The Chemistry of Gratitude

In her retreat The Art of Pausing at Sophia Center, Judy Valente mentioned the phrase “the chemistry of gratitude.” This phrase is intriguing and led me to wonder, “What are the elements of the chemistry of gratitude?”

A large part of the equation must be awareness. If we aren’t aware of our blessings, we cannot be grateful for them. I remember reading once, “When you woke up this morning, did the lights come on when you flipped the switch? Did water flow when you turned on the faucet? Then you have something to be grateful for today.”

Ironically, an abundance of blessings often blunts our sense of gratitude. One way to keep gratitude ever fresh is to recite miniature blessing prayers throughout the day, as suggested by Fr. Edward Hays in his book Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim. For example, upon taking a shower, Fr. Ed proposes that we pray, “I lift up my heart to you in gratitude, O God, for this gift of a hot shower that refreshes me.” After doing some reading, we can pray, “I lift up my heart to you in gratitude for the ability to read and for the wonder of words that speak to my heart.” When we fill our day with such thank-you notes, we can’t help but conjure the first element of the chemistry of gratitude: awareness.

Another element of the chemistry of gratitude is taking time to express our thanks. As William Arthur Ward said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” The expression of gratitude is a wonderful lubricant in the life of any community, for if we occupy ourselves with offering thanks to others, we have less time to fixate on the ways they annoy us!

Yet another element of the chemistry of gratitude is graciously accepting thanks when it is offered to us, instead of deflecting praise or discounting what we did, which diminishes our God-given gifts and the pleasure of the person who is offering the thanks. Our response to gratitude doesn’t have to be complicated; a smile and a simple “Thank you very much! That’s kind of you to say” will suffice.

When it comes to gratitude, the world is one great big chemistry lab. Mix and match awareness of your blessings, expression of your gratitude, and acceptance of thanks from others, and gratitude will become an elemental part of your life.   

And by the way…thank you for reading The Monastic Call!