Gratitude Resources: People

Brother David Steindl-Rast is an American Catholic Benedictine monk, author, and lecturer. He is committed to interfaith dialogue, specifically Buddhist-Christian. He teaches gratitude — specifically how to be grateful in every moment and see each day as a gift.

Douglas R. Conant is a business leader, author, keynote speaker, and the former CEO of Campbell Soup Company. He holds a firm attitude of gratitude and has led with gratitude throughout his life. When he became CEO, Campbell’s was failing, and he turned it around by shifting the culture to one of civility and appreciation. In the years he served as CEO of Campbell’s, he wrote over 30,000 thank you notes to employees.In 2011, Conant retired from Campbell’s and founded Conant Leadership, a resource for coaching and empowering leaders to connect and create meaningful interactions with employees. Conant doesn’t make a salary from this organization and they donate all profits to organizations that help move the world forward.

Robert Emmons is one of the world’s leading scientific experts on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. Through his studies, presentations, books, and articles, he reveals why gratitude is good for our bodies, our minds, and our relationships.

Robert Trivers, who introduced the theory of ‘reciprocal altruism’ in 1971, suggested gratitude as one of the factors which regulates our response to altruistic acts by others. Gratitude may have even developed as a mechanism to drive reciprocal altruism as a way of turning strangers into friends/allies.The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism | The Quarterly Review of Biology: Vol 46, No 1

Michael McCullough is a psychologist who researches human sociality. In addition to his pioneering work on forgiveness, gratitude, prosocial behavior, and morality, for twenty years he has studied the effects of empathy on how we treat others. Additionally, McCullough has also worked in recent years to shed light on scientific puzzles about self-control and about the social effects of a mammalian hormone known as oxytocin.

Guru Gaur Gopal Das is an Indian Monk, writer, and motivational speaker. He has become prominent in recent years due to a large following on social media. He shares life advice and motivation and people across the world are able to access his teachings and learn from him.

Kristi Nelson is the executive director of A Network for Grateful Living, a non-profit, a global organization offering online and community-based educational programs and practices which inspire and guide a commitment to grateful living, and catalyze the transformative power of personal and societal responsibility. Being a long-time stage IV cancer survivor moves Nelson to live life with gratefulness and inspire others to do the same.

Rick Hanson is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. Hanson researches, writes, and teaches topics of positive brain change — how we can rewire our brains to learn from positive experiences. His study on the topic was recently published in the Journal of Positive Psychology. His theory of “Taking In the Good” can be applied to savoring the moment. Hanson says “people draw on psychological resources such as gratitude to cope with adversity and maintain well-being.”

Sonja Lyubomirsky is a professor at the University of California, Riverside. Her research focuses on the possibility of permanently increasing happiness.

Books:

• The How Of Happiness: A Practical Guide to Getting The Life You Want
• The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn’t, What Shouldn’t Make You Happy, but Does

Barbara Fredrickson theorized the Broaden and Build Theory of positive psychology. The theory suggested: “By broadening an individual’s momentary thought–action repertoire—whether through play, exploration or similar activities—positive emotions promote discovery of novel and creative actions, ideas and social bonds, which in turn build that individual’s personal resources; ranging from physical and intellectual resources, to social and psychological resources. Importantly, these resources function as reserves that can be drawn on later to improve the odds of successful coping and survival.” Gratitude is part of an upward spiral contributing to positive emotions and experiences, which in turn translate to improved well-being.The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions

Georg Simmel was a German sociologist at the turn of the 20th century. He discussed social and cultural phenomena and helped define culture from a philosophical context. Simmel discussed gratitude as the moral memory of mankind and is quoted as saying “gratitude makes society habitable.”

Steve Foran is the founder of Gratitude at Work, an organization striving to bring a culture of gratitude to workplaces across the world. Foran’s goal is to make one billion people happier through gratitude practices in the workplace. Foran says “Gratitude transforms life from a series of negative and positive experiences into an ever present realization of goodness and growth.”

Pema Chödrön is an American Buddhist nun who teaches and shares ideas of Buddhist traditions in the west .Pema Chödrön practices and teaches how to practice and meditate on Tonglen. Pema Chödrön is widely known for her insightful, down-to-earth interpretation of Tibetan Buddhism for Western audiences. Pema Chödrön says “If one wishes suffering not to happen to people and the Earth, it begins with a kind heart”

Jonathan Tudge is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is an expert on cultural differences in gratitude. His research focuses on the development of gratitude in children and the decline of materialism in children and adolescents. Instead of treating gratitude as a positive emotion, Tudge looks at gratitude as a virtue.

Christine Carter is an author, speaker, and coach, and the former director of the Greater Good Science Center. As a sociologist she studies happiness and teaches organizations, families, and schools tips for cultivating happiness and creating cultures that foster joy.Carter says “I believe gratitude is the foundation of personal happiness—and a community’s happiness as well, as the two aren’t easily separated.”WHAT IS THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS? with Christine Carter at Happiness & Its Causes 2017