Dr. Chandler
Photography by Ashley Kung
If you’re reading this, I want you to know that you are a gift and that you deserve to be grateful for yourself!
Before writing this letter to you, I read the many insightful and inspiring letters written by students, professors, coaches, and athletic directors, to name a few, from multiple colleges and universities. Afterward, three thoughts came to mind. First, I am grateful for “If You Are Reading This”—a brilliant, thoughtful, and kind service to humanity. Second, every letter shared a common theme: gratitude. Gratitude for life and for the self-permission to be authentic, gratitude for courage, gratitude for friends, family and community, gratitude for those guiding you and for those who have gone before you. Third, along with the common theme of gratitude also came a common challenge: dare to be grateful!
“So it is not happiness that makes us grateful. It's gratefulness that makes us happy.”
David Steindl-Rast
Let me share a few things about gratitude from my work with positive psychology and sustainability psychology. Gratitude begins with one, that’s you. Self-gratitude is the practice of recognizing your capabilities, positive accomplishments, dreams, friends and family, mentors, teachers, role models, and allowing yourself to be the positively unique human that you are.
Self-gratitude is essential for mental wellness, emotional resiliency, and for solving the most complicated problems in life.
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life
is the foundation for all abundance.”
Eckhart Tolle
Uninformed critics would have you believe that self-gratitude fosters self-absorption, complacency, and entitlement. This is unfortunate because self-gratitude is actually the antidote to these, as it comprises the foundation of other-gratitude, generosity, and the will to take action on behalf of the common good. Think about it, when did you feel most willing and capable to organize a study session, join a community program, begin a new exercise routine, or simply tell someone that they are great because they are who they are, when you were down on yourself? Of course not. We are inclined to do the best for ourselves and others when we are grateful for ourselves and others. Even the act of reaching out for help arises from an innate need for self-gratitude and a healthy sense of self. Self-gratitude facilitates healthy esteem, efficacy, and agency as well as what Albert Bandura (2000) referred to as fortuitous events; wonderful opportunities that we recognize and with which we engage because we are positive, open-minded, and willing to evolve.
“When we dwell on the positive, and feed our minds with beauty and goodness, we exude positivity and create favorable situations. It’s as simple as that.”
Leona Sokolova
Gratitude is like your muscles and your mind; it requires regular exercise and practice even when or especially when the stressors of life compress the openness that you need to be grateful. Research in positive psychology, mindfulness, mental health, and judgment and decision-making report that one of the most effective and uncomplicated practices with which you can exercise gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal. I write in my journal immediately after meditation each morning. You might be surprised to know that I never run out of gratitude thoughts to enter; neither will you. Another gratitude practice that I find particularly rewarding is regular time in Nature. It is wise to be grateful for Nature, she is your life support system–it is that simple. For this reason we are hardwired to maintain a connection to Nature, but there is one more very important reason.
“By writing what I was grateful for, I learned to look for things that made me smile.”
Dr. Ranjani Rao
Being in Nature reminds us unconsciously and consciously that we are a part of something beautiful and of something that is infinitely important. The easiest ways for me to connect with Nature are thinking of elephants living in a safe and abundant environment, listening to birds, and sitting on the bank of a stream or pond and watching all that goes on there. You can find your own ways to connect with nature but be sure that you do; you will be grateful that you did.
“What an astonishment to breathe on this breathing planet.
What a blessing to be Earth loving Earth.”
John Green
Accept the challenge. Be grateful for yourself, for others, and for the beauty around you. You deserve this and you will be glad that you did.
Dr. Chandler, University of Florida
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