As we prepare for Thanksgiving break, there are many reasons to be excited. For many, the endless buffet of home cooked food with friends and family is the primary motivation. After our feast, we look forward to hitting the stores and cashing in on some early Black Friday deals. But how many of us are excited to spend a day dedicated to thankfulness? While food and festivities are definitively reasons to be excited, we too often forget the true “reason for the season” as we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday. This Thanksgiving, let’s work to place the emphasis back on gratitude and giving thanks.

What is gratitude?

So, what is gratitude? According to dictionary.com, gratitude is “the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.” In other words, to have gratitude is to acknowledge the good things that we have in our lives and to be appreciative of them. When put into practice, it’s amazing how a word with such a simple definition can make so much impact on our lives and the lives of others. However, although gratitude is an easy concept to grasp, many people fail to put it into practice.

Photo submitted by Greiner.

What are the benefits of having gratitude?

On Oct. 24, Drury hosted a leadership luncheon that focused on the importance of gratitude in the workplace. The speaker for this talk was LaDonna Greiner, a motivational coach and speaker who believes in the benefits of gratitude so much that she has dedicated her life to informing and instructing others as to why and how to practice it. When her position was eliminated with her former employer in 2015, she went on a quest to discover her next big move. In this time, she began to write a book, in which a chapter was dedicated to gratitude.

“That’s when I discovered all of the amazing benefits of living gratefully that have been proven through the numerous studies and research on gratitude that began in the 1990s,” Greiner said.

For Greiner, it was the science behind gratitude that sold her on the idea of practicing it. Many would be surprised to find that there are many concrete benefits of living graciously that have been backed up time and time again by scientific studies.

“For example, people who live gratefully earn 7% more, they are more collaborative, better connected, more likeable and reach more goals,” Greiner says. “Showing gratitude, living gratefully, makes the world a better place. It makes life easier and happier.”

Those are not the only benefits of choosing to implement gratitude into our everyday lives. Greiner says that since choosing to put an emphasis on gratitude, her life has improved in countless ways.

“By choosing to be grateful for the things that happen in my life, both good and bad, expected and unexpected, I’m happier and less stressed,” said Greiner. These feelings that Greiner has experienced are not coincidental, as studies show that grateful people experience 12% fewer stress related illnesses and experience 10% lower blood pressure than those who are not grateful.

When life does not go how we have planned, having gratitude for those things that we do can help keep life in focus.

“When I lost my job, gratitude helped me to keep things in perspective and look for new opportunities and experiences instead of looking at the injustices, unfairness, or what I felt should have happened,” Greiner continued.

While gratitude makes an impact on our personal well-being, the benefits are not limited to ourselves. In fact, practicing gratitude can impact others in a positive way as well.

“By striving to live a grateful life, I’m reminded that I need to tell others how and why I appreciate them. When you take the time to thank someone in a meaningful way, it not only makes them feel valued and appreciated-it makes you feel good too. And it often comes back to reward you in ways you never imagined.”

As college students, it is sometimes hard to remember to be mindful of the positives in our lives and “count our blessings” every day. Between the stresses of school, extracurriculars, jobs, personal issues, etc., it can be hard to see the silver lining when life gets hard. However, as college students and future leaders, it is especially important for us to work to incorporate this mindfulness into our lives so that we can work towards a better, more grateful world.

When asked if she had any specific words of advice for college students, Greiner offered these words: “when things don’t turn out the way you expected, give yourself some time to express disappointment or regret privately if you need to do so. But don’t stay there. Look ahead to what the future holds and focus on the good things and people that are in your life.”

Greiner continued, saying, “If you don’t get something you want like a job or an assignment, consider the possibility that it was because there is an even better opportunity on the horizon or there may be a lesson to be learned that will prepare you for your future.”

Gratitude makes it easier to deal with the pitfalls in life and to reorient ourselves in a different direction. Living a grateful life is not about focusing on the things in our lives that are going wrong, it is about being thankful for the journey.

If we put our focus back other people, the time and thought that we put towards others will benefit us in the long run. “If you focus on appreciating people and making them feel valued, you develop a following of friends and acquaintances that want to support and help you” said Greiner.

Although it can be hard to set aside our own interests at times to help someone else, it is an important skill to develop in not only our personal lives, but in the workplace. At the end of day, it’s the connections that we make with others that will make us feel more fulfilled. “Having people who support you, respect you and want to help you is more valuable than notoriety, intellect or superb skills,” said Greiner.

How can we practice gratitude in our daily lives?

Practicing gratitude is much easier than it may seem. One easy way to do this is simply reaching out to those closest to you and thanking them for being in your life and for all the things that they do for you. If you’re the kind of person that prefers to have specific, concrete actions to put into place, some of Greiner’s suggestions include:

– Don’t take kind gestures for granted
– Thank someone for something small, like holding the door open for you
– Make a list of everything good that has happened to you that day
– Share your positive experiences with others and share your gratitudes
– Write thank you notes for a nice person in your life
– Let someone know that you’re grateful for them
– Tell a professor how much their class has impacted you
– Help out a friend even if they haven’t asked for help
– Offer your parents help cooking at Thanksgiving – they could always use it!
– Put out a random note somewhere that will make someone smile
– Be sincere to a friend about how their friendship has helped you
– Reach out to an old coworker or friend
– Thank someone who has given you good advice

What are Drury students grateful for?

In a first effort to practice this gratefulness, Drury students were asked to list some things that they are grateful for in their lives.

Payton Stringer, senior, and Amanda Kovac, junior, chose to put a positive spin on the stress they feel at this time in the semester. Stringer said, “I’m grateful for graduating.” Kovac said she is grateful, “that the end of the semester is almost here.”

Others focused on the people they have in their lives.

Drury freshmen and sophomores, Gwen Kibbe, Megan Merseal, Jordan Marshall, and Lea Hart all said that they are thankful for all of the supportive friendships and relationships that they have in their lives.

Christina Faoro, senior, is thankful for even the little things in life, saying she is grateful for, “the words sarsaparilla and cornucopia.”

Emily Kruse, a fifth year accounting student, is thankful for, “rain boots that keep my feet dry.”

Overall, being a grateful person has many benefits in our lives. This thanksgiving, I challenge you to put forth a conscious effort to find things you are thankful for and express this gratitude to those around you. Hopefully this will spark in you the desire to put this into practice in your day to day life to set you on the path for a happier, healthier, and more grateful future.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Mirror.