Dr. Robert A. Emmons,
A UC Davis psychologist, conducted a
10 week research in the psychology
of gratitude. In one of his studies
the participants were asked to list
what they were grateful for compared
to what they weren’t happy about in
their lives. In another study
they were asked to list what they
were grateful for, in ways they
compared and thought they were
better off than others.
The results showed
that the second group of people who
expressed gratitude without
comparing themselves as “better
than” were significantly happier
than those making comparisons
between themselves and others.
From
another study on self esteem: a
dangerous silent damage to your
feelings of self worth is created
and intensified when you compare
yourself to being better off or more
of anything than someone else. By
practicing the habit of comparison
when you are feeling happy with
yourself or your life, you are
establishing the foundation for
feelings of lack of self worth when
you don’t measure up to any
comparison in the future. The
inherent problem with this habit is
that then takes considerably more
effort to repair your feeling of
lack which can contribute to the
difficulty in regaining levels of
success in chosen areas of your
life.
A person who can see
their unique qualities, success and
strengths without the need to
compare themselves to anyone other
than themselves is found to be
emotionally stronger, and more
genuinely compassionate for anyone
they see experiencing any difficulty
in life.
And since we can only
hold one emotion at a time, why not
just gratitude without comparison.
