Zam-Zam
Senator
Most in the field of psychology seem to agree: There is a strong correlation between gratitude and happiness. To wit:
“Feeling and expressing gratitude turns our mental focus to the positive, which compensates for our brain’s natural tendency to focus on threats, worries, and negative aspects of life. As such, gratitude creates positive emotions, like joy, love, and contentment, which research shows can undo the grip of negative emotions, like anxiety.”
Melanie Greenberg, Phd.
The Relationship between Gratitude and Happiness (thewisdompost.com)
And consider:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama says there are two ways to reach contentment. One is to acquire everything you want and desire: an expensive house, sporty car, fashionable wardrobe, gourmet foods, perfect mate, exotic trips a perfectly toned body. The list is endless. The problem with this approach is that this type of wanting is a bottomless pit and never leads to contentment. Sooner or later there will be something you want but can’t have, no matter how many hours you put in or how hard you work. The second and more reliable approach to contentment is to want and feel grateful for what you already possess. When you have a strong sense of contentment, it doesn’t matter whether you obtain the object of your desire or not. You are content either way.
The Power Of Gratitude And How It Raises Your Happiness Level (forbes.com)
And happiness has an added benefit, besides the obvious one:
Does the happier you are, correlate to the longer you live? Yoichi Chida and Andrew Steptoe (2008) attempted to answer this question.
Chida and Steptoe (2008) conducted a meta-analysis on 35 longitudinal studies; the researchers found that happiness positively effects longevity. These positive effects included: a more positive psychological well being and a lower mortality rate for everyone whether they were healthy or sick (Carr, 2011).
Healthy population studies have found that when participants exhibited a positive affect, like joy, happiness, energy and vigor, life satisfaction, optimism, and a sense of humor – there was a lower mortality rate (Carr, 2011).
Adding to the evidence that happiness correlates with a longer life are researchers Danner, D.D., Snowdon, D.A., & Friesen, W.V. (2001). They completed a large follow-back study with 180 nuns in the US. All of the nuns had a similar lifestyle, diet, and schedule.
Danner et al. (2001) instructed the nun participants to write essays as they entered into their religious order. The nuns wrote about themselves and their life from childhood to present day, and their hopes and dreams for their lives.
The nuns were unaware that their essays would be analyzed for a happiness and longevity study. The researchers found that, about 50 some years later, 90% of the happiest nuns lived past 85 (years old), and only 34% who scored as the least happy lived past 85 (Carr, 2011).
The Science and Research on Gratitude and Happiness (positivepsychology.com)
So, if you desire a longer, happier earthly life, consider appreciating all that you have, rather than focusing on that which you do not have.
My two cents.
“Feeling and expressing gratitude turns our mental focus to the positive, which compensates for our brain’s natural tendency to focus on threats, worries, and negative aspects of life. As such, gratitude creates positive emotions, like joy, love, and contentment, which research shows can undo the grip of negative emotions, like anxiety.”
Melanie Greenberg, Phd.
The Relationship between Gratitude and Happiness (thewisdompost.com)
And consider:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama says there are two ways to reach contentment. One is to acquire everything you want and desire: an expensive house, sporty car, fashionable wardrobe, gourmet foods, perfect mate, exotic trips a perfectly toned body. The list is endless. The problem with this approach is that this type of wanting is a bottomless pit and never leads to contentment. Sooner or later there will be something you want but can’t have, no matter how many hours you put in or how hard you work. The second and more reliable approach to contentment is to want and feel grateful for what you already possess. When you have a strong sense of contentment, it doesn’t matter whether you obtain the object of your desire or not. You are content either way.
The Power Of Gratitude And How It Raises Your Happiness Level (forbes.com)
And happiness has an added benefit, besides the obvious one:
Does the happier you are, correlate to the longer you live? Yoichi Chida and Andrew Steptoe (2008) attempted to answer this question.
Chida and Steptoe (2008) conducted a meta-analysis on 35 longitudinal studies; the researchers found that happiness positively effects longevity. These positive effects included: a more positive psychological well being and a lower mortality rate for everyone whether they were healthy or sick (Carr, 2011).
Healthy population studies have found that when participants exhibited a positive affect, like joy, happiness, energy and vigor, life satisfaction, optimism, and a sense of humor – there was a lower mortality rate (Carr, 2011).
Adding to the evidence that happiness correlates with a longer life are researchers Danner, D.D., Snowdon, D.A., & Friesen, W.V. (2001). They completed a large follow-back study with 180 nuns in the US. All of the nuns had a similar lifestyle, diet, and schedule.
Danner et al. (2001) instructed the nun participants to write essays as they entered into their religious order. The nuns wrote about themselves and their life from childhood to present day, and their hopes and dreams for their lives.
The nuns were unaware that their essays would be analyzed for a happiness and longevity study. The researchers found that, about 50 some years later, 90% of the happiest nuns lived past 85 (years old), and only 34% who scored as the least happy lived past 85 (Carr, 2011).
The Science and Research on Gratitude and Happiness (positivepsychology.com)
So, if you desire a longer, happier earthly life, consider appreciating all that you have, rather than focusing on that which you do not have.
My two cents.
