“The evidence that cultivating gratefulness is good for you is overwhelming. Gratitude is a quality that we should aspire to as part and parcel of personal growth. This wisdom derives not only from ancient philosophers and theologians but also from contemporary social science research.
Harvard University psychiatrist George Vaillant theorizes that a key to mature adaptation to life is the ability to replace bitterness and resentment toward those that have perpetrated harm with gratitude and acceptance. Gratitude is part of this creative process whereby self-destructive emotions are transformed into ones that permit healing and restoration.
Transforming adversity into prosperity requires that no matter what happens, existence itself is seen as a gift. To see life in this fashion requires that gratefulness be a deep and abiding aspect of a person’s character. As a virtue, gratefulness is an attitude underlying successful function over the life course.
A dispositionally grateful person will tend to see what is good in situations and to notice less what i
s bad. Those with the virtue of gratefulness will become grateful for the ways in which painful circumstances allow growth. As tragedies become transformed into opportunities, grateful individuals begin to heal from past wounds and look forward to the future with a fresh affirmation toward life.”
A.R.E.’s Venture Inward Magazine, “Gratitude In Trying Times,” Robert A. Emmons, PhD, p. 35.
