Foundational Attitudes of Mindfulness Gratitude and Generosity (8 & 9)
Gratitude and generosity the last two attitudes of mindfulness. Does cultivating them have benefits? And are they linked to mindfulness? Or is it just another fad? With a video from Jon Kabat-Zinn.
In the previous posts on the attitudes of mindfulness, we looked into the seven original attitudes of mindfulness: non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go.
Later, in a revised and updated version of the book “Full Catastrophe Living”, Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) also includes the attitudes of gratitude and generosity. In the video, Kabat-Zinn starts by saying,
“Now people often ask me, well, why did you stop at 7? And they say, I don't know. I mean, I just stopped at 7, but I left out a few that I really probably am going to put in the next edition. And one of them would be gratitude. To bring gratitude to the present moment because, well, say, for one thing, just.”
At a later stage in the video, Kabat-Zinn also mentions the attitude of generosity, which we could say is closely linked to gratitude. Jon says,
“Another one would be generosity. A sense of like how powerful it is when you give yourself over to life and. That you give other people what would make them happy? Not for yourself. Not so that you can pat yourself on the back and say I am a generous person, but because. It gives joy to others.”
Reflecting on what Jon Kabat-Zinn says, many times, we might find ourselves on a hedonistic run focused more on what we do not have in life or that things are not enough, rather than what we have, and this can bring with it a sense of inner restlessness and dissatisfaction with life. Practising the attitude of gratitude involves a shift where rather than focusing on what we do not have, we focus on appreciating what we have. Wolf and Serpa (2015) comment on this,
Shifts the attention to peace, contentment, and calm instead of being driven, in need, and discontent. Since the brain will focus more automatically on what’s missing, starting a gratitude practice actively helps to counterbalance this. (p. 12)
But I naturally ask myself, is practising gratitude and generosity beneficial in my life? And how might this be of benefit? And is mindfulness linked to gratitude and generosity? Or is it just another fad?
Is cultivating gratitude in life beneficial? What does research say?
Emmons and McCullough (2003) Conducted one of the very first studies on the effects of gratitude on subjective well-being. Over a series of three studies, they observed how, in study one, compared to those participants who listed daily hassles or neutral events, those who made gratitude lists reported feeling generally more positive about their lives and more optimistic for the upcoming week, exercised more and reported fewer physical complaints. In study two, those who were told to reflect on things they have they are grateful for that others do not have, a downward social comparison, reported increased positive affect and an increased likelihood of having helped someone in need or offering emotional support. While in study three those who made daily gratitude ratings reported an increase in positive effect and decreased negative affect, and improved quality of sleep/sleeping better. Further relatives of these participants reported that they noticed the positive effect the gratitude exercise was having on the participant's mood and well-being.
Emmons and McCullough (2003) comment that overall there is potential evidence for “gratitude exercises” to improve emotional well-being, with mediational analyses indicating that the “gratitude exercises” were a direct cause of this. More recently, a systematic review looking at the strength of evidence for common strategies recommended for increasing subjective well-being when it came to gratitude practices Folk and Dunn (2023) concluded that they,
“Found consistent evidence that people in diverse cultural contexts benefit from making gratitude lists. Taken together, there is reasonably solid evidence that gratitude practices can increase mood, at least temporarily.” (p. 1700)
But is there a link between mindfulness and gratitude?
A research study by Swickert et al. (2019) seems to indicate so. Their results suggest that gratitude was significantly positively related to all the five facets of mindfulness as proposed by Baer et al. (2006): Observing, Describing, Acting with awareness, Non-judgmental, and Non-reactive. Swickert et al. (2019) noted how the described facet of mindfulness was the most strongly correlated to gratitude arguing how,
“Gratitude is significantly more likely to occur when one is able to both observe and describe one’s own thought process, while in a state of non-judgmental awareness.” (ibid. p. 824)
Further, they also note how they found an association also between mindfulness and domains related to gratitude, like appreciation of others and the simple things in life. Swickert et al. (2019) commented that,
“The act of being mindful allows us to live our lives with gratitude and a greater appreciation for all that we have.” (p. 824)
Moreover, they also point to a potential link between mindfulness, gratitude, and the expression of generosity.
