Five of the Best TED Talks on Gratitude

David Steindl-Rast: Want to be happy? Be grateful
This 15-minute talk, from “monk and interfaith scholar” David Steindl-Rast, discusses gratitude and specifically its relationship to happiness. In the talk, Steindl-Rast argues that:
“it is not happiness that makes us grateful” but “gratefulness that makes us happy”.
Since being grateful sounds easier to most of us than being happy, this is an exciting idea. 
Want to be happy? Be grateful | David Steindl-Rast

Want to be happy? Be grateful | David Steindl-Rast

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

This 10-minute talk comes from photographer Louie Schwartzberg, with an assist from the above-mentioned Steindl-Rast. In the talk, Schwartzberg presents some of his photographs of nature and explains how they can lead to feelings of gratitude with a story about life from a child’s perspective as well as life from an elderly man’s perspective.

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

Brian Doyle: 365 Days of Thank You

This 8-minute talk comes from Brian Doyle, who discusses how a near-death experience led him to start thinking about the role of gratitude in his life.

Specifically, Doyle made a commitment to genuinely thank one person in his life every single day for a full year. This short talk is not just an inspiring story but might cause the viewer to consider how they engage with gratitude in their daily lives.

365 Days of Thank You: Brian Doyle at TEDxYouth@SanDiego 2013

365 Days of Thank You: Brian Doyle at TEDxYouth@SanDiego 2013

Hailey Bartholomew: 365 Grateful Project

This 12-minute talk from Hailey Bartholomew is, like Doyle’s, centered on a daily, year-long project. Unlike Doyle’s, however, Bartholomew’s focuses on photography and using photography to find gratitude in her life every day.

365 grateful project | Hailey Bartholomew | TEDxQUT

365 grateful project | Hailey Bartholomew | TEDxQUT

Robert Biswas-Diener: Your happiest days are behind you

This 13- minute talk from positive psychology and happiness researcher Robert Biswas-Diener approaches gratitude by discussing happiness like Steindl-Rast does in his TED Talk. Biswas-Diener argues that most people try to reach happiness by ascribing it to accomplishing things in the future, rather than looking back at happy moments in their pasts.

Your happiest days are behind you: Robert Biswas-Diener at TEDxUNLV

Your happiest days are behind you: Robert Biswas-Diener at TEDxUNLV

One last one – Oprah’s Gratitude Journal

In this short, not-even-4-minute video, Oprah focuses on the power of gratitude by discussing what she has learned from her own gratitude journal, an exercise she had been practicing for 16 years at the time of the talk.

This video is an extremely quick way to learn about the power of gratitude, and specifically the power of gratitude journals. Since the speaker is Oprah, it may also be easier to convince friends and family to give this video a watch and start considering the power of gratitude in their own lives.

Oprah's Gratitude Journal   Oprah's Lifeclass   Oprah Winfrey Network

Oprah’s Gratitude Journal Oprah’s Lifeclass Oprah Winfrey Network

If you want to change your state of being, start to be Grateful. The above videos describe the benefits of gratitude and different ways to start cultivating gratitude in your own life.
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

September 25, 2022

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