Much has been written about how gratitude often makes a person healthier and happier. The reasons are obvious; after all, once a person expresses thanks for something, he by definition feels like he has received something, which in turn inspires feelings of people caring for him, the world be a warm and basically positive place and that his needs are being fulfilled.
Judaism has always been on board with this idea. In fact, the Hebrew for Jews — Yehudim — comes from the word “to give thanks.” We are, therefore, the people who know how (or should know how) to give thanks. In the silent amida prayer, the essence of the Jewish prayer service, we have a prayer on giving thanks. During the repetition of this prayer, we add the following: “We thank you God … for giving us the ability to give thanks.” In other words, Judaism considers the knowledge of one’s need to be grateful a gift in of itself. And then, of course, there is the Rabbinic dictum that Jews should recite at least 100 blessings a day. That’s recognizing God’s gifts to us, God’s expression of concern for our well being, at least 100 times during the day. Mundane things like getting up in the morning, having water to wash ourselves and quench our thirst, even going to the bathroom take on a whole new meaning as they offer the opportunity for us to become aware of just how much we receive on a daily basis.
And now science is in on the secret as well. Recently, Dr. Stephen Post reported on a study conducted on transplant patients (i.e., donors and recipients of hearts, livers, lungs, etc.): patients that expressed gratitude in their daily journals (something that all the participants in the study were asked to keep) healed significantly faster and better than those that did not express gratitude. Additional studies revealed: heart rhythm significantly improves during periods of appreciation; a 15 minute focus on appeciation resulted in immediate increase in levels of immune antibodies; after a month of such 15 minute appreciation sessions, all participants in one study had a 100% increase in the beneficial hormone DHEA and a corresponding 30 % reduction in the stress hormone corisol. All this information – and more – can be found in a new and fascinating book www.whygoodthingshappen.com.
The most startling finding, however, and the inspiration for the title of this post, is the fact that not only does gratitude improve the health of transplant patients, but it also inspires people to choose to become transplant donors in the first place. Again, Dr. Post reveals in a study: Potential transplant donors asked to express gratitude in journals are more likely to actually make the donation than similarly situated potential donors not asked to express gratitude in journals. Showing gratitude, therefore, is not just a matter of making me feel better; it actually makes me morally better, more courageous and more likely to help others. Expressing gratitude, thus, must be considered a religious obligation not just in the realm of how I relate to God, but also how I relate to fellow humans.
“Thank You.”
Here is some information I would like to share with you. When we lived in Kansas City, Missouri, we joined Kehilath Israel Synagogue, then the largest orthodox congregation in the United States midwest. It boasted having more than l.000 members and its custom was to elect the board of directors on the basis of one board member for every ten congregants.
Regular monthly board meetings were usually heavily attended by some 50 to 60 men. This was in addition to Kehilath Israel’s senior Rabbi Maurice Solomon and his professional staff. I had served on this board for almost thirty years as well as chair of several important committees.
During his two year training for bar mitzvah, my son Clifford was often helped by Rabbi Solomon in his daily cheder sessions. He also received the Rabbi’s special coaching for the writing and language of his bar mitzvah speech, as did every twelve-year-old boy in the program.
The week following Clifford’s beautiful bar mitzvah in 1961, I dictated a brief “thank you” note to the rabbi to show our family’s appreciation for all his help in making Clifford’s Shabbat so meaningful.
At the very next board meeting, Rabbi Solomon requested permission to read a letter he had recently received. He then went on to quote from my letter, the same one that I had posted several weeks earlier.
With tears in his voice, Rabbi Solomon then went on to explain that in the fourteen years he had served the congregation, this was the first and only letter he had ever received from any of his congregants bearing the magic two words — “thank you.”
I am a Christian and think it is great that we can all agree, no matter what our faith, that gratitude changes who we are. Thanks for the reminder. I want to make sure I say my blessings everyday!
Dear Martha,
It was so heartening to see yoru response … Thank you for your thank you! It’s especially nice to hear from people of other faiths, as it reminds all of us of our common humanity.