This we already saw in the study of Emmons and McCullough (2003), who found that a gratitude exercise had the potential to increase the likelihood of prosocial behaviours, such as helping someone in need or offering emotional support. Overall current research supports the link between gratitude and generosity through increased prosocial behaviours (Ma et al., 2017; Yost-Dubrow & Dunham, 2017). Wolf and Serpa (2015) comment when writing about the attitudes of gratitude and generosity,
The practice and attitude of gratitude will shift the sense of “not enough” to “there is enough” and “I have enough,” which in turn will elicit more spontaneous generosity. It is easier to give from a place of abundance than from scarcity. (p. 12)
As we mentioned previously, generosity is one of the foundational attitudes of mindfulness that can offer a solid base for our practice, as with all the other attitudes.
We can sometimes be quite hard on ourselves, so something to consider is starting by trying to direct generosity towards yourself. This doesn't necessarily mean giving yourself gifts and material things; it might involve giving yourself credit for a hard day’s work, dedicating some time each day to do something simple you enjoy, like going for a walk or making a directed effort towards practising self-acceptance and being less critical of yourself.
Another way to practice being generous towards yourself might involve experimenting with being more open and receptive to accepting when others are generous towards us, rather than building a wall or rejecting outright. Afterwards, we could consider extending this generosity towards others, consciously letting go of any notion of expecting something in return.
I personally resonate with how the attitude of generosity is explicitly incorporated within the mindfulness practices of the Mindfulness-Based Living Course. This aspect of generosity, which lies at the heart of mindfulness, is expressed at the beginning of the practices in the Mindfulness-Based Living Course by setting a motivation for how this practice might benefit others as well. It also reiterates this at the end through a dedication, setting a wish for any benefits we experience from mindfulness to spread to others we come in contact with in daily life.
Is cultivating generosity in life beneficial? What does research say?
For example, looking at literature Post (2005) determined that there is evidence indicating that engaging in helping and altruistic behaviour improved determinants of physical and mental health. Post (2005) highlights a possible strong correlation between altruistic helping behaviour and enhanced well-being and life satisfaction, as well as decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety. They also observed that older adults who actively engaged in altruistic helping behaviour had a lower risk of death and were more likely to report feeling physically healthy.
However, Post (2005) points out that, as with other population studies, these findings represent the average in a given population, assuming all factors being equal. Therefore, while there is an indication that altruistic helping behaviour can result in benefits, there is no guarantee, however these behaviours might function more like a protective factor conducive to well-being.
Further current research indicates that there might be a direct link between generosity and increased happiness. This might be counterintuitive as people’s perception was that spending money on themselves would make them happy, but research tells us that the inverse relation is true.
In fact, current studies on pro-social spending indicate that spending money on others makes people happy (Aknin & Dunn, 2012; Dunn et al., 2008; Dunn et al., 2014).
Curiously, research also indicates that this seems to be a universal phenomenon that transcends culture and is independent of the person's wealth or income (Dunn et al., 2014). Evidence has also emerged that there is a potential positive feedback loop between prosocial spending and happiness. Aknin and Dunn (2012) found how remembering a past prosocial spending act increased participant's levels of happiness, which in turn increased participant's likelihood of engaging in prosocial spending, and again remembering a previous prosocial spending act increased participant's probability of reengaging in prosocial spending, if in the meantime they were experiencing elevated levels of happiness. Aknin and Dunn (2012) comment dead their findings suggest,
“That spending money on others may be self-reinforcing as long as this prosocial experience provides happiness.” (ibid. p. 52)
What might be most striking is that generosity might be a determinant at increasing the meaning of life, even if the act is not reciprocated. An initial study by Klein (2016) over a series of three experiments observed how prosocial behaviours, such as volunteering and spending money on others, had a positive impact on participants' meaning in life. Furthermore, it was also determined that this increase was not dependent on external factors, like reciprocity, but rather on an internal one – an increased sense of self-worth and self-esteem, which in turn influenced participants' meaning in life.
