The Healing Power of Gratitude: Lessons from an Ancient Practice
Using ancient wisdom to cultivate gratitude through an understanding of reciprocity
This fall, I got accepted to participate in a six month arts leadership lab. I arrived at the first session excited and eager to connect with the other participants, but when I logged on to the Zoom call to see 15 other humans trying to get comfortable at their couches, beds, and desks, I recoiled. I began to worry I’d have a hard time staying engaged for the two hour session when the people I was supposed to be engaging with were reduced to small boxes on my computer screen. When the facilitator said we’d be starting off with an ice breaker, I recoiled even more and internally rolled my eyes, conscious of the fact that I had my camera on. I know ice breakers are meant to help break the awkwardness of formality and create a sense of community – the exact things I was needing in that moment – but they often fall short for me, failing to actually create any meaningful bonds within a group. Much to my surprise though, I soon found myself dethawing as I thought deeply about the questions the facilitator prompted us with and actively listened to what others had to say. The prompts: What can you offer to the group during our time together? And what do you hope to receive? With these two questions, the facilitator had encouraged us to think about the exchange that was about to take place between us all, opening our hearts to this act of give and take, and inviting us to approach our time together with a sense of gratitude. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they employed an ancient practice that has been connecting humans for a millenia.
The world’s leading expert on gratitude, Robert Emmons, defines gratitude in a way that reveals how reciprocity and interconnectivity are at the root of its nature. Emmons says that gratitude is experienced in two parts. The first part is an affirmation of something positive we’ve experienced, seen, or received. It’s about noticing the good in life and how it makes us feel. The second part is acknowledging that this goodness came from outside of ourselves. Gratitude isn’t self-serving; it’s different from feeling pride for one’s self. Rather, it’s feeling appreciative and giving thanks to some external object or force, drawing awareness to our interdependence and interconnectedness.
By now, we’ve all heard that gratitude is a life changer. There’s a growing body of research on the benefits of gratitude and how it improves mental health, physical health, and our relationships to one another. However, gratitude is relatively undervalued in our Western world. Here, value is placed on efficiency and possessions. The expectations and pressures we feel to succeed, have more, do more, cause us to become hyper focused on where we’re going, preventing us from stopping to see and appreciate what’s right in front of us. Some people cringe at the expression count your blessings, dismissing anything that has any semblance of religious or spiritual sentiment. Then Thanksgiving rolls around and we’re told to give thanks as if it's a novel thing, when it’s actually an inherent part of human life.
The Timeless Wisdom of Gratitude
Gratitude is an ancient practice that’s fundamental to so many religious, spiritual, and cultural teachings. You can find different gratitude practices all around the world, from the small act of saying thank you, to collective thanksgiving traditions. In Christianity, for example, grace is said before and after meals to give thanks to God for providing us with food. In Southern Ontario, Eastern Quebec, and upper New York, where the six native nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederation reside, the Thanksgiving Address is performed before and after meetings. The Thanksgiving Address is a greeting in which thanks is given to the natural world and the ways it sustains us. In Peru, a gratitude ceremony, known as a Despacho Ceremony, is performed to honour life’s transitions. Soul School is thankful to have had this sacred ceremony brought down from the Andean Mountains shared with us by elders on our Peruvian Soul Retreats. During a Despacho Ceremony, prayer bundles are offered to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and Apus (Mountain Spirits) in the spirit of Ayni (reciprocity).
All of these practices and traditions have a common thread. They are designed to make us conscious of reciprocity and reflect on how we can play a harmonious role in the exchanges that are constantly taking place between ourselves, the natural world, and the spirit world. Gratitude teaches us to appreciate the value of something, whether it be an actual object or the time and energy that went into a gift, and inspires us to show thanks for that thing and how it’s provided for us. Like mindfulness, gratitude grounds us in the present, allowing us to feel more connected. Gratitude is one of the highest vibrational frequencies, vibrating at a frequency of 540 MHz, the same frequency as love. This power that gratitude holds is at the heart of all of these traditions. Our ancestors recognized that gathering to give thanks is healing not only for our personal well-being, but also for our collective well-being because of the way it connects us. Gratitude rewires the brain to focus on positivity, helps us feel connected to something greater, and reminds us of how we’re supported by the world around us, making for happier and healthier lives.
5 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude
There are so many things to be grateful for in life, but when we’re going through a hard time, it can be hard to notice these things. Humans are predisposed to fixate on the negative, so building up the capacity for gratitude takes practice. Here are 5 ways you can cultivate gratitude:
Keep a gratitude journal
Take notice of the things around you
Show your appreciation
Celebrate the small things
Give more than you take
The Importance of Giving Thanks Every Day, Not Just One Weekend
Thanksgiving as a national holiday can be a dark reminder of oppression, theft, and pain for so many Indigenous communities. However, thanksgiving as a practice is a longstanding tradition to those same communities, so it’s important to honour where those traditions have come from and embody their lessons when giving thanks. Consider what it’d be like not just to practice gratitude one time a year, but to infuse gratitude into your daily life and gatherings, to always ask ‘What can I offer?’ and ‘What am I receiving?’ These questions join us together and remind us to be appreciative of the exchanges of resources, words, and gifts that keep us alive, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Whether you’re practicing gratitude while in community, like on a Soul School retreat, or silently giving thanks at the start of your day, engaging in this powerful practice can help heal you by deepening your relationship to the world around you.