Stanmore Count your blessings I remember, as a young boy, asking my mother for a new pair of sneakers. There was nothing wrong with the pair I had, but I yearned for the new, improved version. The time-honoured game played out – I pleaded, she rejected – culminating in the famous catch cry: ‘But everyone else is getting them!’ At this, my grandmothe,r who was sitting quietly, looked up from her tea and said, ‘Now, now! You remember to count your blessings young man and consider yourself lucky to even have a good pair of shoes.’ Although I didn’t realise it at the time, in the midst of that chiding I was being taught a lesson about gratitude. I’m certain my grandmother had a lifetime of experience to back up her adage, but it turns out there is a wealth of research into the health and wellbeing benefits of gratitude. In the field of positive psychology, gratitude is deeply associated with greater happiness. Furthermore, gratitude enables people to feel more positive emotions, appreciate good experiences, James Roach says farewell to a friend at Valedictory Day 2018. improve their health, cope with adversity and develop stronger relationships1. Further studies by Emmons confirm that positive psychology, and gratitude is a gratitude effectively increases major component. ‘At Newington, being happiness, can reduce the risk of stress So back to my sneakers. Marjory thankful and expressing and anxiety disorders and may help to McMahon(Nan) taught me that gratitude mitigateagainst depression. Other3 is a way for people to value what they gratitude is caught as studies have demonstrated that have rather than crave something new in much as taught.’ gratitude reduces social comparisons. the hope it will make them happier. As Rather than becoming resentful toward modern society continues to reinforce the In a study by psychologists Emmons and people who have more material individualover the community and McCullough2, participants were placed possessions or higher paying jobs, a dictate that satisfaction comes from our into three groups. Group one wrote major factor in reduced self-esteem, every want being met, developing a about the things they were grateful for. grateful people are able to appreciate greater sense of gratitude will help us to Group two wrote about daily frustrations other people’s accomplishments4. refocus on what we have rather than or irritations, and group three wrote At Newington, being thankful and what we lack. about events that had affected them expressing gratitude is caught as much Although it may feel contrived at first, (with no emphasis on them being as taught. At some point in our gratitude grows stronger with practice. positive or negative). After 10 weeks, assemblies, rehearsals, sport training, As we practice gratitude our health and those who wrote about gratitude were staff meetings and lessons, you will wellbeing improve. And one easy way to more optimistic and felt better about hear sentiments of gratitude being their lives. They exercised more and had passed from one person to another. It is practice is to always, always count your fewer visits to physicians than those practised by staff and students alike blessings. who focused on sources of annoyance and the benefits are often tangible. Our Mr Andy Quinane and irritation. wellbeing program for Year 9 focuses on Deputy Head of Stanmore (Students) 1.Seligman, MEP, Ernst, R, Gillham, J, Reivich, K & Linkins, M, 2009, ‘Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions’, Oxford Review of Education, Vol 35, No 3, pp 293–311. 2.Emmons, R & McCullough, M, 2003, ‘Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well- Being in Daily Life’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 84 No 2, pp 377–389. 3.Petrocchi, N & Couyoumdjian, A, 2015, ‘The impact of gratitude on depression and anxiety: the mediating role of criticizing, attacking, and reassuring the self’, Self and Identity, pp 191–205 13 October 2015. 4.Emmons, R and Stern, R, 2013, ‘Gratitude as a Psychotherapeutic Intervention’, Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, Vol. 69, No. 8, pp846–855. GRATITUDE | NEWS SPRING 2018| 11