7. Practice Gratitude

Discover the Three Keys of Gratitude to Unlock Your Happiest Life!: Jane Ransom at TEDxChennai

In her TEDX talk Jane Ransom discusses how practicing gratitude can rewire the brain to reform the subconscious and make people happy.

She explains how the daily use of three keys - emote, extend and exercise can open the mind and open people's awareness enabling them to be more creative and more resilient. Emote is to feel gratitude, extend is to include others and exercise is to practice gratitude regularly.

A recent talk by Kirrilie Smout a child and adolescent psychologist revealed that when children are kept busy , the tend to experience much fewer negative thoughts and they are usually happier. (2016) It would seem that by filling their mind there is less room for negativity. Encouraging young people to practice gratitude will fill their minds with positive thoughts, leading to positive emotions and less emotional pain.

Both Jane and Kirrillee have evidence to support the theory that students are much more successful at school when they are free of emotional pain. Consequently teaching and encouraging children and adolescents to practice gratitude can improve their learning as well as their wellbeing.

Jane suggests that each night, people write down and appreciate three things that went well for them that day. She calls it the three blessings.

A number of gratitude researchers have talked about the keeping of a gratitude journal. In his article 'Tips for Keeping a Gratitude Journal, Marsh consults with

Emmons, a professor at the University of California, to gain advice about keeping a journal. Emmons recommends depth over breadth and believes that going into depth about one thing is of better value than writing a list of superfluous small things. He also suggested that writing in a journal a couple of times a week has proven to be more beneficial than each day. (Marsh 2011) This was supported by Lyubomirsky who found that people who wrote in their gratitude journals once a week for six weeks reported boosts in happiness afterward; people who wrote three times per week didn’t.

When tasked with adopting a gratitude practice, my first thought was to begin a daily gratitude journal, in light of these findings, I might consider other practices before making a decision.

Lyubomirsky, S. & Boehm, J. K. (2005). The Promise of Sustainable Happiness. In S. J. Lopez (Ed.), Handbook of positive psychology (2nd Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1-28.

Marsh, J. ( 2011, November 17). Tips for Keeping a Gratitude Journal. Retrieved from Greater Good Berkley.:http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/tips_for_keeping_a_gratitude

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Ransom, J. (November, 5 2012). Discover the Three Keys of Gratitude to Unlock Your Happiest Life!: . Retrieved from You Tube- TEDxChennai: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ewi0qlqrshE

Smout, K. (2016, November 24th). Supporting Your Child Through Senior Secondary School. . Parent Talk at Immanuel College. Novar Gardens, South Australia: Developing Minds Psychology.