The Transformative Power of Gratitude and Grace

Episode 011 – Gratitude Can Save Your Life!

A new year has just begun, and that means we’re all thinking about goals and hopes and resolutions. Honestly, most of that is useless. Most resolutions fail. But if you really wanted to change your life for the better this year, there is one thing you could do that would have a massive impact. A simple little practice called gratitude. And I’m not joking when I say it can save your life.

Show Notes

Show notes will not be a transcript. At least not now. You’ll find a few key bullet points, any scriptures references, as well as any other books or resources referenced.

• The new year is the time when we think about making life changes. Well, most resolutions don’t work. Try this instead. Don’t leave gratitude behind with the holidays.
• Gratitude is increasingly being found to have a tangible impact on our lives by clinicians. Some examples:
  • “The Grateful Disposition: A Conceptual and Empirical Topography,” 2002, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
  • “The Role of Gratitude in Spiritual Well-Being in Asymptomatic Heart Failure,” 2015, American Psychological Association
  • “Do Gratitude and Spirituality Predict Psychological Distress?” Department of Psychology, Bowling Green University.
  • A brief introduction to Robert Emmon’s work on Gratitude.
• Gratitude can impact your life in amazing ways:
  • “We found that compared to their less grateful counterparts, grateful people are higher in positive emotions and life satisfaction, and lower in negative emotions…They appear to be more socially oriented, more empathetic, forgiving, helpful and supportive than their less grateful counterparts. They appear to be more socially oriented, more empathetic, forgiving, helpful and supportive than their less grateful counterparts.” – The Grateful Disposition, Linked Above.
  • People who regularly practice gratitude exercises are less likely to develop anxiety and depression.
  • “Gratitude and spiritual well-being are key positive factors to consider in this population. We documented that…gratitude is related to better mood and sleep, less fatigue, more self-efficacy [in treatment] and a lower cellular inflammatory index.” – The Role of Gratitude in Spiritual Well-Being in Asymptomatic Heart Failure, Linked Above
• Gratitude is a major theme in scripture.
  • Appears in hundreds of verses.
  • “Be thankful” appears 37 times total, which is 1 more than the instruction to “Be holy.”
• Gratitude is counter-cultural
  • Our culture aspires to be a meritocracy, but this is directly opposed to gratitude. If we earned or are worthy of everything we have, then we have nothing to be grateful for.
  • In a meritocracy, we begin to lose touch with the reality that everything in our life is a gift. All of life, ultimately, is grace.
  • This is why gratitude and the practice of gratitude is a fundamental marker of spiritual maturity.

• A Contest? A Give-Away?
  • To celebrate our first 3500 downloads of the podcast, I’m giving away books to the first ten people who share this podcast on Social Media. Here’s how it works:\
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