Did you know gratitude allows us to celebrate the present? It magnifies positive emotions. Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional systems like newness.
They like novelty. They like change. We adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house-they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore. But gratitude makes us appreciate the value of something, and when we appreciate the value of something, we extract more benefits from it; we’re less likely to take it for granted.
In effect, gratitude allows us to participate more in life. We notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life. Instead of adapting to goodness, we celebrate goodness. We spend so much time watching things-movies, computer screens, sports-but with gratitude we become greater participants in our lives as opposed to spectators.
“Enjoy the little things. For one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Brault
Let Us Be Your Doorway to Health
