Gratitude Resources: Articles

Many articles are linked throughout the pages of the Gratitude section. Here, you’ll find them gathered into categories, along with many more.

Defining Gratitude

These articles aim to define the many facets of gratitude and can offer a new perspective on how we think about gratefulness.

• I’ve Never Thanked My Parents for Anything’ – author Deepak Singh explains in Hindu culture, there is an unspoken understanding of gratitude and saying thank you is reserved for formal interactions with strangers that do a huge favor to you. To say thank you to a close friend or family member would be disrespectful, since there is already an unspoken understanding of reciprocity and helping each other.
• Gratitude Without God – The Atlantic
• Is Gratitude Queen of the Virtues and Ingratitude King of the Vices? Robert A. Emmons Department of Psychology University
• How to Define Gratitude + Have a Better Year – Positive Routines
• True gratitude is a communal emotion, not a wellness practice | Psyche Ideas

• A Key to Happiness – Counting Your Blessings – This article discusses Sonja Lyubomirsky’s journey and research into the science of long-term happiness and the key role of Gratitude. Check out Dr. Lyubomirsky’s book, The How of Happiness, for further research, tips, and reading.
• Gratitude: The Secret to an Abundant Life – The author of this article aims to inspire readers to pursue a gratitude practice and elaborates on the benefits it has on life. She others personal experience and actions to take in order to reap the benefits.
• How to Increase Happiness With Science-Backed Strategies – Positive Routines
• Gratitude is the Key to a Joyful Life
• The fast track to a life well lived is feeling grateful
• Now, More Than Ever, You Have to Find This
• A Guide to the Good Life
• A New Dimension to a Meaningful Life – Scientific American
• Practicing Gratitude on Thanksgiving is a Powerful Action for Health & Happiness
• Essential Life-Learnings from 14 Years of Brain Pickings – The Marginalian

Research suggests creating a habit of gratitude is necessary to see benefits througout your life. These articles discuss tips and practices for cultivating the practice.

• “Success without Fulfillment is the Ultimate Failure”:Tony Robbins and how fulfillment and gratitude are linked – Though they are speaking to business, Tony Robbins describes his belief that fulfillment in life comes down to gratitude, celebration, and contribution.
• How Can We Teach Gratitude Early in Life? – This author also aims to offer support and suggestions to model and teach gratitude to children and the benefits that permeate throughout the child’s life.
• Modeling and Encouraging Acts of Gratitude for Your Children – This article discusses the importance of teaching gratitude to children in order for them to lead happier and healthier lives. The author offers 5 practices to teach Gratitude and 5 practices NOT to teach to children.
• Beautiful Practice Ground: The Secret to Training Your Mind – This article illustrates the process and challenges of habit creation and maintaining through the story of ‘Greg’ and his meditation practice.
• How to Have an Attitude of Gratitude
• How Grateful Are You? Interactive Quiz + Seven Strategies for Cultivating Gratitude

Greater Good magazine is published by the Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) at the University of California, Berkeley. Leading research on gratitude, the site has numerous articles regarding the science and benefits of Gratitude.

• What Parents Neglect to Teach about Gratitude – According to the Greater Good Science Center, the experience of gratitude has four parts, yet parents often neglect to teach all four:What we NOTICE in our lives for which we can be gratefulHow we THINK about why we have been given those thingsHow we FEEL about the things we have been givenWhat we DO to express appreciation in turnParents often focus on what children DO to express appreciation, but skip over the other parts of the experience.
• Mental Subtraction of Positive Events | Practice | Greater Good in Action – Greater Good Science Center shares an exercise for practicing mental subtraction.
• What Does a Grateful Brain Look Like? – This article explains a study where researchers put participants in an MRI machine and examined the parts of the brain that showed activity when the participant was feeling grateful.