Wellness Wisdom: Benefits of Gratitude

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Hey everyone, Dr. Drew Sinatra here. I'm joined by my wife, Dr. Briana Sinatra. And I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a very difficult, very tumultuous year for all of us. I think we've been thrown some curve balls and wow, what a year.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: And we're entering the holiday season, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And we wanted to provide this video today to talk about gratitude, because gratitude is something that can really be brought into your life on a daily basis. Studies have shown that when we are more grateful, or we express gratitude for things in our life, relationships in our life, nature, whatever it is — that people experience more joy, they experience more happiness. They might have better physical health, their sleep may improve, they may have better relationships with loved ones. And so, this is something that you can do on a daily basis, is be grateful for things that you have.

Dr. Briana Sinatra: So having a practice of gratitude helps us be in the present moment, it helps us to block more toxic emotions that we might have. And it also helps us to be more stress resilient, which is all something that I think that we can benefit from. It also helps, as Drew said, facilitate relationships and a bond between people. And so, we actually use this within our family at the dinner table. It's a great opportunity for us to hear about our children's day, what they enjoyed, what was important to them, and what they're grateful for. We just have them share three things that they're grateful for — and it's really lovely, they actually ask for it. And it's just a wonderful way to connect us as a family. It also helps to facilitate helping behaviors, so the silver lining of this …

Dr. Drew Sinatra: It does!

Dr. Briana Sinatra: … is that when we do that as a family, we feel more joined. And so there's less of a struggle and more of an ease to then transition to cleaning up after dinner, and doing that together and as a family, with less hurdles and bumps. And it can actually be quite enjoyable.

Dr. Briana Sinatra: And so, if this is something that you want to bring into your day, it can be something as easy as getting a piece of paper or a blank journal, and just writing — either about an experience that you were grateful for, a person that you're grateful for, three things that you're grateful for. And if you want a little more structure, there are a lot of gratitude journals out there. I've actually been gifting them to my patients for the past two years. They all come back and say how much they've appreciated it, and really enjoyed that practice in their life.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: And then, what I've done personally, for myself, is I go out into nature and I always find myself being thankful and grateful for the sunshine, and the air around me, and these leaves that are changing color behind us, and this beautiful forest that we're in. And I really learned how to do this when I was at Wilderness Awareness School, where we had something every morning called the “Thanksgiving address.” And this was an address that we gave, out loud, about what we were grateful for, for that day. So it could have been … I'm so thankful for the car that I drove in here, and it was safe for me to be driving in. I'm so thankful for the roads, I'm so thankful for the people that showed up here today, I'm thankful for the fresh air that we have. And that practice really brings you in the present moment, and can really help you be very grateful for things in your life. And so, that's what I do on a daily basis — I essentially go out into nature and I find things that I'm grateful for. I can tell it brings me joy, deep in my heart, and so I'm very thankful for that.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: I wanted to close here with a quote from Oprah. "Whenever there's a grateful moment, I note it. I know for sure that appreciating whatever shows up for you in life changes your personal vibration. You radiate and generate more goodness for yourself when you're aware of all you have, and not focusing on your have-nots." And what I find to be really key in this statement that she gave was the piece about raising your personal vibration. And we both feel that feeling grateful, being grateful, does raise your vibration.

Dr. Briana Sinatra: So we really hope that you learned something from this today, that you can take something away that's meaningful for you, and that you can practice some sort of gratitude in your day. And just imagine what our world would be like if we can all be more in the present moment, and be in a place of gratefulness and gratitude … what our world could look like.

Dr. Drew Sinatra: Thanks for watching, everyone.

Dr. Briana Sinatra: Bye.