Turn It Up – Raise Your Gratitude Volume

“There is no joy without gratitude,” says Brene Brown. What if turning up the volume on our gratitude could make a positive impact on our daily environment and bring joy to others and ourselves? It can! It can! And it’s all backed by science (see related).

Expressing thankfulness, giving praise, and showing appreciation can often feel uncomfortable or difficult but those around us need to feel appreciated and we need to cherish all the good things we have. Dr. Gabe Paoletti from the Uniformed Services University and the Consortium for Health and Military Performance stated during a recent ARD webinar, “The cool thing about gratitude is that the more we express it, the more we practice it, the more we reflect on it, it literally makes other people better people.”

When the speaker on your phone is on mute, you can’t hear. You don’t know what’s going on, how to react or what to say. You must turn up the volume. It’s the same for gratitude; if you don’t turn it up, no one will receive it. Paoletti notes, “Gratitude encourages people to be more generous, be more trusting, and to help others be more likely to volunteer or engage in other citizenship behaviors.”

While expressing gratitude to others has a positive impact on them, it has an even bigger impact on us. It strengthens our interpersonal and spiritual relationships, assists in creating a positive outlook and a selfless, generous mindset. It also allows us to focus on the positive rather than the negative and to truly appreciate what we have. As Brené Brown points out, “A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments.”

Quick ways to increase your gratitude volume:

  1. Say “Thank you!”
  2. Give someone a compliment.
  3. Tell a friend, or family member you appreciate them. Text or email them right now!
  4. Take one minute to appreciate all that you have: friends, family, job, pet, transportation, health care and many other things we can take for granted.
  5. Praise a co-worker’s effort.