Heal the World With Gratitude

Both World Gratitude Day and World Peace Day, celebrated on September 21, originated at the United Nations with the intent to offer hope and meaningful recognition of the power of individuals to bring positive, lasting change to the world.

In 1965, on Thanksgiving Day, spiritual and meditation leader Sri Chinmoy suggested there be a day of thanks the whole world could celebrate together. In 1977, during a special ceremony that honored Sri, a resolution was passed that would officially recognize World Gratitude Day. Since then, like Peace Day, this annual observance has grown to become a worldwide movement.

Science shows that among many benefits, gratitude gives rise to inner peace and happiness. Being grateful for the blessings of peace and valuing the health and well-being gratitude brings can have a multiplying effect. If you contemplate the power of gratitude on a collective scale, you soon realize that it has the potential of being the “gateway to a culture of peace”. Gratitude and peace go hand in hand, and as September 21 suggests, both ultimately blend into a synergistic way of being.

To celebrate this harmonious convergence, Films for the Planet is hosting a screening for the global virtual premiere of GRATITUDE REVEALED on September 21. An epic journey forty years in the making, GRATITUDE REVEALED from acclaimed filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg, the director of Fantastic Fungi, takes us on a transformational, cinema experience of how to live a more meaningful life full of Gratitude.

Gratitude is the Gateway to Peace

If ever the world needed the restorative power of gratitude, now is that time. Gratitude regenerates our heart and mind, and gives us a renewed resolve to meet the challenges we are facing with grace and compassion.

Kristi Nelson, Executive Director at A Network for Grateful Living says, “Living gratefully helps us to know and create peace from the inside out. We focus on cultivating emotional, physical and mental states that embody peace, and we become better peacemakers. When we are grateful, we also become more of what the world needs in order to be trustworthy peace-keepers.” Kristi points out that:

• Gratefulness makes us aware that life is a gift, and that treasuring and protecting this gift is paramount. We savor and steward the large and the small things alike, and take a stand on behalf of what matters. Peace matters.
• Grateful people experience themselves as interconnected with all others, and recognize our inextricably as a global family living on this Earth. What is done to one, is done to all…
• When we are grateful, “less is more” to us; we are more content and experience sufficiency more readily. This makes us less likely to contribute to habits of consumption that amass and deplete precious resources, and give rise to conflict.
• Gratefulness engenders love, compassion, and respect. It shapes how we relate to each other, and compels us toward kindness and generosity…towards those things that nurture peace. Grateful people are moved by love toward justice.

“During the pandemic, I was moved by how society was disconnected, and the small things in life, whether meeting a friend for coffee or hugging a family member, were taken away from them. I felt compelled to show my gratitude for our world during such a complex and unpredictable time. I wanted to help people in desperate need of connection, both internal and external, and address the global suffering from isolation, stress, and anxiety due to the pandemic. So, I decided to make Gratitude Revealed.”

“The film provides a global audience an opportunity to open our hearts, see each other with compassion and understanding, and build bridges with those who think differently. In addition, the film provides the audience with a shift in consciousness on gratitude’s vital role in their lives. and how they can work towards experiencing more of it daily as it builds resilience, gives purpose, and provides health benefits in these troubled times.”

Fantastic Fungi invited us to go deep into the magic beneath our feet—the mycelial world. With Gratitude Revealed, our journey continues to the magic within us all—our innate sense of awe.

Science backed Reasons to Get Grounded in Gratitude

Research has shown that cultivating gratitude improves well-being, health, and our sense of connection with each other and the natural world. Research demonstrates that gratitude is not only essential for physical and mental health, but that it may be the most overlooked method for increasing happiness. Dr. Robert A. Emmons, leading scientific expert on the science of gratitude and professor of psychology at University of California, Davis, has called gratitude “the ultimate performance-enhancing substance.” In reference to World Gratitude Day he affirmed that it is “a celebration of the good – and a recognition that this good is sourced outside the self. It’s the greatest of virtues.”

His research reveals gratitude can have several benefits affecting our emotions, personality, social dynamics, and career success. Most importantly, a person’s mindset ultimately affects the body’s biochemistry which has huge impacts on one’s health.

“Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life,” said Robert A. Emmons. “It can lower blood pressure, improve immune function and facilitate more efficient sleep.”

One recent study from the University of California San Diego’s School of Medicine found that people who were more grateful actually had better heart health, specifically less inflammation and healthier heart rhythms. Another study found that gratitude can lower stress hormones like cortisol by 23%. Researchers at the universities of Utah and Kentucky observed that stressed-out law students who characterized themselves as optimistic actually had more disease-fighting cells in their bodies.

Emmons goes on to say, “Gratitude works because, as a way of perceiving and interpreting life, it recruits other positive emotions that have direct physical benefits, most likely through the immune system or endocrine system.”

When we think about what we appreciate, the parasympathetic or calming part of the nervous system is triggered and that can have protective benefits on the body, including decreasing cortisol levels and perhaps increasing oxytocin, the bonding hormone involved in relationships that make us feel so good.

Gratitude is associated with higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL), lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL), and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, both at rest and in the face of stress. It also has been linked with higher levels of heart rate variability, a marker of cardiac coherence, or a state of harmony in the nervous system and heart rate that is equated with less stress and mental clarity.

“Gratitude blocks toxic emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret and depression, which can destroy our happiness,” Emmons said. “It’s impossible to feel envious and grateful at the same time.”

Seven ways to Cultivate Gratitude in Your Life

Gratitude is at the heart of transformation, the art of experiencing a good life and can be learned and strengthened through practice.

By being grateful for our past, such as positive childhood memories, and by enjoying and being grateful for the present, we are more likely to focus on the good than on things that bring personal disappointment, loss, loneliness, stress and anxiety. If we perceive our past and current life to be positive, we will also believe that our future life will have greater potential for good. This results in a more optimistic disposition.

Keep a Gratitude journal. Establish a daily practice where you remind yourself of the good things you enjoy. This includes personal attributes, mundane events and accomplishments, or valued people in your life. Soon a new perspective or life story will emerge. Studies showed that after three weeks of journaling people consistently reported a host of physical, psychological and social benefits. Journaling for 5-minutes can increase your long-term well-being by more than 10%. Other studies reported a 5-15% increase in optimism.

Negative news sells because our brains are wired to remember and dwell on the bad as a survival instinct. Negative thoughts and experiences can be turned into fertile ground as we plant seeds of gratitude to offset the negativity. Our perspective shifts as we see that everything works together for good.

Verbal appreciation brings social cohesion by making people feel acknowledged for who they are and what they do. Incorporate gratitude into your language and look for opportunities to brighten the day for strangers, friends, family, co-workers, public servants and more. Rather than comparing yourself to others, focus on the good things that others have done on your behalf. Appreciation plays an important role in our organizations by motivating and empowering people to do their best work.

Prayer and meditation—in many spiritual traditions, gratitude is considered to be the highest form of prayer, because it recognizes the ultimate source of goodness.

Grateful for our senses—with the ability to touch, see, hear, taste and smell—we gain an appreciation for the miraculous gift of our bodies and of being alive. Spending time in nature enhances our awareness of being part of a life-giving system that is beautiful beyond belief and greater than ourselves.

Start small to cultivate a regular feeling of gratitude. Like any new habit, it may take several months of practice for the greatest benefits of gratitude to appear. Set up reminders and look for new situations and circumstances in which to feel grateful. In the meantime, here’s to more positive emotions and better health as you cultivate resilience and discover a happier and more peaceful and effective presence in the world.