PSC 126 Lecture 17: 6/5/18
Gratitude works
● Gratitude has the power to heal, to energize, and to change lives
● Perceived benefits & attributions predicted morbidity after heart attack
○ Cardiac patients who blamed their heart attack on others were more likely to
have subsequent attack
○ Perceived benefits/ gains from initial heart attack ( including becoming more
appreciative of life) was related to reduced risk for subsequent attack
● Emotions are reflected in heart rhythm patterns
● 2 ways of looking at life
○ Lens of abundance vs. lens of scarcity
○ What life is offering vs. what life is denying
○ Life as a gift vs. life as a burden
○ Sufficiency vs. insufficiency
● Exercise #1 inventory your gratitude daily
○ Reflecting
○ Reviewing
○ Relishing
○ Riting
● Daily gratitude review
○ People
○ Opportunities
○ Things
○ Experiences
○ Nature
○ Thought
● Remember the bad
○ Think of your worst moments, you're sorrows, our losses, & your sadness & then
remember. Focus on how you got through the worst day of your life, the trauma,
the trial; you endured the temptation; you survived the bad relationship; you’re
making your way out of the dark. Remember the bad things, and then look to
see where you are now.
● Does grateful processing help take care of the emotional business of unpleasant
memories ?
● Does thinking gratefully about a troubling event from the past help bring closure to the
memory?
● Study procedure
○ Participants recalled an unpleasant open memory
■ An open memory is a troubling memory from your past that you feel is not
yet behind you and is poorly understood. It’s an emotional memory that
may intrude into your consciousness at unwelcome times, and you feel
you have some “unfinished business” associated with this memory. In
other words, in many ways this emotional memory is still an “open book”
for you.
Document Summary
Gratitude has the power to heal, to energize, and to change lives. Perceived benefits & attributions predicted morbidity after heart attack. Cardiac patients who blamed their heart attack on others were more likely to have subsequent attack. Perceived benefits/ gains from initial heart attack ( including becoming more appreciative of life) was related to reduced risk for subsequent attack. Emotions are reflected in heart rhythm patterns. Lens of abundance vs. lens of scarcity. What life is offering vs. what life is denying. Life as a gift vs. life as a burden. Think of your worst moments, you"re sorrows, our losses, & your sadness & then remember. Focus on how you got through the worst day of your life, the trauma, the trial; you endured the temptation; you survived the bad relationship; you"re making your way out of the dark. Remember the bad things, and then look to see where you are now.
