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Wisdom Wednesdays: A Simple Practice That Will Benefit Psychological, Physical And Social Health · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, Welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays.
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  Speaker 2: Today. I'm going to start with a little story.
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  Speaker 1: Back in nineteen ninety five, I took a year off
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  Speaker 1: from university. I was about to do a master's degree,
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  Speaker 1: and I went traveling, and I went traveling with friends.
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  Speaker 1: But then I ended up in India for three months
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  Speaker 1: back in nineteen ninety five, and it was absolutely bonkers.
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  Speaker 2: But there was one day I will never forget. I
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  Speaker 2: was in a.
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  Speaker 1: Little holy village called Puri, south of what was then
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  Speaker 1: called Calcutta, and this guy came towards me in a
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  Speaker 1: homemade rickety go kart. He was covered in bandages and
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  Speaker 1: he was begging. And then as he got right up
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  Speaker 1: to me, I realized that the guy had leprosy and
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  Speaker 1: elephant titus and I had a pretty profound impact on me.
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  Speaker 1: And ever since that day, I've done a gratitude ritual
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  Speaker 1: because of this guy. And I didn't know that there
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  Speaker 1: was any science behind it at the time, but in
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  Speaker 1: recent years, the scientific exploration of gratitude has revealed profined
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  Speaker 1: impacts and our psychological, physical, and our social wellbeing. So
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  Speaker 1: gratitude is often defined as the quality of being thankful
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  Speaker 1: and the readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
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  Speaker 1: And there are a whole heap of different benefits, as
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  Speaker 1: I said, so let's explore them. The first set of
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  Speaker 1: benefits that researchers have shown are the psychological benefits of gratitude,
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  Speaker 1: and the first one is enhanced emotional wellbeing. So we
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  Speaker 1: know now that gratitude is strongly correlated with increased happiness
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  Speaker 1: and the life satisfaction, and studies have shown that individuals
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  Speaker 1: who regularly practice gratitude report having higher levels of positive
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  Speaker 1: emotion such as joy, enthusiasm, love, and lower levels of
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  Speaker 1: negative emotions like envy, resentment, and regret. And the next
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  Speaker 1: one Nick's benefit from a psychological perspective is around resilience
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  Speaker 1: and coping, and it turns out that gratitude can actually
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  Speaker 1: serve as a coping mechanism during difficult times. And I
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  Speaker 1: think you'll probably have heard me and Carly talk about
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  Speaker 1: when Oscar was going through his Cushing's disease that gratitude
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  Speaker 1: was so important for us. And the research shows that
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  Speaker 1: it helps individuals to reframe negative events and then focus
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  Speaker 1: on the positive aspects, therefore fostering resilience. So, for instance,
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  Speaker 1: grateful people are better at dealing with stress and recovering
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  Speaker 1: from traumatic experiences because they can find the positives even
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  Speaker 1: in adverse situations. And the third psychological benefits is prevention
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  Speaker 1: of depression. We know that regular gratitude practice can prevent
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  Speaker 1: the onset of depression. And actually a famous study by
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  Speaker 1: Martin Seligman called the Three Good Things Study show the
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  Speaker 1: people who were depressed who every night journaled about three
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  Speaker 1: good things in their life or three things that happened
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  Speaker 1: that day significantly.
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  Speaker 2: Reduced their depression.
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  Speaker 1: And we know that gratitude interrupts the cycle of negative
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  Speaker 1: thinking and self focus, which are common precursors to depression.
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  Speaker 1: And by focusing on what one is grateful for, individuals
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  Speaker 1: can mitigate feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. And there's a
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  Speaker 1: fourth one from in terms of psychological benefits, and we
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  Speaker 1: know that people who regularly practice gratitude have got more
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  Speaker 1: hope and optimism for the future. And I've talked before
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  Speaker 1: about hope, and I've also done a recent Wisdom Wednesday
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  Speaker 1: on optimism, which is a very beneficial trait, And it
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  Speaker 1: turns out that gratitude. Regular gratitude practice increases both hope
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  Speaker 1: and optimism. Now let's talk about the physical benefits as
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  Speaker 1: reported by research. So the first one is improved sleep quality.
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  Speaker 1: Believe it or not, turns out the grateful individuals tend
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  Speaker 1: to sleep better and longer, and studies have found that
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  Speaker 1: gratitude reduces negative pre sleep cognitions that allows you to
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  Speaker 1: have a more RESTful and uninterrupted sleep. And then this
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  Speaker 1: improved sleep quality in turn enhances overall health and well being.
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  Speaker 1: And actually, I've got a little practice that whenever I
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  Speaker 1: go to bed and I lie down, and no matter
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  Speaker 1: how tired I on, I remember combat survival and resistance
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  Speaker 1: to interrogation training and how bigging horrible it was in
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  Speaker 1: the freezing cold in the UK winter with no sleeping bag,
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  Speaker 1: And I lie down every night and I go, how
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  Speaker 1: frigging awesome is a mattress and a pillow and a
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  Speaker 1: douvet And just those little things can really really help,
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  Speaker 1: And it just helps me to just go to sleep
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  Speaker 1: with a smile on my face. So the second physical
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  Speaker 1: benefit that research has shown is enhance cardiovascular health. And
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  Speaker 1: we know that gratitude can lower blood pressure and heart
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  Speaker 1: rate and improve our cardiovascular health, and partly because of
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  Speaker 1: its stress reduction, benefits, which everybody knows is a significant
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  Speaker 1: risk factor for heart disease. And the other studies have
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  Speaker 1: shown that people who regularly practice gratitude have got a
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  Speaker 1: stronger immune system and they tend to have better health
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  Speaker 1: behaviors and lower levels of stress hormones which I mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: and that can enhance immune function and reduce susceptibility to illnesses.
