How an Attitude of Gratitude Can Help You Right Now

Staying positive can be difficult right now— but all it takes is a few minutes each day to train our minds to look on the bright side. Hear from a happiness expert why gratitude can be the silver bullet and learn her simple practice that can make each day better.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
We are so grateful to our launch partners, founding partner
PNG and Bank of America. Together we're bringing you something
good every day, and it wouldn't be possible without their support.
Each day, we aspire to bring you the good news,

(00:24):
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere every day. We just
need to look for it and share it. Here's something
Good for Today. Staying positive can be difficult these days,
but we were happy to learn that, according to scientific studies,
all it takes is a few minutes of practice each

(00:45):
day to train our minds to look on the bright side. Today,
we're going to share a simple and effective exercise, direct
from a happiness expert that can make your day and
your outlook much more positive. Now, let me start by
acknowledging that these last several weeks have been extremely challenging
as we all try to process what's happening in the world.
We're all experiencing loss in different ways. Much of the

(01:06):
world is facing increased levels of anxiety, fear, and even depression,
and while it would be easy to slip into a
negative direction. Right now, it's really important to try to
stay positive because recognizing the good in our lives. Having
an attitude of gratitude is what's going to help us
get through this moment. And science backs this up. Harvard Health,
for instance, says that gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions,

(01:28):
relish good experiences, helps people deal with adversity better, and
build stronger relationships. Gratitude even improves your health. It's something
that we talk a lot about in our book Fast Forward,
the notion that gratitude not only makes you feel better,
but can change your perspective and even the course of
your life in a meaningful way. So why does this matter,
especially right now? It's natural to feel depressed and resentful

(01:51):
about what's happening in the world, but dwelling on the
negative just makes things worse and it's infectious. Changing your
mindset by looking at the positives has the opposite effect.
We talked to an expert on happiness, Emiliana Simon Thomas.
She's the science director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center,
and here's what she had to say about gratitude. Expressing
gratitude can seem really easy, but research shows that when

(02:16):
we get good at it, and when we're specific about it,
it can be a really powerful asset to our health
and well being. And what I mean by specific is
instead of just saying hey, thanks, thanks for doing the dishes,
we say something like, hey, thanks for doing the dishes.
I mean you could have done a bunch of other
things instead, but he helped me, and you doing that

(02:36):
allowed me to do, um what I really wanted to
do instead, which is have a phone call with my mother.
So what I did was expressed what the person did,
acknowledge their effort, and explain how it helps me. Those
aspects of gratitude are really important to share, and when
we share them, the gratitude has a much greater impact

(02:56):
on a sort of sense of closeness and air bond.
So here's something good for today. Try practicing intentional gratitude
with someone you know, whether it's a loved one, a colleague,
or even the delivery person or cashier that you come
in contact with during your day. Share your thanks and
be specific about your gratitude and see if it doesn't
make you happier, healthier, and change the course of that

(03:19):
person's day too. What a simple and great way to
share something good. Everyone every day has something good to share,
whether it's a story that inspired you, a great tip
that you've heard about, or something that happened in your
day that you're grateful for. If you want to share

(03:39):
your something good with us, please email us at something
Good at Seneca Women dot com and we may even
share it with the world. Thank you for listening, and
please share Today's something Good with others in your life.
This is Kim Azarelli, co author of Fast Forward and
co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more about Seneca Women,
go to Seneca Women dot com or download the Seneca
Women app free in the app store. Here's Something Good

(04:02):
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and
I Heart Radio, with support from founding partner PNG and
Bank of America. Have a Great Day. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app,
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.