Gratitude Helped Jimmy Carter Beat Cancer

Tomorrow is World Gratitude Day, and I thought I'd share my favorite story about the power of gratitude.

In 2015, doctors told former President Jimmy Carter that they’d found metastatic melanoma on his brain. The prognosis was not good. Most patients with this type of cancer lived for only a few years after diagnosis.

At a press conference soon after receiving this news, the Washington Post described Carter as “so completely, boyishly happy that you could almost forget he’d also announced he has cancer in his brain.”

Carter told members of the press that he’d “had a wonderful life, thousands of friends, an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence.” With a bright, happy smile, Carter described “A multiple infusion of gratitude” toward those who have gotten in touch since his cancer news first broke.

Now, five years later, Carter is cancer-free. While new immunotherapy drugs were critical for Carter's survival, living a life filled with gratitude was his superpower.

“The practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life,” says Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at UC Davis and a leading scientific expert on the science of gratitude. According to Emmons, gratitude “can lower blood pressure, improve immune function, and facilitate more efficient sleep. Gratitude reduces lifetime risk for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders, and is a key resiliency factor in the prevention of suicide.”

In Emmon’s book Thanks!, he describes his discovery that people who express gratitude can cope more effectively with everyday stress. They show increased resilience in the face of trauma and recover more quickly from illness.

Thankfulness does not come naturally. It is a practice that must be cultivated and encouraged. Carter's Baptist faith inspired him to incorporate gratitude into his daily life. Most major religions promote gratitude, and prayer is an excellent way to practice thankfulness.

You don't need to be religious, however, to develop a daily practice of giving thanks. Writing thank-you notes, keeping a gratitude journal, and meditating are just a few ways you can routinely practice gratitude. Hopefully, Jimmy Carter's story will inspire you to live a life filled with gratitude.

What do you do to incorporate gratitude into your daily life?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And, check out my online Resilience Leadership course.

5 Things I Learned From My Thank You Note Resolution

Researchers consistently find that gratitude builds resilience. A 2006 study published in Behavior Research and Therapy found that Vietnam War veterans with higher levels of appreciativeness experienced lower rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A 2003 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that gratitude was a major contributor to resilience following the terrorist attacks on September 11.

To test this in real life, I decided a few years ago that my New Year’s resolution would be to write a thank you note every workday to a colleague to whom I was grateful. Here's what I learned:

My Resilience Improved

Spending a few minutes every day thinking about how colleagues helped me gave me a much more positive outlook. It forced me to focus on the positive events of the day, minimizing annoyances or irritations. Writing down my appreciation helped me clarify why I was grateful.

It Was Hard

I underestimated how much self-discipline I needed to spend 5-10 minutes every workday thinking about whom I would send a thank you note. It was easy to get absorbed in my work and forget to write a card. To stay on track, I posted reminder notes and put the cards where I would see them.

Having a Routine Helped

At the beginning of the year, I kept forgetting to write my cards because I hadn't set a time of day during which I would write. After trying several options, I settled on writing a card at the beginning of each day. I created a recurring calendar entry as a reminder. The added value was that I started each day thinking positively about everything people had done the day before to help me.

People Love Personalized Cards

I printed cards in bulk on moo.com using photographs I had taken. By personalizing the cards, I made a connection I had not anticipated with recipients. Recipients wanted to learn more about where I’d taken my photos and were glad to see I had a passion outside of work. These cards ended up being much more impactful than cards I bought at a stationery store.

Team Resilience Improved

One significant benefit of this practice was that people loved receiving a handwritten thank you note. I realized that I was fostering team resilience by showing consideration to colleagues, one of the 7Cs of team resilience. Members of my team appreciated that I was taking the time to say thank you and commenting on their positive impact.

Consider giving this a try in 2021 and tell me in the blog comments how it goes.

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

This Thanksgiving Commit to Being Grateful

Next week is Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday because it always makes me feel re-energized and resilient. I call it the resilience holiday because it focuses on one of the most effective ways to increase resilience - expressing gratitude.

