Thanksgiving and Happiness Linked

By Michelle Malay Carter on November 27, 2008 

A Posture of Gratitude on ThanksgivingIt’s Thanksgiving in the United States, and although the average US standard of living has steadily risen over the last decades, self-reported happiness has declined.?

Thanksgiving provides us an opportunity to remind ourselves that things do not make for happiness.

Gratitude Research
Dr. Robert A. Emmons wrote a book, thanks!,?detailing his research on gratitude.? His ten-week experiment involved three groups.

1. The first group was asked to write down five things that happended in the last week for which they were grateful.
2. The second group was asked to write down five daily hassles from the previous week.
3. The third group simply listed five events that had occurred in the last week, but not told to focus on positive or negative aspects.

Happiness Increased 25%
People who were in the gratitude group (#1) felt fully 25% happier – they were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives and they even did almost 1.5 hours more exercise a week than those in the hassles group?(#2)?or events condition group (#3).

Whether it is Thanksgiving in your native land today or not, taking a gratitude posture seems to be a healthy idea.

Thank You
I’m off to spend the weekend with family in Richmond, Virginia.? I thank you for your support and readership!? See you next week.

Filed Under Corporate Values, Personal Observation

Comments

2 Responses to “Thanksgiving and Happiness Linked”

  1. Alicia Parr on December 2nd, 2008 11:22 am

    A friend of mine who has a blog does something called “Gratituesday”, which, self-apparently, is a blog post of things she is grateful for (5 of them) written each Tuesday. It’s a powerful habit.

  2. Michelle Malay Carter on December 5th, 2008 9:01 am

    Hi Alicia,

    It really is a powerful habit. I like to say, whatever you go through life looking for, you’ll find.

    Michelle