Mental Health is an important aspect of our wellbeing that is still fighting to gain the respect and focus that it deserves. With the implications of COVID19 having a direct impact on mental health due to financial stressors, disruption to social interactions and uncertainty in our futures, it’s a part of our lives that requires more focus than ever before.
With growing focus on mental health, gratitude has been proven time and again as an effective tool within the workplace. An article from Great Good provides examples of studies of gratitude within the workplace that “link it to more positive emotions, less stress and fewer health complaints, a greater sense that we can achieve our goals, fewer sick days, and higher satisfaction with our jobs and our coworkers.” It goes to show that taking the time to notice and thank your team members for their efforts and good work is directly beneficial to your business- also, it just feels good.
Practicing gratitude is not just effective during the work day, but it’s naturally been proven to help mental health in our personal time too. In a 2016 study into the mental benefits of practicing gratitude, around 300 University students who were suffering from Anxiety and/or Depression were split into groups; one of which who were assigned to write letters expressing gratitude to others, the other group were to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about stressful experiences.
Results showed that “participants in the condition of gratitude reported significantly better mental health than those in expressive conditions”, suggesting that engaging in daily gratitude practices improve your mental health. Swapping a small portion of your social media time each day to read through and post on Share Gratitude is a convenient way to practice gratitude. Spending your morning commute scrolling time or even exchanging your social media to post your daily gratitude are easy ways to fit this mindfulness practice into you busy day.
Turns out that receiving gratitude feels just as good as giving it! It’s truly a win-win, there are no negative repercussions from this practice and it’s so simple to do. In fact, it’s one of the key reasons why Share Gratitude was created. Capturing small moments of gratitude in one place, that only take seconds to post, makes perfect sense. Imagine reading a feed of pure gratitude? Yep, feels really good!
So – the next time your team member goes above and beyond, shout them a coffee, slip a ‘thank you’ post-it on their computer, or of course, shout them out on sharegratitude.com – trust us, it’ll make their day, and yours.