The Importance of Gratitude in Our Lives

A growing body of evidence suggests that optimism, gratitude, and positive perceptions about aging may increase the likelihood that it will become the desired lifespan.

For example, a recent study conducted at Oregon State University found that a firm belief that you will live a prosperous or miserable life in your old age may turn into a reality that affects us when we age.

This research suggests that by imagining the person you want to be old - if you want to be fun and powerful or harsh and isolated- you can predict who you will become when you get old.

Another recently published paper, An Attitude of Gratitude: Older Japanese in the Hopeful Present, by Iza Kavedžija, a lecturer in anthropology at the University of Exeter, reveals some time-tested ways that cultural traditions in which people are convinced that belief is ultimately achieved, along with the constant use of words of thanks, gratitude, and appreciation, help older people in Japan maintain their optimism regardless of age-related challenges.

Published Dec. 14 in the journal Anthropology and Aging, Kavedžija's ethnographic research in Japan focused on a group of people aged 80 and older living in a business district in southern Osaka who remained optimistic despite the challenges of aging.

Although these elderly Japanese are in their 80s and 90s and have many concerns about the future, Kavedžija found that most develop “quiet hope” by maintaining a positive attitude rooted in gratitude.

“My argument is that gratitude as a style of harmony provides the basis for what she described as quiet hope,” she explains. Kavedžija also found that gratitude links reflection on the past with attention to the present moment.

Kavedžija put her years of ethnographic fieldwork with older people from two Osakan communities neatly detailed in Making Meaningful Lives: Tales from an Aging Japan.

In response to the research question, “What makes life meaningful?” Kavedžija assumes that the ancient Japanese concept of "what makes life worth living" carries many signs, and it is worth mentioning that the hope accompanying it does not require doing anything supernatural. Kavedžija says: "The quiet hope of practice is cultivated through many simple daily actions."

For example, one gratitude practitioner interviewed by Kavedžija said, “The sun has risen; it is good to walk now. Thanks, my lord, I live here,” and as she headed towards a public park, her local friends greeted one enthusiastically, “It is good to see you.”

Kavedžija says, “During my fieldwork path in which I placed particular emphasis on those who were able to live a prosperous life despite the challenges they faced and who were able to maintain a sense of safety and a sense of meaning in life, I noticed that they found it easier to express gratitude, and perhaps their ability to emphasize gratitude - as a positive direction for the world - allowed them to feel a greater sense of safety.”

“Being grateful for the care and support that pensioners have received during their lives in the country helps them to be more optimistic, even when they face difficulties and fear getting older,” Kavedžija explained in a press release.

“The attitude of gratitude instilled in the old people’s memories of the past, but it also allowed them to reflect on the present in a hopeful way,” she added. In Japan, gratitude can largely be seen as an acknowledgment of one is dependence on others. Gratitude highlights feelings of interdependence in the social world.

Her fieldwork also showed that when people told stories about past painful or bitter occasions, they often ended their story with “I learned from this” or “It was a learning experience.” Framing passive events as “learning experiences” that you are ultimately grateful for is a way to foster resilience to change the course of events.

Interestingly, Kavedžija found that older people she met during her fieldwork in Japan were reluctant to say “I am happy” even if they were in a good mood, but they used to chant “I am grateful.” She says in her book, “They were reluctant to describe themselves as happy, probably because of their taste. This would be akin to bragging, and they were unwilling even to use the word 'satisfied.' However, there were many expressions of gratitude.

This gratitude connects both meditations of the past and attention to the present moment in its entirety, and it opens the way to one particular kind of hope grounded at the moment. So, the sense of a good, meaningful life conveyed by these adults epitomizes the attitude of gratitude as a way of living the present, rather than clinging to the past or jumping into the future.”

“By appreciation,” Kavedžija concludes, “dependence on others is not only seen as a burden or a potential source of embarrassment. It is also deeply touching and meaningful.” “Relationships and meaningful encounters with others form a precious foundation for what makes life worth living.”