Survey Says… and I am listening

Sometimes, we all need to stop, smell the flowers and hit pause. With our limitations on social gatherings, I am at risk of getting too introspective and deep into the weeds with my Grassroots Gratitude Project. My recent pause was to wait for the feedback of forty people who took time to complete my survey. The results are below and offer an excellent reality check that is helping me to recalibrate my plans.

Happily, with the support of those who are my reality checkers, I have a better insight into my assumptions and biases. Below is a glimpse of our micro-village understands and practices gratitude. Do your views merge or diverge from this collective response?

Read on and see the insights of a village of forty helpful souls. Thanks to all who have participated. If you would like to add your voice, please get in touch and I will send the link.

Survey Start Date: April 29, 2021                                                             End Date: May 28, 2021

1. How does gratitude show up in your life? A selection of responses:

• Mainly as a contemplative, mental process.
• Reflection when I am alone.
• It is a lens through which I look at the world
• Gratitude is a daily practice, but not one which is rigorously scheduled. It is something I attempt to be mindful of when waking up and then consistently in response to challenging or negative situations or emotions. When COVID restrictions are bearing down, I am feeling over worked from home or balancing ever-changing school or work schedules with pandemic shut-downs, I consider what I do have and ask myself what I am grateful for.
• It’s tough these days for me to make gratitude a regular practice
• I haven’t thought deeply about gratitude as an emotion, but now that I am thinking about it, I am getting a strange connection between my general feelings of gratitude for having such a fortunate life, and feelings of guilt – why should I be so lucky? I enjoy, and feel it is important to express gratitude to others. I feel it conveys that you are paying attention to them and that you appreciation what they have done. I feel less comfortable with accepting gratitude. I sometimes find it awkward or embarrassing. I don’t know why
• I feel gratitude in my heart and I feel teary when I dig in deeper
• Gratitude is something I aspire to have in my life. It doesn’t come naturally. For me, it is something that I need to work on, hoping that it will become an attitude or a habit. For that, I will be grateful
• Gratitude is woven into my experiences in nature. It opens me to awe, wonder and reverence. It shows up as deep love for people and places
• Gratitude consistently pulls me back from wherever my mind has wandered to remind me of all the amazing things I have in my life

2. If you currently have a gratitude practice, can you describe it?

• I take photos and file my images electronically – 18% agree
• I use a pen and journal and write lists in long-hand – 13% agree

The other 70 percent of responses vary widely including: I meditate. I daydream. During yoga. I talk to myself and feel gratitude, trying to notice what is happening in my body.

3. Do you have a regular written journal practice – gratitude or otherwise?

• Yes – 40 %
• No – 60%

4. How frequently do you write in a journal? (as a gratitude practice, or not)

• Whenever the spirit moves me – 60%
• Weekly – 18%
• Never – 15%
• Daily – 10%

5. How long do you usually write in your journal?

• 10 – 30 minutes – 32%
• 10 minutes or less – 24%
• 30 – 60 minutes – 5%
• I never feel the need to write – 10%

6. What motivates you to take a pen and open your journal? Multiple answers possible

• When I want to remember something – 53%
• When things are out of control and life is feeling chaotic – 45%
• When I am feeling angry and confused – 34%
• When I am feeling joyful – 24%
• It’s a mental health habit. I do it on any and every occasion. 13%
• Other reasons:
  • When I wish to organize and remember my thoughts on something important
  • When I am overthinking and trying to dump thoughts
  • When there is something I want to pass on to my kids and grandkids
  • Mostly for creative ideas
  • When something happens to make me grateful or I see or hear about some kindness, I take notice of it

7. You just did something kind, how do you like to be thanked? Multiple answers possible:

• Spoken word – 75%
• A handwritten note – 60%
• A hug or some appropriate physical touch – 60%
• An email – 53%
• A phone call – 37.5%
• Flowers, chocolate or a bottle of wine – 33 %
• I don’t like being thanked – 7.5%

8. How do you like to express gratitude? Multiple answers possible:

• With a spoken “Thank You” to someone or the group – 85%
• With a smile and a warm embrace, a physical hug – 70%
• With food – by making something special – 48%
• In silence, by praying privately – 42 %
• By writing in my personal journal – 42%
• With flowers and modest gifts – 42%
• By making a donation or recognizing with a gift of money – 38%

9. How do you like to keep track of the good things in your life? Multiple answers possible:

• By telling a friend or talking with a small group – 70%
• By pausing in the moment to savour with some deep breaths – 67%
• By calling someone and talking on the phone – 46%
• By looking back during times of meditation or deep reflection – 44%
• By writing in my journal or writing a poem – 41%

10. Imagine you are going to start a new gratitude practice. When might you find the time? Top two choices:

• First thing in the morning – 60%
• Last thing before bed – 42.5%
• After dinner – 15%
• I have learned that journaling is not for me; I don’t see this as a regular part of my life – 5%

Gratitude has tremendous potential for building our collective action with greater positivity. While it is clear that many believe gratitude is deeply personal, I am certain that it cannot work to its maximum benefit if kept in isolation.