When we think about Thanksgiving, we may conjure up an image of a family enjoying a turkey dinner, but we will also likely think of the traffic jams, crowded airports, grocery stores full of frantic shoppers and people lining up in the dark to take advantage of Black Friday sales. In today’s modern world, Thanksgiving has taken on a “to-do list” that includes a multitude of tasks, travel and consumerism.

While we may enjoy the holiday and the change of routine it affords us, the original meaning of the holiday has largely been lost. In fact, the pilgrims and Indians were on to something very important when they chose gratitude as a theme for the holiday we now call Thanksgiving.

Mounting research is revealing the surprising power of being thankful. Demonstrating gratitude toward others not only makes the recipient feel happy; it is good for the gratitude giver in a significant way.

Research is showing that looking for instances of gratitude, defined as a thankful appreciation of what we receive, can increase our well-being. Drs. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough compared subjects who kept a gratitude journal, noting five things they were grateful for daily, with subjects who recorded daily hassles and a control group that recorded neutral events. The researchers found that subjects who kept a gratitude journal for 10 weeks reported feeling better about their life in general, were more optimistic about the week ahead, made greater progress toward goals (personal, academic, work), engaged in exercise more often and reported fewer physical ailments than the other two groups. Also, the group who wrote about gratitude daily was more likely to report helping someone with a problem than the other groups.

While recording instances of gratitude can impact on overall well-being, Dr. Martin Seligman and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania assessed the impact of a number of other positive psychology interventions on a sample and a control group. They found that when subjects were asked to write and deliver a message of gratitude to a person who has been important to them, the subjects reported the greatest increase in their overall level of happiness. This increase in happiness was significant and lasted for a month.

Individuals who have a gratitude disposition score high on the Gratitude Survey and reveal physiological benefits (lower cortisol levels) of this type of grateful thinking. Individuals with this disposition also report lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression. These people do not ignore negative experiences or emotions, but rather do not dwell on them.

People tend to view individuals with a gratitude disposition as generous, caring and pleasant. In effect, people with a gratitude personality interact with the world in a manner that encourages others to respond with kindness and these interactions reinforce a feedback loop that encourages more grateful behavior in the individuals with the gratitude disposition.

Gratitude is a simple but powerful tool. By focusing on what we are thankful for, we learn to see the positive in our lives. By looking for goodness around us, we find that much of these positive experience come in response to our actions. People are kind and helpful to us because we are kind and helpful to them, and this reflects positively on us. Thus, by looking for things to be grateful for in the world around us, we are reminded of our own goodness and self-worth.

Moreover, a focus on gratitude makes us appreciate what we have in the here and now without worrying about what we had in the past or will have in the future. It helps us be present in the moment and appreciate it. In essence, it supports a focus on what we have instead of what we lack.

Acquiring an “attitude of gratitude” requires an intentional focus on looking for and catching experiences that you can be grateful for. Some individuals have a grateful disposition, but even if you aren’t born with it, you can cultivate it. You can start by keeping a gratitude journal where you chronicle daily a couple of things that make you feel grateful. You can think about these experiences and share them with others. At first it may seem hard to find these meaningful experiences daily, but in a matter of a few weeks, the exercise can become routine.

You can also consider means of expressing gratitude to others. Expressing meaningful gratitude will benefit you and the recipient in a significant way. As a parent, you can model an attitude of gratitude and encourage meaningful acts of gratitude from your children.

This Thanksgiving, consider adopting a focus on gratitude — not just for the holiday, but for each and every day. You can reap the benefits of an “attitude of gratitude” long after the holiday crowds and rush have ended. Gratitude is an important skill to cultivate daily and will pay dividends in improved mood and health.

— Winifred Lender Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Santa Barbara and can be contacted at drwinifredlender@gmail.com. She provides cognitive-behavioral therapy for sleep regulation issues, anxiety and depression, and completed her undergraduate work at Cornell University and received her master’s and doctorate degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia/The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is a past president of the Santa Barbara County Psychological Association. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.