The scientific explanation:

“Thank you”: According to psychology professor Robert Emmons, from the University of California, in the United States, these five letters can change our lives. Not the thanks thrown out mechanically for a door held or a salt shaker held out; no: according to the psychologist, gratitude is beneficial when it is expressed in all conscience, after going through two stages. First, the recognition of the good received – it can be material (gift) or immaterial (moral support, presence), and its cost (the effort it required). Then, “the recognition of the fact that the source of this benefit is outside oneself”, indicates the psychologist. Source which can be another person, but also life itself.

A positive outlook on life

To measure the real effects of this recognition, Robert Emmons and his colleague Michael McCullough called on several hundred people whom they divided into three groups. The first kept a diary of his daily experiences; the second, only unpleasant experiences; while in the third, everyone had to list the events for which they could bet. Ten weeks later, this last group presented the most positive general state, enthusiastic on a daily basis and optimistic about the future. Even better: these people reported fewer health concerns and took better care of themselves, in particular by practicing sports. Robert Emmons also found a drop in stress levels, better quality of sleep, greater determination, increased performance and a drop in the risk of depression.

So many benefits that increase with the practice of the gratitude exercise. The more often we strive to identify our reasons for being grateful, the more easily we find them. Also, the more we express our gratitude to others, the more we are appreciated by them, so the more they are lovable, so the more we have to be grateful to them, etc. It's a virtuous circle that may never be complete!

How it works ? Gratitude “helps a person direct their attention to the happy things in their life and distract them from what they lack,” says Robert Emmons. Not that gratitude destroys our negative emotions, rather it encourages us to develop positive emotions by focusing on our chances. The objective is to move, as the Italian philosopher and psychologist Piero Ferrucci (1) puts it, “from harshness – I want that – to gratitude – I am happy with what I have”. This is what makes Michael McCullough (2) say that “gratitude could be a happy alternative to materialism, the gangrene of our hyper-consumer societies.

Finally, adds Robert Emmons, “practicing gratitude diverts attention from the self, directs it more towards others and what they give us”. This allows us to decenter: an attitude that not only relieves us of the pressure that we put on ourselves by paying attention to ourselves, but which also brings us into a warm relationship with the world and with others.

Extracts from Psychologies magazine: gratitude is good