06 Nov Happiness is…gratitude
by Sherri Fisher
Did you know that over two thirds of happiness experiences are relationship oriented? Gratitude is the feeling we experience when we perceive ourselves as the recipient of an intentional gift from another. In many ways, it is the ultimate positive emotion, and for most people, it expands their sense of well-being and belongingness. Very happy people have happier memories of events and have more highly satisfying relationships with friends, romantic partners, and family members.
Kindness, Gratitude and Happiness
In our everyday life, we depend on reciprocity, the responsiveness of others to our needs. Some people benefit more from this than others. Happy people feel more grateful when on the receiving end of kindness and are more motivated to be kind, to recognize kindness in others, and to enact kind behaviors in their own daily life. The active _ã–tending and befriending_ã of others leads to an upward spiral of appreciating and reciprocating kindnesses and gratitude. This is the foundation of our relationships and well-being.
In recent gratitude studies, researchers have looked at the value of gratitude among different populations. It appears that men and women, for example, do not have the same experience of gratitude, and that women may have higher trait gratitude, that is, they are naturally more grateful. Men on the other hand, recognize that they have received a gift of some sort but may in addition feel indebted to the giver. This may be exacerbated by cultural influences and may help explain why women who do kind things for some men don_ã_t receive a reciprocal response from them.
To read more about happiness and gratitute, from Positive Psychology News Daily – click here