An Attitude of Gratitude

The late professor and philosopher, Robert Solomon, may have been right when he commented on how infrequently Americans speak about gratitude. We don’t give it much thought except on one day of the year – Thanksgiving.

This year expressing our gratitude is especially needed – and, perhaps, especially difficult. Over the past two decades, we’ve developed a sense of need and entitlement. Our culture told us that we can’t be happy until we have certain things; that our sense of well being and fulfillment will be complete when we buy (product name here). As individuals – and as a society, that mentality was all fine until the stock market came crashing down and the overall economic downturn caused all the but the shamelessly wealthy to rein in their spending. So what now? How can we be satisfied if we don’t have more things? Amidst the housing crisis, record job loss and domestic and global economic chaos, how can we feel grateful when there’s so much going wrong?

There’s reason to feel grateful and researchers have found that gratitude makes a powerful impact on health, happiness and social connection.

Robert Emmons, a professor at the University of California, Davis, and author of the book “Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier” found that people who display gratitude are in better physical health. Other researchers found that grateful people have lower stress hormones. (McCraty, Barrios-Choplin, Rozman, Atkinson and Watkins, 1998.)

Now marketers have a reason to be grateful. Recently published in the Journal of Marketing, research shows that when Relationship Marketing generates feelings of gratitude it has a strong influence on customers’ short-term purchase intentions.

So whether your motivation is personal or aimed at giving your company’s sales a boost, we could all use to express a little bit of gratitude – today and every day.

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