Gratitude Lesson: Gratitude Method: Informal Lecture Time: 30 minutes (Lecture); 15 minutes (Activity) REFERENCES: HBR – On Managing Yourself Lyubomirsky, S. The How of Happiness Emmons, R (2008). Gratitude, subjective well being, and the brain. In M. Eid & RJ Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well being (pp. 469-489). New York: Guilfod Press. Emmons, RA & McCullough, ME. (2003). Counting blessing versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389. Estrada CA, Isen AM, & Young MJ. (1997). Positive affect facilitates integration of information and decreases anchoring in reasoning among physicians. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 72, 117–135. Fredrickson BL & Levenson RW. (1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition and Emotion. 12, 191–220. Fredrickson, BL & Joiner, T (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13. 172-175. Gable, EL., Reis, HT. Impett, EA., & Asher, ER . (2004), Capitalizing on Daily Positive Events, Journal of Personality and Social Aids/Handouts: PowerPoint presentation Student Workbook Lesson Strategy: Begin your lesson with an attention/motivation step . A strong attention step should have your participants “curious” or “eager” to hear what you have to say. Here is where you show or explain the benefits/value of the skill (without teaching the entire lesson). You may choose to share the personal example you crafted in MRTC here in its entirety or in abbreviated format (think, “movie trailer”).

Overview Goal/When Core Content Student Activity Skill Review Gratitude Defined Benefits Negativity Bias Cultivating Gratitude Student Activity Skill Review MRT Instructions: Provide a brief preview of the main points for this lesson. Try not to read each item as if you’re reading a laundry list. Ask the participants if they have any question so far, then proceed to the next slide. Gratitude is not simply a matter of saying “think happy thoughts and you’ll feel better.” Rather, there is a highly scientific approach toward understanding the methods and techniques in having the greatest likelihood of increasing a sense of well-being and happiness and identifying which of them may work best for you.

Goal/When Goal To cultivate gratitude, build optimism and positive thinking To help you cope with daily hassles and stress Help improve the quality of life When Set aside time on a regular basis Moments of stress to counter negativity MRT Instructions: MP 1: Goal/When Goal Gratitude is not simply a matter of saying “think happy thoughts and you’ll feel better.” Rather, there is a highly scientific approach toward understanding the methods and techniques in having the greatest likelihood of increasing a sense of well-being and happiness and identifying which of them may work best for you. Gratitude is a tool that will help you recall the positive in your day to day activities When Set aside time on a regular basis Moments of stress to counter negativity (more to follow in the Positive vs. Negative slide)

Core Content Gratitude Defined Sense of wonder, thankfulness and appreciation for life MP 2: Core Content, Gratitude Defined Gratitude is a sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life, according to Robert Emmons, who is one of the most prominent researchers on gratitude. If gratitude is the appreciation for life and thankfulness, why do we focus on the problems and disappointments in our daily lives rather than taking a minute to be thankful for what we have? An Explanation: The brain gives more attention to negative experiences over positive ones because negative events pose a chance of DANGER. This is known as the negativity bias. It is the negative thoughts that lead so many people spiraling down the rabbit hole. You have to make the strong effort to "counteract" the negative thoughts & focus when it occurs. You need to try to make pro-active efforts to DO things that will change your thinking & how you feel, OR, you will continue to get taken over by the negative & get caught in the loop

Core Content Benefits Improves health and sleep Contributes to progress on goals Helps build social relationships Decreased likelihood of depression, anxiety, and loneliness MRT Instructions: MP 2: Core Content, Benefits Gratitude also improves your health and sleep Gratitude can help you make progress on your goals Gratitude can strengthen your relationships with others. Research has shown that people who feel gratitude towards others feel closer to those people and report better relationships—even if they don’t express the gratitude towards the other person. Individuals who took time to express gratitude for their partner not only felt more positive toward the other person but also felt more comfortable expressing concerns about their relationship. Managers who remember to say “thank you” to people who work for them may find that those employees feel motivated to work harder. Gratitude promotes positive thinking. Some people naturally focus on problems or disappointments. Gratitude can help you shift the focus from negative events to the positive.

Core Content Negativity Bias Negative emotions Positive emotions MRT Instructions MP 2: Core Content, Negativity Bias We have a natural ‘negativity bias’—a tendency to pay attention to negative more attention to negative events and emotions—rather than focusing on positive events. While the negativity bias may have helped our survival in the past by helping us avoid danger, paying attention to negative events and emotions can also narrow our thinking and our experiences. Over time, this attention leads to worsened mood and greater fixation on negative thoughts. When people feel positive emotions, they become more creative and open-minded thinking, are more open to new information, and recover more quickly from stressors that increase cardiovascular activity. Positive emotions are the fuel for resilience.

Core Content Cultivating Gratitude What are you grateful for? Create a regular practice—start daily Select something recent (past 24 hours) Be specific Reflect on what you are grateful for: Why did it go well? How did you or others in your life contribute to the good thing that happened? MRT Instructions MP 2: Core Content, Cultivating Gratitude In this skill, in order to counter the negative bias and generate more positive emotions, create a regular practice in which you are reflecting on the things for which you are grateful. Start a daily practice where you write down what went well or what you are grateful for. Think about something that happened in the past 24 hours. It might be a good event that happened to you, a goal you achieved, or an something that someone did for you. Reflect on what you are grateful for. Think about why it went well or how you or others in your life contributed to the good thing. These reflection questions are key to ensuring you get the benefits of this skill. Reflecting on the good thing helps make the exercise more meaningful and creates more positive emotions.

Core Content Cultivating Gratitude When you first learn the skill, reflect on the positive events Daily MRT Instructions MP 2: Core Content, Cultivating Gratitude Don’t stop reflecting on gratitude, but vary the occurrence until you get a sense of what works for you. Start with a daily practice, which helps it become a habit. If that seems too often, find the right timing for you, but try to do it at least once a week. The more often you practice, the easier it becomes a habit. You can also vary your ways to cultivate gratitude (help the students come up with ways) Examples below: Gratitude letter to someone Daily dinners where everyone shares something good that has happened that day Gratitude bulletin board (Gratitude Wall) where people can write their positive moments on a post-it and hang them up for others to read Take pictures of what you are grateful for and save in a photo journal

Core Content Cultivating Gratitude Vary the frequency to find what works best for you MRT Instructions MP 2: Core Content, Cultivating Gratitude Research has found that some people benefit more if they reduce the frequency of the activity For some people, cultivating gratitude everyday may seem like a chore, rather than something to help increase optimism. Find the right fit you YOU… but make sure you do it on a regular basis and not just when you are under stress.

Student Activity Identify 3 things in the past 24 hrs for which you are grateful Events that happened Something you did well Goals you have achieved Individuals who care for you Reflection is key, ask yourself Why did it go well? How did you or others contribute? MRT Instructions MP 3: Student Activity Refer participants to their blessings journal and ask them to reflect on and record three things they are grateful for. If you conduct training over several days, revisit the task each day, ask them to discuss at least one of their reflections with members of their small group. They do not need to complete the journal in class that day, but it is helpful to ask them to share a few blessings Debrief: Reflection is key. Ask your students -- out of everything thing they could have possibly written down, why did they choose what they did?

Skill Review Gratitude Goal To cultivate gratitude, build optimism and positive thinking, help you cope with daily hassles and stress, and improve quality of life.   When On a regular basis In moments of stress to counter negative thoughts How Write down at least 3 things for which you are grateful Reflect on them and ask yourself: Why did this go well? How did I contribute? How did others contribute?

Gratitude