Ryan Fehr‘s work focuses on building more positive organizations – organizations that leverage things like gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness to make work more fulfilling and enjoyable. In this conversation we talk about his research into gratitude, how and why you might want to work to increase your gratitude through interventions like journaling, the gratitude letter and acts of appreciation. We also talk about the relationship between gratitude and stress and gratitude and mindfulness.
Ryan also introduced me to the idea of designing a gratitude “boot camp” which comes from a leading researcher on the subject, Robert Emmons. Both Ryan and I talked about keeping Thank You notes we’ve received as well as emails in place where they can be easily referenced when you need a little pick-me-up. The episode is full of great ideas for boosting your own gratitude and introducing more gratitude into your organization.
A great resource to learn more about gratitude is Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley. Their website provides detailed instructions for many of the practices Ryan and I discussed like the gratitude letter and gratitude journaling. You can learn more on their website or podcast, The Science of Happiness.
Books:
- Gratitude Works, by Robert Emmons, you can also read more from Emmons on The Greater Good Science Center.
- The Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, by Gary Chapman and Paul White