what practicing gratitude can do for you
Combining a gratitude journal after meditation expands and cultivates the benefits of mindfulness. Gratitude, for example, helps us cultivate equanimity, which is a resource that helps us navigate our way through life, with all its unpredictability and uncertainty, without losing our balance or becoming lost.
Physical
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Build stronger immune systems
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Feel less bothered by aches and pains
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Lower blood pressure
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Exercise more and take better care of your health
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Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking
Psychological
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Experience higher levels of positive emotions
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Be more alert, alive, and awake
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Experience more joy and pleasure
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Cultivate more optimism and happiness
Social
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Become more helpful, generous, and compassionate
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Become more forgiving
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Become more outgoing
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Feel less lonely and isolated

Robert Emmons
The world's leading scientific authority on gratitude, studied more than one thousand people, from ages eight to 80, and found that people who practice gratitude report a host of benefits. The book, The Gratitude Project is the result of a multiyear collaboration between the Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkley, and Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis.
Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions and has lasting effects on the brain. A gratitude journal forces us to pay attention to the good things in life we might otherwise take for granted. We cultivate becoming more attuned to the everyday sources of pleasure around us—and the emotional tone of our life shifts in profound ways. Research suggests that translating thoughts into concrete language makes us more aware of them, deepening their emotional impact. For some people, it is extremely helpful having a gratitude coach to reinforce this powerful addition to the practice, and to remind them to just do it! Gratitude is powerful: it feels good, and it has been proven to increase our well-being in myriad ways.
The newly released book, The Gratitude Project is the result of a multiyear collaboration between the Greater Good Science Center, University of California Berkeley, and Robert Emmons of the University of California, Davis. The book explores gratitude’s deep roots in human psychology—how it evolved and how it affects our brain — as well as the transformative impact it has on creating a meaningful life and a better world. This important book delves deeply into the neuroscience and psychology of gratitude, and explores how thankfulness can be developed and applied, both personally and in communities large and small, for the benefit of all.