GQ-6 Gratitude Survey Paper

Forgiveness is not just practiced by saints and not only benefits its recipients but have strong connection with person’s physical, mental and spiritual health. It plays a great role in the health of families, communities and nations. Forgiveness provides common ground for love, acceptance, harmony and true happiness Most spiritual and religious leaders of the world will agree that forgiveness of oneself and others is one way to clear the mind, heart and soul and may result in a feeling of increased peace and happiness.

Throughout “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” by Ross Gay, Gay shows how nature controls emotional responses, forces and other higher or more powerful things. Furthermore, nature brings about unnatural aspects causing greater control of forces in nature, and outside of the natural realm. Many cycles revolve around nature, producing a circle, or cycle, of life that changes depending on different things. Even more, nature can interact with man-made things in ways that disrupt it. Gay portrays nature as a commanding force, something that’s located everywhere. Also, it shows how the nature forces have consequential reactions, resulting in everything being controlled by nature. Ultimately, this shows how Gay portrays nature as a controlling

Throughout “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” by Ross Gay, Gay shows how nature controls emotional responses, forces and other higher or more powerful things. Furthermore, nature brings about unnatural aspects causing greater control of forces in nature, and outside of the natural realm. Many cycles revolve around nature producing a circle, or cycle, of life that changes depending on different things. Even more, nature can interact with man-made things in ways that disrupt it. Gay portrays nature as a commanding force, something that’s located everywhere. Also, it shows how the nature forces have consequential reactions, resulting in everything being controlled by nature. Ultimately, this shows how Gay portrays nature as a controlling

Robert Emmons (2013) and his colleague did three experimental studies to see the relation between gratitude and SWB. In the first two studies the participants were college students, whereas in the third study, they had chosen adults suffering from hereditary and first stage of neuromuscular disease. The sample of first study consisted of 201 undergraduate participants (147 women, 54 men). They were a part of health psychology class in a university. These participants were divided in a group of three, and were given a task of writing 10 weekly reports. First group had to write five grateful things that they experienced in the past week, second group had to write five hassled conditions that they experienced throughout a week and the third group had to write five life events that had any effect on them, whether good or bad. In order to measure grateful emotions, participants were asked on the weekly form if they had received any help from anyone in the past week. If they answered “yes” to any of these, they were then

Donahue, M. J. & Benson, P. L. (1995). “Religion and the Well-being of Adolescents” in

The deeper psychological needs are satisfied, the better people’s mental health will be. Batson and Stocks propose that religion can satisfy each level of Maslow's needs (1). According to numerous well-conducted studies, conclusion can be made that religion is associating with majority believers’ mental health in a very positive way (George, Ellison and Larson 190). After reviewing more than 200 published studies, Dr Koenig and his cooperators claim that “it is difficult to deny” the positive link between religion and mental health (Koenig, King and Carson

According to Heffernan and Boniwell (2011) gratitude promotes the savouring of positive events and may counteract hedonic adaptation. Heffernan and Boniwell (2011) continue to mention that when people count their blessing once a week there is an increase in well-being. Gratitude has been shown to contribute to not only an increase in positive affect and other desirable life outcomes but also to a decrease in negative affect and problematic functioning as demonstrated in diverse samples such as among patients with neuromuscular disease, college students, hypersensitives, and early adolescents (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Froh, Sefick, & Emmon, 2008; Shipon, 2007). McCullough et al. (2001) showed that grateful individuals were especially appreciative of the contribution of others to their happiness. However, it is thought that when people count their blessings more than three times a week the exercise becomes a chore and loses meaning. Therefore, implementation of the gratitude intervention is highly important for its fruition. According to Robert A. Emmons and Anjali Mishra gratitude motivates moral behaviour, enhance the ability to access positive memories, builds social resources, increases self-esteem and reduces materialistic

Similarly, the individual on the YouTube video named “An Experiment in Gratitude, The Science of Happiness” stated that psychologists have scientifically verified that one of the greatest contributing factor to overall happiness in one’s life is how much gratitude one

