Surprise, surprise, but saying “Thank you!” can change your life.
Do you remember Barney singing for the children “Remember please and thank you, ’cause they’re the magic words”? Well, apparently, Barney was right. A research described by Alvaro Fernandez in his post How “Saying Thanks” Will Make You Happier, has found that gratitude can change your health and general well-being.
All of our coaching clients at Be Happy in LIFE are asked to start a “success journal”, where they record their achievements and positive thoughts at the end of every day. We tell them to write every day, even they only write a short statement about a good thing that happened to them during that day. To their surprise, after a short time, they feel much happier, just because they focus on the things they are happy about. Simple. The Law of Attraction states:
In life, you get what you focus on
This latest research was done by Dr. Robert Emmons, who studies gratitude as a Professor of Psychology at UC Davis. He published his findings in the book Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. He discovered that it took only 3 weeks of journal writing to change people’s well-being.
His main discoveries were:
- The practice of gratitude can increase happiness levels by 25%
- A few hours of writing a gratitude journal over 3 weeks can create an effect that lasts 6 months and sometimes more
- Practicing gratitude brings other health benefits, such as longer and better sleep
In my seminars and workshops, I work with people on finding the most important things in their life. Most of them believe that happiness is the ultimate purpose in life. Parents asked to hand their kids the greatest gift of all, always give them some version of happiness.
People study for years, hoping this will get them the job that will make them happy.
People search for relationships, in order to have love in their life, so they can be happy.
People bring kids into the world to experience the feeling of happiness with and through them.
People spend all their money to purchase things because they think that having those things will make them happy.
People eat things way beyond their survival needs because it makes them feel safe and happy.
People make great efforts to meet old friends or relatives living far away, in order to feel that they belong, which makes them happy.
The search for happiness is programmed into the human thinking mechanism. Everything we do is meant to bring us comfort, variety, pride, motivation or fullfilment – all leading to happiness.
After realising that all the things we do are part of the search for happiness, the inevitable conclusion is that the most important question in life is “How to be happy in life”.
Happiness is well researched and one of the most important parts of reaching that state is understanding that the search never ends. It is positioned on a scale and all we need to do is tip the balance to the happy side and keep on the journey using better tools and techniques.
One of the simplest, easiest way, is to start your success journal and look for opportunities to say Thank you!
On the cover, write the ultimate question.
What am I happy and grateful for today?
If you are a parent and believe it is your role to teach your kids happiness, give them an important gift, the habit of writing in their own Success Journal and focusing on the good things in their life. Tell them that Barney was right!
Thank you for reading,