Expressing gratitude is a practice that demonstrates your appreciation or thankfulness for someone, something, even for yourself. It's a positive action that boosts self-esteem, opens up your heart to receive, improves your mental health, reduces pain, stress and insomnia.

Robert Emmons is a scientist who’s been studying gratitude for over 2 decades. In his 2010 essay he reported that people who practice gratitude consistently notice the following benefits…

Physical

• Stronger immune systems

• Less bother by aches and pains

• Reduced blood pressure

• Taking better care of their health

• Moving more often

• Longer and more restful sleep

Psychological

• More alert, alive, and awake

• Higher levels of positive emotions

• More joy and pleasure

• More optimism and happiness

Social

• More helpful, generous, and compassionate

• More forgiving

• More outgoing

• Feel less lonely and isolated.

Open Up to Expressing Gratitude

One thing you can do to open up to expressing gratitude is to start a gratitude journal, or create gratitude lists.

This is simply writing down a few things you are grateful for. It doesn't have to be in a fancy, ‘official’ journal, it could be on a lawyers pad, or the back of a receipt you find in your bedside table.

I recall my own journey to expressing gratitude. I started my own gratitude lists years ago, and at first, I found it difficult to think of things I was grateful for. So I wrote stuff like, I’m grateful for the sky. I’m grateful for the apple I ate at lunch. I’m thankful for the garbage man who picks up my stinky trash every Friday.

I also felt myself thinking, this stuff if woo-woo… and I felt absolutely uncomfortable and outside my norm. Kinda like I felt when I first started in the Intensive Care Unit. Out of sorts, and usure if I could continue.

And yet, I kept at it.

The Weirdest Thing Happened

And the weirdest thing happened… after I wrote those random things down I noticed a sense of lightness in my chest. When I kept at it, I noticed the things I was grateful for flowed out of my heart and onto the paper.

I even went out and bought a pretty journal, and I enjoy writing in sharpie marker… I think it helps make gratitude more permanent. lol

The things that Emmons noted in his paper were showing up in my life too!

Gratitude…

Emmons said gratitude…

1. Magnifies positive emotions

2. Helps us celebrate the present

3. Blocks negative, stifling and toxic emotions

4. Helps us develop a sense of greater self-worth

Now, I have a few special journals filled with gratitude. I can go back and read them anytime I need to feel a boost, or recall special moments and times in my life. Or, I could just continue on with new journals, or thoughts of gratitude today.

Here is what Registered Nurse Holly Kapusinski from Post Falls, ID says about Expressing Gratitude.

Holly Kapusinski

Holly Kapusinski is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She supports the benefits of gratitude & has felt its blessings in her life.

In her words,

"Every night when I’m in my comfy, cool bed, I create a list in my mind. A list of what I am grateful for from my day.

Sometimes it’s one thing, & sometimes it’s many things. It doesn’t matter how many.

In the morning when my eyes open, I give thanks for being alive & again, make a list of what I am most grateful for in that moment." Holly

What tips would you share with a fellow Nurse who wants to begin exploring the benefits of gratitude?

Leave a comment to inspire other Nurses.

And please join our Facebook Group, Gratitude for Nurse Wellbeing by clicking the button below.

Nicole A. Vienneau MSN, RN, NC-BC

Nicole’s dream is to honor Nurses every day of her life, so she’s devoted her time and energy into doing just that here at the Restoration Room!

Nicole combines 20+ years of nursing experience with 30+ years of fitness + health coaching to uncover your most authentic expression of wellbeing.

She is a board-certified Integrative Nurse Coach, menopause fitness specialist, brain health trainer, and a group fitness, yoga, and tai chi instructor. She is also Reiki 2 certified and is learning sound healing.

She specializes in protecting your health through habits and behaviors that support your brain and body health at Restoration Room, LLC.

Nicole is passionate about everything she does, and especially loves creating safe, restorative communities. She loves exploring Tucson’s nature, finding solace with her cat-babies and traveling with her awesome husband.