{"id":8449,"date":"2021-01-20T10:35:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T15:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=8449"},"modified":"2021-01-20T10:33:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T15:33:42","slug":"challenge-day-7-the-power-of-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/challenge-day-7-the-power-of-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Day 7: The Power of Gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: This is part of\u00a0 30-day challenge series written by\u00a0Hanane Anouna<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0You can follow along and read the full series here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"Are you struggling with negative emotions? Are you one of those who always look at the cup half empty? Do you often focus on what you don\u2019t have instead of what you already have?<\/em><\/p>\n

Gratitude\u00a0means being receptive to life, as defined by different sources it also means \u201cthankfulness, appreciation, pleasing, gratefulness…\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed it takes courage to be positive when we are in a crisis or when everything goes wrong. It takes a certain amount of gracefulness, and a certain amount of humility to be grateful when things don\u2019t go as expected.<\/p>\n

Gratitude can shift our thoughts and enable us to focus more on what we already have rather than on the missing part, on what we love instead of what hurts.<\/em><\/p>\n

What Are the Benefits of Gratitude?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gratitude has tremendous benefits on our health in general. The benefits are not only at the level of the mind but it also affects the chemistry of the body when practiced consciously and deeply.<\/em><\/p>\n

Research in positive psychology showcased that gratitude is positively correlated to happiness and well-being. It helps people develop more positive emotions, build strong relations, face adversity and grow more resilient.<\/p>\n

When we practice gratitude, the brain transmits relaxation hormones like dopamine and endorphins that help the brain becomes stronger and creates a deep sensation of well-being and happiness. The opposite is true when we are nurturing negative emotions like stress, fear, anger, and frustration. This time, the brain will consider this as a threat and will produce stress hormones, like cortisol; five minutes of anger can produce enough cortisol that can impact your whole immune system for more than five hours.<\/p>\n

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