The Right Attitude to Gratitude

"Your ingratitude is not your fault; it's probably evolution's. You have a negativity bias passed on from your ancestors. They needed to operate with a bias that made negative emotions win out over positive ones, because-as unpleasant as negative emotions are-they are more likely to save your life in the presence of a genuine threat. In our day and age, this proclivity tends to be maladapted in ways that make you disproportionately attuned to insignificant hazards and insensitive to the many delights and blessings around you."

"So think of Thanksgiving not as a holiday, but as an intervention. You can make the occasion a manual override to your naturally ungrateful disposition. But you don't have to restrict this intervention to a once-yearly deployment. With a little knowledge and practice of some specific techniques, you can grow the amount of gratitude in your emotional repertoire and get a lot happier year-round."

"When I've previously written about the benefits of gratitude for happiness, I have presented the great body of evidence that shows how expressing authentic thankfulness raises the well-being not only of the person being thanked but also of the person doing the thanking (and perhaps to an even higher degree). Gratitude interrupts cycles of negative rumination by reminding you of the good things in your life, which helps lower depressive symptoms as well as reduce stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety."

Humans possess a negativity bias inherited from ancestors that prioritized negative emotions because they increase survival during genuine threats. In modern environments that bias is often maladaptive, heightening sensitivity to trivial hazards and diminishing awareness of positive experiences, which reduces happiness. Practicing gratitude interrupts negative rumination, shifts attention toward beneficial aspects of life, lowers depressive symptoms, and reduces stress and anxiety. Expressing authentic thankfulness improves well-being for both the giver and the receiver. Rituals such as using Thanksgiving as an intentional override can cultivate gratitude. Regular practice of specific gratitude techniques can expand emotional repertoire and increase long-term happiness.

Read at The Atlantic