You can learn gratitude in just a few minutes and stay healthy in the long term.
2021 has come to an end. Time to reflect on the past few months and simply be grateful.
You may be asking yourself at this point: what for? Corona is still with us, and we had actually hoped to be able to celebrate Christmas with the whole family, to no longer have a lockdown within reach and to be able to give our children a normal life again. It's understandable that even the biggest optimists lose heart.
To feel gratitude in such a situation, you need to look deep inside yourself. Leave out everything negative and focus on the positive aspects of your life - however small they may be. After all, gratitude has been proven to increase happiness and joie de vivre. And not only that: gratitude can be learned!
There are various methods you can use to learn gratitude. The best known is the gratitude diary, in which you write every day before going to bed what was nice that day or what you are grateful for. One thing a day is enough. In our article "Writing down positive thoughts", we explain the principle of writing them down in more detail, which you are welcome to use as a template for your diary. However, it is important that you don't just write down what you are grateful for, but also reflect on it so that you can feel it.
We would like to introduce you to one gratitude method today because it gives you a holistic feeling and quickly and effectively sharpens your eye for the little things mentioned above.
The starting point for this gratitude exercise is the 5-finger communication method developed by US psychologist Elsbeth Martindale. You can do the exercise regularly or when you are not feeling so well. You will quickly experience a good mood boost and permanently increase your well-being.
Use your hand as an aid and go through the following five steps one after the other.
1st thumb: Familiarize yourself with the topic! Think about what you are really proud of. Make yourself aware of your strengths and give yourself a pat on the back.
2nd index finger: Point to the facts! What excites and inspires you? For example, think of something beautiful from nature or a piece of work that you have created.
3. middle finger: Name your feelings! What good thing have you done for someone and how did it make you feel? How does it make you feel when you think about it now? Think about who you could do something good for next.
4th ring finger: What makes you feel good? Think about the person(s) you love or have loved. What feelings does this trigger in you?
5th little finger: What do you want? Name one thing for which you are grateful.
Do you already feel a change?
You may have already guessed that gratitude makes you happy and content. But did you know that it can be a real all-round medicine? People who are grateful generally have a positive attitude towards life. It improves sleep and reduces feelings such as anger, anxiety and depression. Gratitude increases motivation and reduces chronic stress - both in private life and at work. This has even been scientifically proven in various studies over the past 20 years. A study conducted by the University of California in 2015 even found that being grateful has been proven to improve heart health.
The good thing is that gratitude, like curiosity or humor, can be trained, says psychologist Willibald Ruch from the University of Zurich. Those who do this regularly increase their well-being. After some time, the neurobiological effects of gratitude training have even been proven by brain scans, report scientists from the University of Indiana (2016), according to Spiegel.