gratitude go hand-in-hand." They go on to talk about a study psychologist Robert Emmons conducted where he had one group write down five gifts (good things) they notice each day, and the other group write down five hassles they notice each day. At the end of the experiment, he found that the group that focused on their gifts, had more energy, better sleep, lower blood pressure, less feelings of being alone, fewer physical symptoms, improved attentiveness, took better care of themselves, and experienced more joy than the group that focused on the hassles in their life.

Gratitude takes our focus off of what we don't have, and directs us to what we do have. Human nature makes us always want more. Better. Faster. Easier. But what if we--without denying that there are indeed some hassles and hurdles in life--chose to notice the gifts that we have been given. And not, might I add, at another's expense. Last night someone called in to tell Delilah about how her neighbor's house burned down, and she was so grateful for her own good fortune. Never. And I mean never, say out loud how another's misfortune makes you grateful that you're not them. I mean, maybe in the solitude of your own room...but definitely not on a syndicated radio station. (Come on, people!)

I'm not going to lie to you, had I been in the test group who was assigned to write down 5 hassles every day, I would have NAILED it! Just give me a pen and a piece of paper. (If the pen clots, that'll be number one, and if the person next to me is a mouth breather, that's number two.) Being annoyed and noticing hassles is easy-peasy. Noticing gifts while waiting for 45 minutes in the doctor's office with a screaming baby, not so easy (and perhaps not the best place to start your list).

So, because it's the season of otherwise great stress, and because I'm looking for my next 30 day challenge, I'm going to write down 5 gifts each day. Care to join me? I mean, if you're okay with me sleeping better than you, being more alert than you, and just generally beating you in this thing called mindful contentment, by all means don't do it. The good news is, you probably won't even notice how filled with joy and low blood pressure I am, but I will. Oh yes...I will.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough" — Melodie Beatty