It was in the middle of September and it was around this time bat colonies started to regroup after the females left to form nursery colonies. The younger bats, not quite adults, were working on perfecting their echolocation and hunting skills in the fall. In one bat colony, specifically a little brown bat colony, housed in a large cave in west Texas, was flourishing. One of the young bats found it a bit uncomfortable hanging upside down in the middle of the crowd. Colonies of little brown bats could be very large, up to the thousands. “Hey, Tiny!” A young bat called to the other. The uncomfortable young bat, turned his head to the sound. “Yes, Fang?” He responded. The bat, Fang, pushed himself through the other bats to

Along with life and liberty, the pursuit of happiness is among the most fundamental ideals in American society. The men who founded the United States of America in the late 18th century listed these three values as “unalienable rights” for the citizens of the new nation they were forming. In a recent study looking at the pursuit of happiness, Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, and Schkade state, “If it is meaningful and important to pursue happiness, then it is crucial to find out how this can be accomplished” (2005, p. 126). In later work, Sheldon and Lyubomirsky (2006) observe that little research has been done to uncover the exact methods in which happiness increases. The views offered by the authors of these previous research projects are vital to the current investigation because there is evidence that even though happiness is pursued, happiness is not accomplished by the majority of Americans. A Harris Poll, recently published by Harris Interactive (2013), reveals that only 33% of Americans are very happy. This infers that over 200,000,000 Americans could be happier. Sin and Lyubomirsky (2009) report that people in individualist cultures (of which the United States is a clear example) benefit more from positive psychological interventions, such as acts of kindness and activities involving gratitude.

Hill and Pargament (2008) state that religion and spiritualty psychotherapy uses similar techniques and modalities as secular psychotherapy as well as incorporating goals that are religions in nature; like prayer or meditation. Weber and Pargament (2014) state that it is important to take a holistic approach to understand the person paying attention to the person’s spiritual and religious needs. For this to happen the clinician needs to be aware of any religious biases he or she may have and addressing them by learning about different religious practices and ideas. The clinician’s ability to remain open and objective allows for a more positive experience for the client, will assist with compliance, and will provide a nonthreatening and therapeutic environment. The authors say there are some mental health programs that have already been developed which include religion and spiritual principles and participants in these programs have reported positive outcomes. The participants reported an increase in positive self-esteem, in mental clearness, in improved mood, in the ability to forgive, being able to be thankful, and being able to accept the outcomes of their daily lives. Additionally, participants reported a decrease in harmful thinking patterns

Studies have found that regularly practicing gratitude has a positive effect on the firing of our brain neurons, by way of activating positive emotion centers, ultimately changing our brain chemistry. It's similar to forging a new path when walking through a wooded area. The first few times may be a bit challenging and we have to be calculated and deliberate, but the more we travel the path, the clearer it is and easier it becomes to follow. This change in brain chemistry leads to a heightened well-being in all realms - mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and social. When these positive emotion centers are activated, Dopamine and Serotonin are produced and have similar effects to many anti-depressants. In other words, gratitude is a natural anti-depressant. Research has shown that consciously focusing on our blessings improves our ability to self-soothe as well as allows us to develop a more expansive view of our lives. It opens space for more creative and flexible

The Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling is the thought provoking book of McMinn which was published in 1996 and includes ample guidance and inspiration for the practitioners of Christian counseling. This book reveals that how the three perspectives of psychology, spirituality and theology can be amalgamated to facilitate individuals in identifying

The purpose of this paper is to discuss spirituality and how it can influence individuals’ faith and affect their way of prosper in their chosen religion. Spirituality applies a connection with faith; both create confidence and trust in searching for a meaning for life or a superior being, depending on the individual’s chosen religion. The research completed for this paper was determined from the results of Stephen P. Robbins’ self-assessment test IV.A.4: How Spiritual Am I? From the results and conclusion, the self-assessment presented that I have a high spirituality score. Since a child, I was raised to understand my spirituality and use of faith as

The outcomes revealed that prayer played and important role within the mental health of the individual. However, the frequency showed no improvements in the results, scientists assumed the effect was due to it being “entirely [dependent on] the individual’s rating of importance of faith.” (Meisenhelder 9) This could prove our point by implying that the significance of prayer relies, not in the frequency of the prayers, but on the level of significance each prayer has for that individual. If the person considers his religious faith to be highly important in his life then his belief will also show an increase over their level of happiness. The book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ, it’s proof of such belief.