THE NEW SCIENCE OF GRATITUDE

Is gratitude science? If you subscribe the theory of evolution, then this, like every other emotion and behavior, evolved to give modern humans an advantage over their less developed ancestors.

 

Today we take a brief glimpse at how gratitude helps us to be stronger and healthier. And, we’ve got some apps for that.

 

 

Photo: Courtesy of Benjamin Hsu

 

If you keep track of the things you are grateful for, you can increase the benefits of gratitude. You can look back and remember, which can reinforce your sense of well-being—and it can serve to remind you that things aren’t so bad after all, so you can quit kvetching. And, people who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Benjamin Hsu

 

Gratitude Journal 365 Pro is a gratitude journal app that allows you to catalog things you are grateful for each day of the year. It is the top rated gratitude app in the App Store.

You can fill the app’s calendar with photos and text, so you get visual and verbal reference. You can add to it whenever you are inspired throughout the day. Or, you might prefer to make it a morning ritual before you start your day—or an end of day round up before you close down for the night.

Simply ask yourself: “What am I truly grateful for in my life?”

Photo: Courtesy of The Glamourai

 

Photo: Courtesy of Aim Islam

A study of users indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher report levels of:

• Alertness

• Enthusiasm

• Determination

• Optimism

• Energy

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​Photo: Courtesy of City of Carver

 

Additionally, the gratitude journal group experienced:

• Less depression

• Less stress

• More likely to help others

• Exercised more regularly

• Made more progress toward personal goals

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Keeping a gratitude journal can become a positive habit that can yield abundance, prosperity, well-being, and happiness. It’s easy:

• Create a daily entry and list anything you are thankful for that day

• Choose a photo for that day

• View your photos in on one screen in a beautiful calendar

• Add filters, frames, and fully edit your photos

• See how many days you've written in your gratitude journal

• Shows how many total gratitudes you've written

• Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr your calendar

• Backup and restore your entries

• Set a password to protect your journal

Photo: Courtesy of Track and Share Apps LLC.

Photo: Courtesy of Track and Share Apps LLC.

 

Are you sure you know what makes you really happy? Why not check in with Gratitude and Happiness App, now the #1 Wellness app on the App Store? You can track four items to see what rates on your happiness Richter, which, of course is closely related to your healthiness meter. Check in on your:

 

• Acts of kindness

• Contact with friends

• Expressions of gratitude

• Degree of happiness
   

You can review how well you do easily with the app’s charts and graphs to give you a clear picture, by days, weeks, and months. Each entry has room for a note. These can be visited later when tapping on the graphs. And if that’s not enough info for you, check out Track & Share Apps for more extensive tracking.

Photo: Courtesy of Kindr Inc.

 

Do you procrastinate writing thank you notes? Are you generous enough in dishing out compliments? Do you take the time to notice the good stuff and are you cool enough to offer thumbs up, pats on the back, and kudos? If you’re feeling a bit lacking, you could probably use Kindr, a new app that allows people to send e-appreciation to your friends.

Photo: Courtesy of Kindr Inc.

 

Founded in 2013 at Stanford University, Kindr aims to make the world a kinder place. Kindr encourages users to make a habit of being kind, creating a virtuous cycle of kindness that helps people live happier, more meaningful lives. The app is based on scientific principles as well as social wisdom including:

 

• Kindness creates happiness: "People who engage in kind acts become happier over time. When you are kind to others, you feel good as a person—more moral, optimistic, and positive.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of California, Riverside
   

• Kindness builds goodwill: “Kindness can jumpstart a cascade of positive social consequences.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of California, Riverside
   

• Helping others leads people to like you, to appreciate you, to offer gratitude. It also may lead people to reciprocate in your times of need. Helping others can satisfy a basic human need for connecting with others, winning you smiles, thankfulness, and valued friendship.” - Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of California, Riverside
   

• Kindness gets easier with practice: “It’s kind of like weight training...we found that people can actually build up their compassion ‘muscle’ and respond to others’ suffering with care and a desire to help.” – Helen Weng, researcher, University of Wisconsin, Madison
   

• Kindness is contagious: A 2010 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed how positive behaviors can spread through social networks: “goodness spurs goodness; a single act can influence dozens more.” – James Fowler, University of California, San Diego and Nicholas Christakis, Harvard University
   

• Check out other interesting Kindness facts here.

Photo: Courtesy of Kindr Inc.

 

The Kindr app also includes a “Good News” feed in partnership with the Huffington Post, to keep you inspired.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Daily Compass

Check out this social experiment which investigated the positive relationship between expressing gratitude and experiencing happiness.

 

Watch the full experiment here:

 

 

Video: The Science of Happiness: An Experiment in Gratitude, SoulPancake

 

Behind the Scenes of the episode!

 

Watch The Science of Happiness - Episode 2 here!

 

Check out the study here!

Read more about Gratitude, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact in our posts throughout this week.

 

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Gratitude. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 12.1.13.

 

Photo: Courtesy of InterActiveMediaSW.

 

Also, check out our special competition: The Most Beautiful Sound in the World! We are thrilled about this effort, together with SoundCloud and The Sound Agency. And we can’t wait to hear what you’ve got!