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  Speaker 1: But I think there's something about that psychological disposition and
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  Speaker 1: the impact on your immune system. And then the third
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  Speaker 1: set of benefits are social benefits of gratitude. So the
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  Speaker 1: research shows that gratitude actually improves reallyationships. We know that
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  Speaker 1: when people express gratitude, it strengthens bonds by making people
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  Speaker 1: feel valued and appreciate it, and it also encourages reciprocal
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  Speaker 1: acts of kindness, which then creates a positive feedback loop
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  Speaker 1: that enhances social connections. And then there's other research that
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  Speaker 1: shows that gratitude actually creates increased empathy and reduced aggression.
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  Speaker 2: So grateful people have been shown to be more likely
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  Speaker 2: to exhibit pro social behaviors such as empathy and.
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  Speaker 1: Support, and they're less likely to retaliate or be aggressive
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  Speaker 1: against others, which obviously leads to more harmonious and supportive
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  Speaker 1: social environments. And then the third one and the last
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  Speaker 1: benefit and significant benefit, is an enhanced sense of community.
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  Speaker 2: We know that gratitude promotes.
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  Speaker 1: This sense of community and social cohesion, and when individuals
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  Speaker 1: acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of others, it then fosters
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  Speaker 1: a collective spirit of goodwill and cooperation. So there are
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  Speaker 1: a number of evidence being ways that you can actually
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  Speaker 1: cultivate gratitude, and one that I tend to do Cordie does.
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  Speaker 2: More than me, is journaling.
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  Speaker 1: And as I said, Martin Seligman has shown this that
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  Speaker 1: keeping a gratitude journal is one of the most effective
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  Speaker 1: ways that you can enhance gratitude. Write and down three
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  Speaker 1: to five things you're grateful for each day has been
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  Speaker 1: shown to significantly boost your mood and your well being.
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  Speaker 2: And then you can do something.
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  Speaker 1: Called gratitude letters or gratitude visits, so you write a
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  Speaker 1: letter of thanks to someone who's had a positive impact
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  Speaker 1: on your life, and then you can deliver it in person,
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  Speaker 1: or you can actually just go and tell people the impact,
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  Speaker 1: the positive impact that you've had for them, and that
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  Speaker 1: has pretty profound effects. The research shows on both the
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  Speaker 1: person who's giving it and the person who is receiving it,
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  Speaker 1: and then you can do a mindfulness and gratitude meditation.
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  Speaker 1: So just incorporating gratitude into mindfulness and meditation practices can
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  Speaker 1: deepen your appreciation for the present moment and the positive
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  Speaker 1: aspects of your life. And there's a number of guided
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  Speaker 1: meditations around gratitude that you can actually do. And then
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  Speaker 1: something that I like, I use my app and actually
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  Speaker 1: have a little reminder where I'll set up that little
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  Speaker 1: reminder just that that pops up on my app that
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  Speaker 1: reminds me about gratitude and wherever I am andever I
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  Speaker 1: see that, I just kind of look around for something
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  Speaker 1: to be grateful for. So you can just set a
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  Speaker 1: little reminder on your phone or some other kind of.
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  Speaker 2: Trigger to do it. And then we know that acts
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  Speaker 2: of kindness.
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  Speaker 1: Actually doing that and reflecting on the positive effects of
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  Speaker 1: your actions can also enhance your sense of gratitude. And
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  Speaker 1: then helping others can make you more aware of the
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  Speaker 1: good in your own life, which is what the research shows.
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  Speaker 1: And one other thing that I've actually started to do
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  Speaker 1: recently and since Corley did the podcast on AWE is
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  Speaker 1: actually combined gratitude with awe and just look for little
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  Speaker 1: awe inspiring things around you. And actually, this doesn't need
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  Speaker 1: to be something that's ridiculous, can be stuff like a
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  Speaker 1: sunset or even I will often just now turn on
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  Speaker 1: the tap and step back.
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  Speaker 2: And go, how fucking awesome is running water?
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  Speaker 1: Because when we think about it, there is so much
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  Speaker 1: stuff that we typically take for granted that is awesome
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  Speaker 1: when you think about it, such as running water, such
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  Speaker 1: as electricity, cars, you know, all of this stuff. The internet,
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  Speaker 1: there is stuff that when you actually sit back and
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  Speaker 1: think how do they do that?
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  Speaker 2: Chip like, how do they make that happen?
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  Speaker 1: You can get really all inspired and then that then
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  Speaker 1: starts to trigger that sense of gratitude.
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  Speaker 2: So hopefully this is useful.
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  Speaker 1: I have found and thanks to that guy thirty years
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  Speaker 1: ago and had a massive massive impact on me, and
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  Speaker 1: that regular gratitude practice has actually massively enriched my life.
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  Speaker 2: So go forth and be grateful. Catch you next time.