In a county where people can practice yoga on a paddleboard, it’s easy to feel blessed. Yet Thanksgiving isn’t merely a celebration of abundance—it is an invitation to look beyond our own dinner tables, to feel gratitude for the beauty around us and to share that feeling with everyone.
Gratitude Makes Us Healthier
Psychologists define gratitude as more than saying “thanks”—it is a personal orientation toward noticing and appreciating life’s gifts. Researchers at Harvard and UC San Diego followed almost 49,000 older women in the Nurses’ Health Study and found that those with the highest gratitude scores were 9% less likely to die over the four‑year study period.
Tyler VanderWeele, a co‑director of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion, argues that gratitude is accessible to everyone: “What’s remarkable about gratitude is that just about anyone can practice it,” he observes in a paper published by Harvard Medical School. “Anyone can recognize what’s around them and express thanks to others for what’s good in their life.” Even on tough days, he notes, making time to name a few blessings “makes a difference.”
A growing body of evidence shows that practicing gratitude improves both mental and physical health. The San Francisco‑Marin Food Bank’s volunteers may feel happier when they help, but the benefits go deeper. A UCLA Health review of 70 studies involving more than 26,000 participants found that people who cultivate gratitude tend to have lower levels of depression and higher self‑esteem.
Anxiety is often fueled by worrying about the past or future; focusing on what we’re thankful for keeps attention in the present and acts as a coping tool. Gratitude practices also support heart health by improving diet, sleep and exercise habits. And studies show that keeping a gratitude journal can lower diastolic blood pressure.
Physiologically, gratitude triggers the body’s relaxation response. Taking a moment to be thankful “initiates the parasympathetic nervous system—the part of your nervous system that helps you rest and digest,” according to UCLA Health. That calming effect extends to bedtime; positive thoughts before falling asleep promote better sleep. And there’s evidence that gratitude causes people to have positive thoughts about their life, social support and social situations. Neuroscientists have even documented changes in brain regions associated with reward and empathy when people practice gratitude.
Cultivating Gratitude
Gratitude research may be booming in academia, but Marin residents have been practicing it for decades. Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield, who founded the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, sees gratitude as essential to mindfulness. “If we see the world as sacred … then gratitude follows immediately and naturally,” Kornfield told Greater Good magazine. He encourages people to appreciate both joys and sorrows. Kornfield teaches that gratitude and mindfulness feed one another; cultivating one makes it easier to notice the other.
Local acts of gratitude often manifest as service. From rehabilitating wildlife at WildCare to distributing food through North Marin Community Services—giving creates a “positive feedback loop” where generosity fuels joy. Whether one is supporting Marin Humane’s cats and dogs, removing invasive broom with the Marin Conservation League or sponsoring a neighbor’s electric bill, each act is an expression of gratitude.
Research shows that 15 minutes of gratitude practice a day, five days a week for six weeks can enhance mental wellness and may lead to lasting changes in perspective.
This Thanksgiving, as one savors pumpkin pie and looks out over the sparkling bay, pause to acknowledge the gifts that make Marin extraordinary. In that moment of awareness, one might find that gratitude is not just a feeling—it’s medicine for the body and soul.
