“Thank You” Power: Miracle of 0.3 Seconds
“Thank You” Power: Miracle of 0.3 Seconds
  • Reporter Kwon Woo-jung
  • 승인 2013.05.22 04:27
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It takes only 0.3 seconds to express gratitude for someone who did something helpful or beneficial; therefore, people, without much thinking, tend to do this just for the sake of courtesy and think nothing of it. However, according to psychologists and famous books written recently, gratitude is more powerful than most people had thought before.saying “Thank You” is more than just good manners.
Deborah Norville, in her book ?hank You Power? introduces several real-life stories of people around her and demonstrates how important gratitude is in our lives. Being a reporter of a famous TV show, Deborah has numerous opportunities to meet people with horrible circumstances. What marveled her is that, in spite of these miserable environments, some people still have smiles on their faces. Through her own analysis, she concluded that the answer to their positive attitudes to their lives is the gratitude to the world, others, and themselves.
With this conclusion, she searched for the study results related to the gratitude and found how gratitude positively affects people’s attitudes and ways of living. Now, she recommends that, rather than complaining of negative things, we should see the bright side of our lives and express thanks for those positive things, such as our healthy bodies or the magnificent beauty of nature around us even if some of those are given without any cost.
According to the research done by several positive psychologists, being grateful not only strengthens our social relationships, but also produces positive emotional states, and even improves physical health. In other words, it makes both givers and receivers of appreciation happy and healthy.
There was one experiment about the influence of the gratitude on people who receive appreciation. About 60 people were asked to provide feedback to one person’s job application form. After sending their feedbacks, they were asked to do this again; however, half of them were requested with respectful thank letters. Obviously, this half was more willing to help write feedback. After analyzing how the thank letters affected the test subject group, psychologists found that people were providing help not because they were happier, but because they felt that they were valued in the society. There is also a study result that shows only 3 week period of writing a gratitude journal can increase one’s happiness levels by around 25%. The increase lasts for 6 months.
As seen in the studies and experiments above, the gratitude is not just for giving helpers a little sense of satisfaction; “Thank you” is the best prayer that anyone could say, for both others and oneself.