To Be Fully Human

The quoted paragraphs are from Robert A. Emmons, "Pay it Forward" in Dacher Keltner's The Compassionate Instinct:

"Gratitude serves as a key link between receiving and giving: it moves recipients to share and increase the very good they have received.  Because so much of human life is about giving, receiving and repaying, gratitude is a pivotal concept for our social interactions."

"Gratitude implies humility--a recognition that we could not be who we are or where we are in life without the contributions of others."

The benefits of working consistently at gratitude:

• greater levels of optimism about the future;
• fewer physical health complaints;
• greater energy for exercising;
• increased feelings of joy, enthusiasm, interest;
• greater capacity to offer emotional support or help to others;
• more hours of sleep and better quality of sleep;
• increased frequency of helpful behaviors toward others;

Gratitude strengthens our ties to one another and increase our sense of personal worth.  Gratitude is an important antidote for anxiety and depression. 

 "We are receptive beings, dependent on the help of others, on their gifts and their kindness.  As such we are called to gratitude.  Life becomes complete when we are able to give to others what we ourselves received in the past...It is gratitude that enables us to receive and it is gratitude that motivates us to return the goodness that we have been given.  In short, it is gratitude that enables us to be fully human."