Humans have been telling stories for millennia, and the invention of the written word has allowed us to preserve and share our stories. The importance of writing, any kind of writing, is difficult to overstate.
Lesser Importance of Writing for Money
According to an article by Alison Flood of The Guardian, a 2014 survey revealed that 54% of “traditionally-published” authors and nearly 80% of self-published authors earn less than $1,000 a year. In this same survey, only a minority of respondents listed making money as “extremely important”—around 20% of self-published writers and 25% of traditionally-published authors. Overall, Flood concluded, “Most authors write because they want to share something with the world or gain recognition of some sort.” Clearly, most writers aren’t in it to put food on the table.
If you aren’t writing to put food on the table, you’re writing to feed your soul. And if you are writing to put food on the table, you are likely on a starvation diet!
Writing what you’re thankful for could help you sleep better
Writing entertains you and others, and having fun is an important part of good health
It could help cancer patients think about their disease
My own experience with breast cancer and its treatment gave rise to three publications: a magical realism piece, “Beast and the Beauty”; a memoir titled “Hindsight” about altering my view of my mother’s invalidism; and a newspaper essay titled “Repair or Redecorate After Breast Cancer.”
Social
Learn to communicate better
Boost job prospects
Writing connects you with others through blogging, writing groups, live readings, and self-publishing outlets like Scribd and Smashwords
Through writing, we preserve stories and memories that may otherwise be lost
Creativity has been proven to have positive effects on health, self-esteem, and vitality
Writing is good for your brain, creating a state similar to meditation
Writing hones your powers of observation, giving you a fuller experience of life
Writing hones your powers of concentration and attention, which is more fractured than ever thanks to technology and TV
Writing strengthens your imagination, and imagination is key to feeling hope and joy
Importance of Writing in My Life
From college until I left paid employment thirty years later—excepting the occasional lines of private poetry—I wrote only academic articles and research reports. When no longer employed, with no title and no built-in social network, I found myself lost. And depressed.
That’s when I started writing Dark Harbor. Mysteries had been my favorite escapist reading, so of course I thought I could write one! I quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing and enrolled in a writing class at the VMFA Studio School. And here I am, four books and more than seventy short stories later, still writing.
It keeps my brain sharp. I learn new things when researching stories—everything from the effects of ketamine on humans to the price of gasoline in 1930 to the characteristics of Buff Orpington hens. I understand myself better in relation to my family. I meet interesting people. (I’ve never met a boring writer!) My journal helps me keep track of personal events, thoughts, and trivia. Publishing—even without much financial reward—is good for my self-esteem. And now that I am a writer, I no longer define myself by what I used to be—as in, “I’m a retired academic.”
Bottom Line: Write for your health, for your community, for your sanity, for your soul. Whatever the reason, write!
—Increased productivity: Gratitude can increase productivity by activating the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for critical thinking and rational thought processes.
—Strengthened self-worth.
—Optimism: Positive reframing underlies the relationship between trait gratitude and a sense of coherence. A sense of coherence is how confident a person feels about potential life outcomes. It is the degree to which a person feels optimistic and in control of future events (Lambert, Graham, Fincham, & Stillman, 2009).
—Reduced stress: Gratitude can help calm the nervous system and reduce stress. (UCLA HealthMar 22, 2023)
Physically Grateful
from The Greater Good Science Center
— Every time a person expresses or receives gratitude, dopamine releases in the brain, thus making a connection between the behavior and feeling good. The more a person practices gratitude, the more often dopamine releases.
—Better sleep: People who practice gratitude tend to sleep better and longer.
Encourages the development of patience, humility, and wisdom
Group Gratitude
Strengthens relationships
Increases prosocial behaviors
May help employees’ effectiveness
May increase job satisfaction
Research Into Gratitude
Emmons & Mishra (2011) concluded that there is “considerable evidence that gratitude builds social resources by strengthening relationships and promoting prosocial actions.”
Gratitude disconnects us from toxic, negative emotions and the ruminating that often accompanies them. Writing a letter “shifts our attention” so that our focus is on positive emotions.
Expressing gratitude helps us even if we don’t explicitly share it with someone. We’re happier and more satisfied with life because we “said it to ourselves.”
The positive effects of gratitude writing compound like interest. You might not notice the benefit of a daily or weekly practice, but after several weeks and months, you will.
A gratitude practice trains the brain to be more in tune with experiencing gratitude — a positive plus a positive, equaling more positives.
“In the past, I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.”
Grateful people help the people who helped them (benefactors) and strangers similarly, and
Reminding people who helped them (a benefactor) still increased helping behavior exhibited toward strangers. The reciprocity norm wasn’t a factor.
Dickens and DeSteno (2018) found an association between self-control (patience) and gratitude. Grateful people delay future rewards to a higher degree than ungrateful people, positively affecting one’s finances. Increasing levels of gratitude could also help people positively affect health-related behaviors.
Robert Emmons (2010), a preeminent scholar in this field, makes the argument that gratitude allows a person to do several things:
Journal about things, people, or situations for which you are grateful. Consider including negative situations like avoiding an accident, for instance.
Think about someone for whom you are grateful.
Write a gratitude letter to someone for whom you are thankful. Consider sending it or giving it to them in person.
Do the “Count Your Blessings” exercise (at the end of the day, write down three things for which you were grateful).
Practice saying “thank you” in a real and meaningful way. Be specific. For example, “Thank you for taking the time to read this article and leave a comment. I enjoy reading your contributions because they broaden my understanding of this subject.”
Write thank you notes. Some might say this is a lost art. Challenge yourself to write one hand-written note every week for one month.
If religious, pray about your gratitude or use specific prayers of gratitude. Interfaith Worker Justice offers Muslim, Jewish, and Christian examples. Secular Seasons has several graces and invocations. You also can find a collection of secular gratitude approaches on BE. Orlando Humanist Fellowship.
Recall a negative event. Doing this helps you appreciate your current situation.
Be mindful of your five senses. How does each enhance your life?
Create visual reminders to practice gratitude. Sticky notes, notifications, and people are great for this.
Focus on the good that others have done on your behalf.
Be a grateful gazer. Be on the lookout for opportunities to feel grateful.
Give something up. We tend to adapt to newness; sometimes it’s a good idea to give something up so that we can increase our appreciation of it.
Think about what your life would be like if a specific positive event [hadn’t] happened. Write all the decisions and events that would have been different in your life. For instance, what if you didn’t meet your spouse? What if you didn’t get the dream job you have now? What if you hadn’t stopped a particular bad habit?
There’s always something to be grateful for!
Lack of Gratitude
Unfortunately, not everyone eagerly jumps onto the gratitude bandwagon. Emmons (2013) offers the following characteristics of ingratitude:
Excessive sense of self-importance
Arrogance
Vanity
Unquenchable need for admiration and approval
Sense of entitlement
Thomas Gilovich (2017) describes ingratitude as the result of “adaptation, dwelling on negatives, and skewed perceptions of hardships.” In Enemies of Gratitude, Gilovich explains how and why these three experiences interfere with one’s ability to express gratitude.
Appreciating the positives in one’s life making life better seems a little woo-woo, not to mention circular. But there’s a ton of research indicating that it works. And it’s a small, no-cost investment with potentially great rewards.
