An attitude of gratitude

Thursday 21st December 2023 11:56

I am reading Travis Bradberry’s book Emotional Intelligence Habits, and it is an interesting read. He writes “The real neural anti-depressant is gratitude. Gratitude boosts levels of serotonin and dopamine the brain’s happy chemicals” and a few pages later he says, “gratitude improves our sleep”. I have found this both interesting and helpful. 

I was first introduced to nightly reflection (also known as the examen) in the 1990’s by Fr David Birchall, a Jesuit priest. Ever since then at the end of each day I have reviewed the day with God, said “Thank you” for the things that went well and said “Sorry” for my mistakes. 

I am also aware that the Benedictine monks do the same after lunch at the end of the day every day. Their aim is to reduce the time gap between good things happening and saying “Thank you” and mistakes being made and saying “Sorry”. 

Now Dr Bradberry is offering scientific reasons why this spiritual practice is good for our mental health. 

So, I want to encourage you at the start of this new year to join me in a daily examen. I use an A5 spiral bound notebook and every day I write down 5 things to say “thank you” for and one thing I needs to say “sorry” about. If Dr Bradberry is correct, then as a result we should all be more content with our lives and sleep better! 

Happy new year to you all.