When our purpose pursuits go sideways: Gratitude as gateway to purpose
I was recently invited to participate in a national research planning meeting on a topic about which I’m knowledgeable and invested. I diligently prepared for the meeting and made travel plans that allowed time to see a friend’s daughter’s art at the Smithsonian. https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/invitational-2023/online/maggie-thompson
Me in full-on purpose-mode. But a half a day into the two-day meeting, I succumb to the stomach flu. I missed the remainder of the meeting, my interest in the agenda plummeted, and my sole priority became to fly home without incident. This experience was nothing like I hoped.
When I stopped pouting and started intentionally noticing good things in this messed up situation, my perspective changed. Gratitude shifted my foreground, demeanor, and problem solving. This experience piqued my curiosity about whether gratitude might influence purpose in life (it does! – see Research Brief) and made me want to create a more grateful frame through which I look at all the circumstances of my life.
Gratitude is a psychological orientation where people appreciate the positive things in their lives that often occur as a result of others’ help (Lasota, 2023). It involves thanking others, thanking God, cherishing blessings and moments, and appreciating good amid difficulties (Lasota, 2023). Grateful people tend to have better mood, life satisfaction, and purpose in life than pouters (Czyżowska & Gurba, 2022; Cunha et al., 2019; Emmons & McCulloch, 2003). Here’s the good news: research demonstrates that we can improve our sense of gratitude by engaging in simple practices such as taking a 5-minute walk while reflecting on our blessings, listing 3-5 things each day that we are grateful for, and/or expressing gratitude to those who have helped us (Bronk et al., 2019; Czyżowska & Gurba, 2022).
I’m trying to fold some of these practices into what I already routinely do: I like to walk and so I’m reserving the first few minutes for a gratitude review; I like to journal each morning and I’m incorporating reflections on gifts from the day before. I figure that if I can cultivate these practices when things go right, I’ll be more apt to find gratitude when they don’t.
There are all kinds of investments we might make to foster our growth and happiness but I can’t think of anything that has the joy- and purpose-inducing benefits of cultivating gratitude. This is not transactional for me – that is, just about the dividends – but rather a means by which to live my values.
What about you? If gratitude is one of your values, what does it look like in your daily life?
Onward!
Sources:
Cunha LF, Pellanda LC, Reppold CT (2019). Positive Psychology and Gratitude Interventions: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 584. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00584. PMID: 30949102; PMCID: PMC6437090.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30949102/
Czyżowska N, Gurba E (2022). Enhancing Meaning in Life and Psychological Well-Being Among a European Cohort of Young Adults via a Gratitude Intervention. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 751081. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.751081.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35058837/
Emmons RA, McCullough ME (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-89. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.377.
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12585811/
Lasota A (2023). Crisis experience and purpose in life in men and women: The mediating effect of gratitude and fear of COVID-19. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 6490. doi:10.3390/ijerph20156491
Find the abstract here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37569030/