LeeAnne Neilson

ED PS 5063
August 3, 2016
The Power of Gratitude on Enhancing Happiness
Happiness is not elusive, and there are many pathways for enhancing it. Achieving
happiness is an individualized pursuit and requires a desire to gain it. It takes work to reap the
benefits of a state of happiness, yet those benefits are priceless. My own experiential
engagement in enhancing my personal happiness level revolved around gratitude and meditation.
This process resulted in a greater awareness of ways happiness can be intensified and increase
my sense of gratitude. Daily expressions of gratitude coupled with meditation will rejuvenate
the soul and increase awareness of personal happiness.
My happiness experiment for the semester incorporated three different forms of
expressing gratitude: daily journal writing, nightly family gratitude session, and mailing
handwritten gratitude letters. Ben Stein, writer and commentator on economic issues, said, I
cannot tell you anything that, in a few minutes, will tell you how to be rich. But I can tell you
how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful . . . Its
the only totally reliable getrichquick scheme (Allred, week 2 PowerPoint). His advice
influenced my decision to focus my happiness experiment, in part, on recognizing and recording
three things to be grateful for each day in an effort to live a rich life. In conjunction with this
philosophy, Louie Schwartzberg, a visual artist who emphasizes the need for humans to connect
with their natural environment, also impacted my gratitude experiment. Schwartzberg
specializes in creating time-lapse cinematographic presentations. In week two, I watched one of
his videos in which he advised viewers to open their heart to all the gifts around them such as hot
and cold water and to let them flow through us. This statement broadened my perception on

what it means to practice gratitude daily and spurred the determination to make my list of three
gratitudes per day include some of the ordinary and otherwise often unrecognized blessings of
my daily life, such as eyes to see a hummingbird or fireworks and lungs to help me breathe.
Tal Ben-Shahar, Harvard professor, mentioned that one way to cultivate gratitude is to
write down five things before going to bed on what went good that day. In his TED talk
Happiness 101, he mentioned how his coworker had a daughter who had nightmares regularly.
When her father suggested that as part of their nightly routine she tell him three good things
about her day, the nightmares vanished within a short period of time. His example made me
realize the power of recognizing the good things in a day.
Robert A. Emmons, a positive psychology scholar, also mentions in his book Thanks!:
How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier that if you want to sleep more
soundly, count blessings, not sheep (Emmons, p. 33). This caught my attention, and I decided
to test it out on my family. My family has a tradition of gathering together for nightly prayers. I
proposed to my family that after the prayer, each individual share three good things about their
day. My dad struggled at first. My mom often needed a few minutes to reflect upon her day so
as not to make trite statements. For me, it was a little bit harder to verbally state my gratitudes
than writing them down in my journal. As time passed, I noticed that it was easier for me to fall
asleep and my quality of my sleep improved. An unexpected benefit was that it became a
bonding activity for the family and a new tradition that we want to continue because it increased
our level of happiness.
Lukasz D. Kaczmarek, head of the psychophysiology and health laboratory at Adam
Mickiewicz University, compared the effects of writing gratitude journals to writing gratitude
letters. He noted that writing gratitude journals has a more enduring impact on well-being,

whereas the interpersonal expression [gratitude letters] has a more intense, short-lived impact
(Kaczmarek, p. 4). I agree with his findings but also discovered that in certain situations it was
easier for me to express my gratitude to others through a card. I noticed that many of my journal
entries included social interactions and simple ways these encounters enhanced my level of
happiness. Thus, I engaged in writing gratitude cards. These cards allowed me to express my
appreciation to someone in a heartfelt manner. It required much effort and a bit of time in order
to carefully word each message. Focusing on others served two purposes. It increased my own
level of happiness and hopefully brightened the recipients day.
The Color Purple Principle also had an impact on how I identified feelings of gratitude,
especially regarding social interactions. By nature, I am content to be the listener in social
settings and do not seek them out. My happiness log (gratitude journal) reflected many
references to increased joy when I had one-on-one conversations with a variety of people who
showed genuine interest in me as an individual. This principle tells us to stop what we are
doing for a moment to appreciate, to drink in the beauty and good that we come across each
day. The principle can also be seen as a practice or happiness habit [as an individual looks]
perpetually for something or someone to appreciate, 24/7, and then to stop everything even for a
few seconds to savor and enjoy the experience (Frisch, p.107). I found myself savoring many
experiences and my happiness level increased. In addition, I began to attend social events more
willingly and found enjoyment in the process of learning about my peers lives.
Hans Selye, physician and endocrinologist at McGill University, believes that gratitude
play[s] a pivotal role in the human stress response. . . . Among all emotions, there is one which,
more than any other, accounts for the presence or absence of stress in human relations: that is the
feeling of gratitude (Emmons, p. 153). Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor in the Department of

