Guest Author - Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Gratitude Therapy – a new component of Positive Psychology – may go further than merely making your life more enjoyable, positive, and interesting. It can help you develop optimism and change how you view work, family, friends, and even “driving” in gridlock. But can it change your body image?

As the editor for the Body Image website on BellaOnline, I regularly receive requests: “Will you read my book about anorexia, and review it for your website?” and “I’m writing a paper on body image for one of my classes, and I’d like to use a quote from your article, ‘No Fear Naked, if I may.’” I enjoy those emails. They confirm that my articles and forum discussions aren’t floating around in the ether, lost and unappreciated.

A recent request immediately pricked my ears: “Can we use the Body Image forum to solicit participation for our study?” It was from a British university, researching Positive Psychology and Gratitude Therapy. It sounded legitimate and even positive, but…what if we harm our Body Image readers permanently by offering links to the study? What if people become negative and ungrateful, instead of positive and full of gratitude, and they blame me and BellaOnline for wrecking their lives?

After receiving the green light from the owner of BellaOnline (she thought it was a great idea), I gave the green light to the University of the Plymouth to post the study. I signed on as a participant. After all, I couldn’t let my readers be involved in something of which I knew nothing. Plus I figured I had nothing to lose from a healthy dose of positive thoughts and gratitude.

Positive Psychology
It's a relatively new field; scientists study traits that make people thrive and focus on how being positive affects everyday life and health. “Positivity” can improve your immune system, increase your life span, increase feelings of well-being, and even reverse certain psychological struggles such as anxiety and depression. This isn’t news to psychology researchers or regular North Americans; we’ve already more or less accepted the idea that being positive is good and helpful. We just didn’t know it was called “Positivity” (at least I didn’t, anyway).

Cultivating your attitude of gratitude is enthusiastically supported by various celebrities and authors (think Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Ban Breathnach). They encourage activities such as writing in a Gratitude Journal every day, regularly listing all the things for which you’re thankful, forgiving others, and practicing “random acts of kindness.”

Gratitude Therapy
Gratitude therapy formalizes these activities in an attempt to improve how you think about your life – or, in this case, your body image. The theory is that dissatisfaction with your body will be decreased if you deliberately focus on the positive aspects of your life.

As a Gratitude Therapy study participant, my job was to sit and think about six positive things in my life for three days, five minutes each time. The idea is that I’ll unconsciously feel more positive about my body if I’m immersed in positive thoughts about my life, which will decrease my negative body image perceptions. If my body image is more positive, I’ll have fewer feelings of anxiety, more mental energy for valuable activities, and more freedom to do things I want (like completely relax in my bikini on the beach and not suck in my tummy when my husband touches my waist).

I enjoyed focusing on six positive things a day – it could be the same six, a different six, or a combination of sixes. I definitely felt happier, more cheerful, and more optimistic during my participation in the study. It didn’t take long for it to become habitual, this “positivism.” It’s fun, and it gets easier to think of and marvel about the good things in life.

Better Body Image?
Did my body image dissatisfaction “simply decrease of its own accord” as the researchers suggested? I don’t think so. I still feel self-conscious in my bikini, and when my hubby pops his head in when I’m taking a shower I still immediately hope my belly isn’t sticking out too far. However, my experience provides little insight into the overall effectiveness of Gratitude Therapy. My results could be indicative of my own personal issues, such as my everlasting fear of gaining ten pounds if I catch a glimpse of a chocolate truffle. Body image is affected by so many factors: the media, genetics, childhood and adult experiences, self-esteem, family, peers, and personality. It may be overly simplistic to expect to overcome those influences by thinking positively; but what doesn’t work for me may work wonders for the next person –or the next hundred people.

With a daily hit of Gratitude Therapy, you can’t miss. You’ll experience greater feelings of happiness, more satisfaction with your life, and perhaps even some resolution with the “meaning of life” question. With a little positivity, you may even feel totally comfortable playing beach volleyball in a swimsuit or Speedo!