The Difference Between Gratitude and Thankfulness
Thankfulness is a Reaction When something good or exciting happens, it is easy to be thankful. We appreciate the warm feelings that come with gifts or happy news. Thankfulness involves how we feel in the moment, and like all feelings, eventually, it fades. Thankfulness is a temporary emotional response to a temporary circumstance.
However, thankfulness is not enough to keep us in a positive mindset. Setbacks and things that we are most certainly not thankful for will always interfere with our thankfulness. Because of this, we must rely on other ways to maintain a positive attitude. One such way is by expressing gratitude.
Gratitude is a Chosen State of Being
Where thankfulness is an emotion, gratitude is an attitude of appreciation under any circumstance. Gratitude involves being thankful, but it is more than that. Gratitude means expressing thankfulness and being appreciative of life daily even when nothing exciting happens.
Gratitude is your decision that the day is a good day even when evidence points to the opposite. You do not need something good to happen to have gratitude, and when bad things happen, your gratitude does not falter. You know that sad things are just a part of life, and you are happy with the life you lead.
By choosing to cultivate gratitude in your life, you are actively improving your health and well-being. A study from the University of California Berkeley states, “Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits for individuals, including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, Gratitude is about being content physically and mentally with the state of your life. You may not always be happy, but you can still practice gratitude.
“May your heart be an altar, from which the bright flame of unending thanksgiving ascends to heaven.”
Gratitude challenge on LIK
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Tecumseh
I join my hands in thanks for the many wonders of life; for having twenty four brand-new hours before me.
THICH NHAT HANH
And it turns out there is a growing body of research which shows there are many psychological benefits to being grateful, including feeling happier and lowering stress, depression and anxiety.
Not only that, there is also scientific evidence that expressing genuine gratitude on a daily basis can improve physical health as well by improving quality of sleep, cardiovascular (heart) health and immune function.
1. Thankfulness improves relationships
Everyone has a need and desire to be appreciated—spouses, children, parents, friends, coworkers, even the strangers we meet in passing. Oprah once said, "The common denominator that I've found in every single interview is that we all want to be validated. We want to be understood.” So when we express gratitude for people, we not only meet their needs and lift their spirits, but we make them feel validated. And that improves the quality of our relationships with them.
2. Thankfulness creates contentment
Media messages are constantly telling us to buy more, do more, look like this, or act like that. With so much distraction, it can be difficult to appreciate what you have right now. But by choosing to be thankful, you can ignore these messages and embrace contentment. As my friend Rachel Cruze says, “In a heart filled with gratitude, there is no room for discontentment.”
3. Thankfulness feels good
You know how happy we feel around Thanksgiving? We can continue to feel that way long after the turkey and dressing are gone. How? All we have to do is count our blessings and turn our hearts and thoughts toward gratitude. The warm and fuzzy feelings will follow.
4. Thankfulness keeps us healthy
Even though the holidays represent a stressful time for many of us, reflecting on what we’re thankful for actually reduces stress. "Gratitude research is beginning to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress," says University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. He goes on to explain that gratitude and optimism can even boost our immune system. When we stop focusing on what we don’t have, and begin focusing on everything we do have, our shoulders relax and we invite peace, patience, and health into our lives.
5. Thankfulness cultivates humility
Arrogance and ungratefulness go hand and hand. But the opposite is also true. When we choose to be thankful for the big and small blessings in our lives, we foster a heart of humility and a spirit of graciousness.
6. Thankfulness is contagious
Just as fear and worry are contagious, so is the spread of gratitude. When we’re inspired by others’ gratefulness, it prompts our own grateful thoughts and actions as well. We can be the catalysts that spread gratitude in our homes, offices and communities.
7. Thankfulness produces positivity
When we’re thankful, the natural byproduct is that we become more positive people. There are endless daily annoyances that can bring us down and steal our joy. But when we’re intentionally thankful, it naturally redirects our thoughts to see the good in other people and in our everyday lives.
