Recommended for you

The Gratitude Project

How being grateful makes you happy.

Mar 30, 2015

The other day, as I decided to put off homework for just a few more minutes, I stumbled across one of the best videos YouTube has to offer. It was a video by a media company called SoulPancake. This media company strives to develop thought-provoking content and creative engagement opportunities that encourage people to explore what it means to be human.

This video talked about happiness. Happiness is a difficult concept to wrap one's head around. It is something that people strive for throughout their lives.

Psychologists have scientifically proven that one of the greatest contributing factors to overall happiness in your life is how much gratitude you show. That's right, being thankful and showing your thankfulness to others can greatly increase your happiness level. This is such a simple thing that many find extremely difficult to actually do.

The video tested this idea that gratitude leads to happiness by talking to random people and asking them to think of the most influential person in their life. They were then asked to write down why that person has been so important and influential in their life. The people chosen for the experiment mentioned a variety of people. Some chose their mom or sister, while others choose a friend or old teacher.

They were then asked to call the person of whomever they wrote the letter to and read this letter to them over the phone, ultimately expressing their full gratitude to their influential person. I could practically feel happiness radiating from my computer screen while watching this video.

Calling someone, and really letting them know you are aware of everything they have done for you, and expressing why you are so grateful for them, leaves you as a happier person. Expressing your gratitude will make you a happier person. It allows you see all the blessings you have in your life. As the end of this semester begins to get stressful and overwhelming, taking a step back and expressing your gratitude for another will leave you feeling less stressed and more grateful. If you are having a particularly tough time, trying this out can have a big impact on you. So I'll finish this by expressing my gratitude to you; thank you for reading this!

Report this Content

This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

Health and Wellness

5 Ways To Bring Positivity Into Your Life When All You Want To Do Is Drown In Self-Pity

It seems like life has been serving up more bad than good and in all honesty, the only thing you want to do is crawl under your covers and hide from the rest of the world.

Grand Canyon University

1108

5 Ways To Bring Positivity Into Your Life When All You Want To Do Is Drown In Self-Pity

Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash

The first two weeks of classes have come to an end and they have been anything BUT easy. It seems like life has been serving up more bad than good and in all honesty, the only thing you want to do is crawl under your covers and hide from the rest of the world.

Although this seems like the best solution, it is also the easy way out. Take it from the girl who took basically a whole week off from her life because she just could not handle everything that was being thrown at her. This caused her to feel extremely lonely and even more stressed out for being behind in classes that JUST began.

Keep Reading...Show less

self-pity

Entertainment

11 Things We Learned From Brooke Davis

"What's more important? What we become or how we become it?"

St. Thomas Aquinas College

574

"She was fiercely independent, Brooke Davis. Brilliant, and beautiful, and brave. In two years she had grown more than anyone I had ever known. Brooke Davis is going to change the world someday, and I'm not sure she even knows it." - Lucas Scott, An Unkindness of Ravens

Brooke Davis of the hit show One Tree Hill was the it girl - she had it all, or so we thought. She started out as a stuck-up, shallow, spoiled, head cheerleader who didn't have her life together. She slept around a lot and loved to party - sounds like your typical high school teenager right? Wrong. B. Davis had so much more to offer. Caring, loyal, and outspoken, she has taught us some valuable lessons throughout the 9 seasons that OTH was on the air:

Keep Reading...Show less

brooke davis

Relationships

11 Signs You Have An Honorary Roommate

Make yourself at home, why don't you?

Appalachian State University

2516

Rachel Zadeits

For some of us, coming to college was the first time we ever had to share a room. It was a big change, but a fun one. As you meet more and more people over the course of your college career, it seems to be a pattern that you will at some point have that one friend that doesn't live with you, but acts like they do. We call those people, "Honorary Roommates" and here are 11 signs you have one in your life.