Gift Giving Guy

Happy Thanksgiving 2008! As I count my blessings, I’m reminded of a book that I promise to finish reading as soon as my grad school semester ends. (Update: See “Ten Takeaways from Thanks!”)

Dr. Robert A. Emmons wrote Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Emmons argues that gratitude contradicts the idea that people have a set limit on happiness. Simply put, people who practice gratitude seem measurably happier and are more pleasant to be around. I will write a future post on my takeaways from Thanks!, but for now I will share Emmons’ view on gratitude.

In my own thinking about gratitude, I’ve found it very helpful to conceive of it in terms of two stages.

First, gratitude is the acknowledgment of goodness in one’s life. In gratitude we say yes to life. We affirm that all things taken together, life is good and has elements that make it worth living. The acknowledgment that we have received something gratifies us, either by its presence or by the effort of the giver went in choosing it.

Second, gratitude is recognizing that the source(s) of this goodness lie at least partially outside the self. The object of gratitude is other-directed; one can be grateful to other people, to God, to animals, but never to oneself… Thanks are directed outward to the giver of gifts.

Consider giving Thanks! to book lovers this holiday season.