Gratitude is a prominent theme during the holiday season. It starts with Thanksgiving, a celebration initiated by Pilgrims that included their American Indian neighbors. Over the centuries, Thanksgiving holidays expanded the focus from celebrating bounty, friends and family to military victories, and deliverance from natural disasters. During Christmas and the New Year's holiday, we express our gratitude through gift giving to family and friends and crafting resolutions to change for the better. With the advent of the positive psychology movement, there is greater interest in the effects of gratitude on health.
It is not surprising that a disposition toward gratitude yields positive psychological health effects, but does gratitude have an impact on physical health? In a survey of 962 Swiss adults ranging in age from 19 to 84 years, Hill et al1 found that dispositional gratitude correlates positively with an individual's self-reported physical health and propensity to engage in healthy activities including seeking care for health problems. These findings also revealed that the interconnectedness between psychological and physical health in "grateful individuals" is particularly strong in later adulthood. Could dispositional gratitude be a factor in healing the wounds of a troubled health care system and negative work environments? A personal exploration of gratitude in our daily lives can be a crucial self-care strategy and may also contribute to the healing of negative work environments.
The 90-Day Gratitude Journal2 is a simple tool to help us focus on the realities and opportunities of gratitude events. This journal, available online, explains the need for and the benefits of practicing gratitude. It encourages the development of gratitude as a "habit" and provides a 90-day diary in which to record gratitude-evoking events-that you had a good night's sleep, that you arrived at work safely, that your patients or students were happy to see you, that your manager gave you constructive feedback on how to improve, and that you had the courage to question a directive or stand up to a staff bully. Engendering a disposition of gratitude reflects self-responsibility and self-care, the cornerstones of holistic health. Over the next 3 months, focus on gratitude for 10 minutes at the end of each day and shift your health and life contexts to a more positive state. We wish the readers of Holistic Nursing Practice a holiday season filled with peace, joy, and gratitude.
-Gloria F. Donnelly, PhD, RN, FAAN, FCPP
Editor-in-Chief
REFERENCES