Psychology at the University of California, conducted a study that reinforces Hanss belief. She
found that happiness has been associated with better-functioning immune systems, decreased
bodily pain, better general health perception and levels of stress and anxiety (Rowedder, p.30).
One of the biggest stressors I experienced this semester occurred on a Saturday morning
when I was awakened by my father who was in the midst of a panic attack. He told me that he
was extremely nauseated and unable to go on the Webelos hike to Twin Lakes in Big
Cottonwood Canyon. Since Scout regulations require that two adult leaders be present for any
activity, he was insisting that I take his place. All the boys were downstairs in the living room
and ready to go. I literally had five minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast, and be out the door. In
the midst of my breakfast, my dad told me that I would be the driver. That statement elevated
my stress to a near-panic level. Thankfully, my mom came to my rescue and convinced my dad
that the other leader could drive our vehicle.
I discovered throughout this stressful situation that by acknowledging little gratitudes as
they occurred, my stress level began to decrease. For example, I knew the other leader and was
comfortable being around him. In addition, he was comfortable being the driver and familiar
with the trail we would hike. His personality is the exact opposite of my dads. He was calm,
soft-spoken, and not easily flustered. Thus, as I began to be grateful, I experienced a few pockets
of happiness on the hike and a little less stress.
Another health benefit I received from this exercise was increased spiritual
enlightenment. For example, as I developed the habit of expressing gratitude, I noticed that I
became more accepting of [my] life now and of experiences that were previously considered
less valuable (Chlebak, p. 87). For instance, I never realized my seasonal employment had
helped me gain so many important skills to put on my resume and qualify me for positions in the

library system. In the book Thanks!, it mentions that when people experience gratitude, they
feel more loving, more forgiving, and closer to God. Gratitude we have found, maximizes the
enjoyment of the goodour enjoyment of others, of God, of our lives (Emmons, p. 12). I
found myself drawing closer to God in new ways throughout the semester.
A second component to my happiness experiment involved meditation. My enrollment in
a tai chi yoga movement class has facilitated regular biweekly meditation. Tai chi was originally
developed in China as a means of teaching individuals how to fight using both hard and soft
style, or yin and yang. Today, it is also practiced for health benefits such as improving balance,
coordination, and meditation. There are four emotions associated with tai chi: Hei (happiness),
Noh (anger, indignation), Oi (sadness, depressions), and Lok (enjoyment). . . . Most of the
movements of the tai chi form correspond to one or more of these four emotions [and] the most
important of the four emotions is hei (Little, pp. 215, 217).
I have experienced hei as I master new steps in the choreography of the short form.
Whenever I close my eyes and practice the steps of the short form, I feel light and fluid like the
ocean. It is truly meditation in movement. . . . Even tempo and constant relaxation allow the
mind to become empty, receptive, and alert (Little, p. 31). I have learned how to maximize my
lung capacity and to empty my mind during meditation so I can receive spiritual enlightenment.
I leave each class relaxed, refreshed, calm, and ready to tackle any problem that comes my way.
My happiness log frequently references gratitude to things I have learned in my tai chi class.
Concerning my well-being scale, I consistently rated it at the end of the day at a four or
five on a scale of one to five, one meaning the day was terrible and five representing feeling
great about the day. This meant that I collectively reflected on my day instead of focusing on
particular events during the day. If I were to have done the rating a couple of times throughout

the day, I feel that different numbers may have surfaced because rating in the moment narrows
your thinking. I found that using the well-being scale did not increase or decrease my happiness
level, nor did it adequately reflect my feelings and emotions for the day. It did, however,
reaffirm that recording and reflecting on gratitudes does increase my outlook on life as it pertains
to happiness. Daily expressions of gratitude coupled with meditation did rejuvenate my soul and
impacted my personal level of happiness.

References
Allred, H. Enhancing Happiness and Well-being, week 2 PowerPoint. Retrieved 2016.
Chlebak, C. M. (2013, April ). Graduate Counselling Psychology Students Experiences of
Mindfulness Meditation and Gratitude Journalling. UBC Library Open Collections.
Retrieved 2016.
Emmons, R. A. (n.d.). Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You
Happier. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Frisch, M. B. (2006). Qualtiy of life therapy: Applying a life satisfaction approach to positive
psychology and cognitive therapy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Kaczmarek, L. D., Kashdan, T. B., Drazkowski D., Enko, J., Kosakowski M., Szaefer, A., &
Bujacz, A. (n.d.). Why Do People Prefer Gratitude Journaling over Gratitude Letters?
The Influence of Individual Differences in Motivation and Personality on Web-based
Interventions. Personality and Individual Differences 75 (2015): 1-6. Retrieved July 25,
2016.
Little, J.R (n.d.). Ultimate Guide to Tai Chi Chicago: Contemporary Books, 2000.
Rowedder, L. (2014, April ). ASU Graduate College. A Pilot Study to Examine the Impact of a
7-day Gratitude Journal on Perceptions of Physical Activity and Happiness in the
Workplace. Retrieved 2016.