“Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, avarice, hostility, worry, and irritation.”

Why it was said

Sonja Lyubomirsky writes this in The How of Happiness (2007), in her chapter on expressing gratitude, the first of the twelve happiness activities she sets out. She presents gratitude as a habit that can be practised, not only a feeling that arrives.

What it actually means

The line explains why gratitude matters beyond pleasantness. Many negative emotions rest on comparison or threat: envy compares what we have with what others have, avarice wants more, worry rehearses what could go wrong. Gratitude points attention the other way, towards what is already good, and so takes some of the fuel away from all of them at once. Lyubomirsky is careful about method. In one of her own studies, people who counted their blessings once a week became happier, while those who did it three times a week did not, probably because the exercise turned into a chore. Later reviews of gratitude exercises find real but modest effects, so the practice is best treated as one useful habit among several, not a cure.

How to use it

1. 1Once a week, on a fixed day, write down three specific things from the past seven days you are grateful for, and change the format if it starts to feel routine.
2. 2When you notice envy of a colleague's success, write one thing in your own work that you would not trade for theirs.