#459: Beyond Gratitude Lite: The Real Virtue of Thankfulness

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2018

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the United States. It’s a holiday dedicated to gratitude, and one in which we often trot out expressions of thankfulness. But how much is gratitude a part of our lives the other 364 days of the year? And even when we do think about gratitude at other times, does it admittedly often take a fairly superficial and fleeting form? On today’s show, we’re exploring the deeper, "harder" side of gratitude with my guest, Dr. Robert Emmons. Robert is a bona fide expert in his field -- a professor of psychology at the University of California Davis who pioneered much of the research on the science of gratitude. Robert explains what gratitude is, its benefits, and how to cultivate more of it in our lives. He also shares why much of the content out there about gratitude is what he calls “gratitude lite,” and he makes the case that we need to see gratitude as the ancients saw it—as a human virtue that requires a lifetime of intentional cultivation. We then explore the myths of gratitude out there, like the idea that counting your blessings can make you complacent. We end our show with some suggestions on how to nurture your gratitude daily, including some specific ideas to try on Thanksgiving. Get the show notes at aom.is/gratitude.

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:13.9	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.9	This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the United States.
0:21.2	It's a holiday dedicated to gratitude and one of which we often try to out expressions
0:25.4	of thankfulness.
0:26.4	How much is gratitude a part of lives the other 364 days of the year?
0:30.7	And even when we do think about gratitude at other times, does it admittedly often take
0:34.6	a fairly superficial and fleeting form along today's show?
0:37.9	We're exploring the deeper, harder side of gratitude with my guest, Dr. Robert Immens.
0:42.1	Robert is a bona fide expert in his field, professor of psychology at the University
0:46.2	of California Davis who pioneered much of the research on the science of gratitude.
0:50.4	Robert explains what gratitude is, its benefits and how to cultivate more of it in our
0:54.1	lives.
0:55.1	He also shares why much of the content out there about gratitude is what he calls gratitude
0:58.6	light.
0:59.6	And he makes the case that we need to see gratitude as the ancient saw it, as a human
1:02.4	virtue that requires a lifetime of intentional cultivation.
1:05.5	We then explore the myths of gratitude out there like the idea that counting your blessings
1:09.1	can make you complacent and we end our show with some suggestions on how you can nurture
1:12.5	your gratitude daily, including some specific ideas to try out on Thanksgiving.
1:17.0	After the show's over, check out our show notes at aum.is slash gratitude, ring
1:21.4	the final links to resources, ring the dupre into this topic.
	...

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