There is a growing body of research on how gratitude improves our wellbeing and resilience, and luckily, gratitude is a social skill that can be cultivated and enhanced. For authentic appreciation, strive to go beyond praise (good job!) and focus on the details and reasons why you are thankful (your contribution saved me hours of work).

Unfortunately, many of us focus on gratitude only at Thanksgiving, thinking back over a full year to find what we appreciate the most. In addition to expressing thanks and gratitude this Thanksgiving, commit to incorporating gratitude into your daily life.

Here are some ways you can ensure you are grateful every day and not just on Thanksgiving:

Write Appreciation Letters

Buy thank you cards in bulk and make a habit of writing appreciation letters to people in your life to whom you are grateful. Start with writing one card per week. Express your enjoyment and appreciation of that person's impact on your life. Once in a while, write one to yourself.

Thank Someone Mentally

If you don't have time to write a thank-you note, think about someone who has done something for you. Explore why you are grateful and mentally thank the individual.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

Before going to sleep, write down three things about your day for which you are grateful. Be specific and think about the emotions you felt when something good happened to you.

Pray

If you are religious, use prayer to cultivate gratitude. Even if you're not religious, think about developing a daily practice of giving thanks. 

Meditate

When you meditate, you focus on the present moment without judgment. Although people often focus on a word or phrase (such as peace or compassion), you can also focus on what you're grateful for at the moment.

What do you do to cultivate gratitude?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

How to Create a Culture of Gratitude in Your Workplace

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Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so it's a good time to think about gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful resilience-building tool in both our personal and work lives.

Research consistently shows that workplace appreciation improves employee engagement and boosts performance. Gratitude also promotes stronger social connections between employees, one of the 7Cs of team resilience.

Despite the benefits gratitude brings to the workplace, a recent survey by Peldon Rose found that less than half (45 percent) of employees feel appreciated at work.

Here are some ways you can increase gratitude in your workplace:

Carve Out the Time

When asked why they don't express appreciation to their work colleagues, people often tell me that they are so busy they forget. They have good intentions but don't follow through.

If you struggle to find the time to express your gratitude to colleagues, build it into your routine. Schedule ten minutes on your calendar every day to write thank-you notes. Add a five-minute agenda item in weekly staff meetings to thank employees to whom you are grateful. Schedule a weekly coffee with colleagues to thank them for the work they do.

Face Your Fears

Some leaders are worried that showing appreciation will communicate that they are weak and too emotional. Others fear that employees will start to feel entitled and expect recognition for routine work. If you have these fears, it's essential to acknowledge them and then remind yourself that research shows otherwise. Employees value leaders who express appreciation and gratitude, and it rarely undermines performance. Have the courage to act despite your fears.

Be Authentic

Gratitude can have a negative impact if it is not authentic. Don't pretend, lie, or invent reasons to express gratitude. If you offer gratitude for purely cynical or instrumental reasons, it's unlikely to work. Small tokens of appreciation may feel artificial and forced if there's no substance behind them. To be authentic when you express gratitude, explain what the person did and its positive impact on you.

Adapt to Each Employee

Gratitude is not one size fits all. Don't assume that everyone responds well to public praise or a thank you card. Get to know your colleagues and adapt to their needs and preferences. Consultant Stephanie Pollack compiled dozens of different gratitude practices to try at work, from surprise care packages to appreciation badges to a celebration calendar.

Create a Gratitude Wall

Gratitude walls have become very popular because they encourage employees to acknowledge their gratitude for each other publicly. Whether it's a quick thanks to a colleague for bringing in baked goods or a new employee feeling welcomed by others, the idea is to complement each other's contributions and acts of kindness and generosity. This YouTube video describes how to create a virtual gratitude wall for those working from home. 

How do you encourage gratitude at your workplace?

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To learn more about how you and your team can thrive in adversity, visit my website, and follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.