Gratitude: The Superhighway to Resilience

How appreciation helps us rise up the emotional scale; backed by research, not woo-woo.

It was Thanksgiving here in Canada this past weekend and I found myself reflecting deeply on gratitude and all that I have to be grateful for.

We spent the weekend at my parents-in-law’s cottage (pictured above). The air turned cold and the sky grey overnight, yet somehow everyone’s spirits lifted. Gratitude, I realized again, is magic in motion. It warms us, lightens us, and in a word, makes us happier.

But here’s the thing, gratitude isn’t just a nice, feel-good idea. It’s far more than that.

Gratitude is a superhighway to resilience. It is a direct route to our best, most vibrant selves.

I had the joy of teaching this just last week in the first live session of our Certified Resilience Coach Program. We explored what’s known as the Emotional Guidance Scale, and how our thoughts create our feelings.

If you refer to the spirals below, you’ll see that at the very top sit emotions like joy, appreciation, and love.

That’s where we’re at our most resilient - where we feel creative, grounded, and in flow.

Yet sometimes we find ourselves at the bottom of the downward spiral. We may feel depressed, fearful, powerless and like life is happening to us.

The good news is that we don’t have to stay there. We can move up the spiral - something I found surprising when I first learned it - by changing our thoughts.

It turns out our thoughts are the precursors to our emotions.

Let’s pause and take that in for a moment.

Change the thought, select a new better one, and everything begins to change: your mood, your outlook, even the way your body feels.

One of the most effective ways to change the thought, supported by both neuroscience and psychology, is through gratitude.

Notice what’s working, not what isn’t.

Notice even the smallest things: the bed you slept in, the roof over your head, your health, a true friend, the warmth of your coffee, or even a single ray of sunshine.

Larry Sen, author of The Mood Elevator, teaches that we can move up the mood elevator (much like the spiral) through gratitude and humour. We’ll save humour for another day for now, let’s lean into gratitude.

Be a gratitude detective.

Find everything and anything to appreciate.

Pause.

Feel it.

Let it fill your system.

Then watch what happens. Likely your energy will shift, your mood rise, and your outlook expand.
This isn’t woo-woo: brief gratitude practices have been shown to boost happiness and lower depressive symptoms. Gratitude can also buffer our response to stress. Over time, positive emotions like gratitude broaden our perspective and build inner resources, helping us stay centered in the storm of life. Don’t just take my word for it, check out the research linked below.

As I sit here writing this, I can feel it myself: that wave of warmth and appreciation that gratitude brings. I want to pause and simply say: I’m grateful for you.

If you’re reading this, even if you’re the only one, thank you. Thank you for your time, your presence, and for being part of this growing movement toward a world filled with happier, healthier, stronger, and more centered people.

With a heart full of love and gratitude,
Monica

P.S. Want to feel the difference for yourself? Try the “Three Good Things” gratitude-wiring practice developed by Dr. Martin Seligman and colleagues in the field of positive psychology. Before bed, jot down three things that went well today and what made them possible. It’s a small habit with a big ripple effect. Learn how to do it here. 😊

Sources:

1. Gratitude and well-being: a review and theoretical integration
2. Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life
3. A Brief Gratitude Writing Intervention Decreased Stress and Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Pandemic
4. The image of the upward and downward spirals is adapted from the Emotional Guidance Scale created by Esther and Jerry Hicks (Abraham-Hicks), first introduced in Ask and It Is Given (Hay House, 2004).