But is there a link between mindfulness and generosity?
As we know, mindfulness practice can have benefits for the individual, but we are unsure if practising mindfulness translates to increased prosocial behaviour. A systematic review by Donald et al. (2018) seems to indicate that. Indeed, across a number of hypotheses, their analyses suggest that mindfulness practices do increase a person's disposition to increasingly engage in prosocial behaviour. Donald et al. (2018) point out that this might be linked to the attitude of non-judgment, in that the cultivation of a non-judgmental awareness towards experience might predispose individuals to respond to the needs of others in a more prosocial way. Furthermore, they note how this effect might be triggered "via increases in empathic concern, emotion regulation, and positive affect" (ibid. p. 117). They also found that trait mindfulness was linked to increased prosocial acts towards persons the individual is familiar with compared to strangers.
However, counterintuitively, Donald et al. (2018) results indicated that mindfulness practices that include within them a prosocial element, like loving-kindness meditation, were no more likely to positively influence prosocial behaviors than those that focused only on mindful awareness.
A later study also arrived at similar conclusions. Hafenbrack et al. (2020) conducted a series of experiments to test whether state mindfulness had a positive effect on prosocial behaviour and the mediating mechanisms of mindfulness at work on prosocial behaviour. They found that prosocial behaviour increased in the group that practised mindfulness compared to control. Further, when these participants were asked at the end of the day to recall an event that stood out for them, they were more likely to recall a prosocial act. Furthermore, Hafenbrack et al. (2020) surveyed people who were in regular contact with the participants to inquire if they noted an increase in prosocial behaviours. Acquaintances reported an increase in prosocial behaviour in those who practised mindfulness compared to those who were in the control condition not practising mindfulness.
When examining the mechanisms that increased prosocial behaviour in mindfulness, similar to Donald et al. (2018), Hafenbrack et al. (2020) also found empathic concern as a mediator. However, contrary to Donald et al. (2018), Hafenbrack et al. (2020) found that positive emotional affect generated through mindfulness practice was not a mediator for prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, Hafenbrack et al. (2020) found no significant difference between mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation in increasing prosocial behaviour. Therefore, it could be argued that mindfulness practices do not necessarily need to include a prosocial element to increase prosocial behaviour.
However, while empathy was a mediator in both mindfulness and loving-kindness practices in increasing prosocial behaviour, Hafenbrack et al. (2020) commented on how their findings indicated that,
“Empathy was the strongest mediator for the loving-kindness condition, while perspective-taking was the strongest mediator for the focused breathing condition.” (ibid p. 33)
But as we come to the end of the attitudes of mindfulness, it is when we practice mindfulness, cultivating all these attitudes in our hearts and minds and in our daily lives, that is hat makes a difference. Mindfulness on its own, "as paying attention in the present moment," becomes no more than an attentional practice, losing its value. In fact, when we teach mindfulness, we say that paying attention to the present moment and the attitudes are the two wings of a bird.
Can a bird fly with one wing? Likewise, our practice of mindfulness cannot flourish if we do not practice with our whole being—with our minds and hearts—with these attitudes held as a central component in our minds and hearts. As Jon Kabat-Zinn also alludes to in the video...
Video produced by Mindfulnessgruppen, reproduced with permission. Please visit their website @ www.mindfulnessgruppen.se and www.mindsunlimited.se to learn more about mindfulness and MBSR.
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References
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Very interesting article! Mindfulness broadens my view. When adverse situations happen, focusing on how the situation is affecting me, dissociating from it and focusing on the situation objectively, helps to highlight potential alternatives, and to see the situation in a different light --- a light that shows not everything is negative..... there may be some good things too related to this situation..... a positive stance that fosters a sense of gratefulness - even in dismal situations.....