Resilience Also Means Gratitude
As an inspirational resilience speaker, I am aware that there has been a lot of research into the strong brain-link between resilience and gratitude. As scientist and psychologist Dr. Jeff Thompson said in his article for Psychology Today entitled Resilience and the Practice of Gratitude:
“Gratitude practices are not intended to minimize any hardships you have experienced or are still going through…gratitude practices help you manage these tough times and remind you that if you stop and pause, there is still good all around us and it is happening each day.”
Stop and Pause
Brain Researcher and Harvard Faculty Member Jeff Huffman states, “There is growing evidence that being grateful may not only brings good feelings, it could lead to better health, lowering blood pressure and strengthening the immune system.”
So, when did so many people in so many professions and walks of life forget to stop and pause and to see the good things around them? When did gratitude leave?
Psychologist Malini Suchak, writing an article for Greater Good magazine said:
“It turns out this question [of gratitude] is centuries old, with Darwin himself suggesting that humans and other animals share the ‘same emotions, even the more complex ones such as jealousy, suspicion, emulation, gratitude, and magnanimity.’ And—at least for gratitude—some initial research by my colleagues and I suggest that Darwin might be right.”
It seems that gratitude didn’t decide to pack up and leave with COVID-19, rather many people were losing the emotion long before. Scientists believe that gratitude is perpetuated by reciprocity of kindness.
In companies I’ve known, how many times have there been stories of a marketing team that put in extra effort on a weekend to complete a rush report, and is never thanked? The production crew working overtime to complete a trial and was never recognized? An extremely kind act by an employee that was not only ignored but the employee then is cited for violation of company policy? The whistle-blower who reported a culture of abuse and harassment and was, in turn, bullied and harassed?
These types of stories happen more often than we might realize. The outcome all too often results in resentment. Resentment creeps it way into the fabric of the workplace where a lack of gratitude leads to antipathy which then leads to a resistance to change.
Resilience
When a resilient spirit is lost in any organization the result is a lack of cooperation, the death of innovation, a lack of flexible thinking and often the stoppage of the mission itself. As it turns out, a lack of gratitude within an organization is a signal that no one cares.
The good news is that the lack of gratitude can be reversed IF everyone in the organization is determined to reverse it.
Gratitude is infectious however; the emotion must be nurtured throughout the group. Gratitude and resilience are interconnected, and not separate mindsets.
Gratitude and resilience give life to organizations in times of turmoil. It is up to every employee to be encouraged to nurture that life and never take it for granted.
To reach Scott Burrows, Inspirational Resilience Speaker contact Scott today by phone at: 520 – 548 – 1169 or through this website.
