{"id":2339,"date":"2011-11-24T02:26:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-24T08:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=2339"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:35:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:35:49","slug":"do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Part 9 of series:
\n<\/a>Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving?<\/h2>\n

A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day<\/h2>\n

Do you want a happy Thanksgiving? According to John Tierney, writing for the New York Times<\/em>, \u201cA Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

And more than just the day. It may save your well-being, your enjoyment of life, and even your long-term health.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Thanksgiving dinner with members of my family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, I put up a post entitled \u201cWant a Happier, Healthier Life? Then Be Thankful!<\/a>\u201d It was a review of an article I read in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology<\/a>. In this piece, Robert A. Emmons and Michael E. McCullough show how the regular expression of gratitude makes a measurable difference in a person\u2019s well-being. Tierney cites the Emmons and McCullough study, but goes further. He summarizes the research of behavior scientists on gratitude, offering nine pieces of practical advice, including:<\/p>\n

Start with \u201cgratitude lite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t confuse gratitude with indebtedness.<\/p>\n

Try it on your family.<\/p>\n

Rupert quotes from one researcher:<\/p>\n

\u201cGratitude is more than just feeling good,\u201d says Nathan DeWall, who led the study at Kentucky<\/a>. \u201cIt helps people become less aggressive by enhancing their empathy. \u201cIt\u2019s an equal-opportunity emotion. Anyone can experience it and benefit from it, even the most crotchety uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner table.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was particularly struck by a statement from Robert Emmons,<\/a> a psychologist at the University of California, Davis:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a culture, we have lost a deep sense of gratefulness about the freedoms we enjoy, a lack of gratitude toward those who lost their lives in the fight for freedom, a lack of gratitude for all the material advantages we have,\u201d he says. \u201cThe focus of Thanksgiving should be a reflection of how our lives have been made so much more comfortable by the sacrifices of those who have come before us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amen!<\/p>\n

Happy Thanksgiving!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy Thanksgiving? According to John Tierney, writing for the New York Times, \u201cA Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day.\u201d And more than just the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16607],"tags":[16608,635,21639,21655],"class_list":["post-2339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thanksgiving","tag-gratitude","tag-happiness","tag-health","tag-thanksgiving"],"yoast_head":"\nDo You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-24T08:26:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T20:35:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/files\/2011\/11\/thanksgiving-dinner-2004-5.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/\",\"name\":\"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-24T08:26:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T20:35:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712\"},\"description\":\"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\",\"name\":\"Mark D. Roberts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712\",\"name\":\"Mark D. Roberts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark D. Roberts\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/markdroberts\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day","description":"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day","og_description":"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2011-11-24T08:26:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T20:35:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/files\/2011\/11\/thanksgiving-dinner-2004-5.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark D. Roberts","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/","name":"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-24T08:26:19+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T20:35:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712"},"description":"Part 9 of series: Thanksgiving: Not Just a Day, But a Season Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day Do you want a happy","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/24\/do-you-want-a-happy-thanksgiving-a-serving-of-gratitude-may-save-the-day\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do You Want a Happy Thanksgiving? A Serving of Gratitude May Save the Day"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/markdroberts\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}