8. Thankfulness promotes generosity
It’s tough to be givers when our eyes are always on our own needs. When we are thankful for what we have, we can hold our blessings with an open hand and freely give to others. And when we realize how abundantly we are blessed, we can confidently and joyfully become a blessing to others.
9. Thankfulness increases likability
It’s fair to say no one wants to be around an ungrateful, entitled individual. Yet we all enjoy spending time with grateful, down-to-earth folks. When you are grateful, people see you in a positive light and they naturally like you and want to be around you.
10. Thankfulness displays God’s character
The Bible is full of passages on gratitude and thankfulness. It’s used in commands, parables, and prayers. This quality is important to God! So when we actively practice gratefulness, we become more of who God created us to be. Plus, we also get to connect with Him through our thankful thoughts and prayers. Unlike talent, gratitude is something that’s freely available to all of us and completely within our control. It’s not a special “gifting” that some people have and others don’t. It’s not a feeling that floats through the air at the end of each November.
What am I grateful for in my life right now? Why?
What blessings does this season offer in my life?
What situation is offering me the opportunity to handle it gracefully?
What has surprised me lately?
When I consider a difficult situation and the impact it had on me, can I identify an aspect of the situation (or impact) that I can feel grateful about?
What unexpected things have brought me gratitude?
What challenging situations have brought out the best in me?
What act of kindness did I notice or experience today?
How might I show appreciation for the people in my life?
What can I commit to not taking for granted from this moment forward?
Science of Mind Reading
Sacred Text
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be not you not like those who honour their gods in prosperity and curse them in adversity. In pleasure or pain, give thanks!
Judaism - Mekilta, Exodus 20.20
Do not turn away what is given you,
Nor reach out what is given to others,
Lest you disturb quietness.
Give thanks
For what has been given you,
However little.
The Dhammmapada, Ch 25
Story
Two old friends met each other on the street one day. One looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has the world done to you, my old friend?”
The sad fellow said, “Let me tell you: three weeks ago, my uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“But you see, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand dollars, free and clear.”
“Sounds to me that you’ve been very blessed.”
“You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million from her.”
Now the man’s friend was really confused. “Then, why do you look so glum?”
“This week . . . nothing!”
That’s a problem with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. The natural tendency is that if we receive a gift long enough, we come to view it almost as an entitlement. We feel hurt, even angry, if we don’t receive it any longer.
It is the same way with the blessings God gives us every day. I don’t deserve my comfortable home that I live in, the beautiful scenery around me, the clean water I drink. But after receiving these gifts (and a multitude of others) for years, I sometimes fail to be grateful. I’ve come to expect these good things. And when one of them is removed for a short time (like water or electricity or internet going down), I get upset.
Let’s make an effort today to recognize the blessing we’ve come to take for granted. Focus on what we have rather than on what we don’t have, and see if it doesn’t improve our attitudes.
Take time to enjoy something you own but have ignored — a piece of jewelry or a flower vase — and express your gratitude for its beauty by dusting it off and using it.
Go on a quiet, meditative walk through your house. Stop and say prayers of thanks for all the good experiences you have had in each room.
Choose one thing you use every day — perhaps a favorite pen or a cooking pot — and say a prayer over it, acknowledging how it helps you serve others and God.
Wash your car or clean your telephone and tell God how much you appreciate how these things help you make connections with other people.
Find a special way to express your gratitude to a part of your body; for example, give your feet a good massage
Poem: Thanksgiving BY Ella Wheeler Cox
We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.
Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hand about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives,
And conquers if we let it.
There’s not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past’s wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.
We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.
Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble;
Far-seeing is the soul, and wise,
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.
We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o’er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.
Rumination
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.”
Rumi
Benediction
The maker of humanity whom resides every where Present, the most precious & divine.
May your loving way resound everlasting.
Maintain your sustenance & your gracious way which is so unlike ours.
Guide & direct our path to that which is wholesome.
We recognise, respect & bow to your exclusive divinity always and ever lasting/
Monica
Song: Thank you by Ben Rector