The Healing Power of Gratitude This Thanksgiving

What comes to your mind when you think about Thanksgiving? To me, it's more than a holiday. It is a sacred pause to breathe, to remember, and to recognize how far I’ve come. In the rush of daily demands, gratitude slows us down long enough to see the beauty we often overlook. It can be the faces of those we love, the health that sustains us, the opportunities that have shaped us, and even the lessons that have refined us.

Gratitude, at its core, is a form of healing. It reconnects us to what is good and whole. For those in medicine, caregiving, and service, it reminds us that joy and meaning are as essential to wellbeing as any prescription or plan.

The Science of Gratitude and Health

You might have heard that gratitude improves our physical and emotional health, and this is true because research has affirmed it. A 2023 study by the American Psychological Association found that people who practice regular gratitude experience lower stress, better sleep, and stronger immune function. Other studies link gratitude to lower blood pressure, improved relationships, and enhanced resilience during adversity.

As a physician and transformational coach, I have seen firsthand how gratitude changes perspective. It helps patients find hope in uncertainty and caregivers sustain compassion through fatigue. It transforms focus from what is missing to what is meaningful.

Finding Gratitude in the Ordinary

Some of my most powerful moments of gratitude have come not in celebration, but in the ordinary rhythms of life. Watching a sunrise after a sleepless night on call. Hearing a patient’s laughter return after months of treatment. Feeling the calm of a deep breath between responsibilities.

Thanksgiving invites us to notice the sacredness of the ordinary. It could be the nurse who stays past her shift, the teacher who inspires a child’s confidence, the friend who checks in when no one else remembers, or a child’s voice saying “thank you”. These are not small gestures. They are the threads that hold humanity together and reminders that goodness still exists quietly all around us.

Gratitude as Leadership

Leaders can easily be occupied with their organizations bottom line that they center their focus on processes and systems and almost forget about the people who make things happen. Showing gratitude in leadership becomes a language of connection. When leaders express genuine appreciation, they create belonging. Teams thrive where people feel seen, valued, and respected. In healthcare, where exhaustion can easily eclipse joy, a word of thanks can restore purpose more than any incentive.

As someone who has led in both clinical and organizational settings, I’ve witnessed gratitude transform dynamics that strategy alone could not. It softens hard edges. It reminds us that progress is human before it is procedural. Gratitude-centered leadership builds cultures where excellence and empathy coexist.

The Deeper Work of Gratitude

Gratitude is not only a reaction to good fortune. It is a discipline of seeing purpose even in pain. For those who have faced loss, illness, or uncertainty this year, gratitude does not dismiss grief — it gives it meaning. It helps us honor what was, while still believing in what can be.

This season, I invite you to practice what I call transformational gratitude — a gratitude that doesn’t depend on perfection, but on perspective. It is the willingness to see lessons in detours, to appreciate the people who walked with you, and to trust that growth is still possible even in hard places.

Closing Reflection: A Thanksgiving Prayer for Wholeness

As we gather this Thanksgiving, may we do more than count blessings — may we become them.
May we give thanks not only for comfort but for courage.
Not only for success but for significance.
May we carry gratitude into every room we enter and every life we touch.

Because gratitude, at its deepest level, is not a reaction — it is a calling. It calls us to see, to serve, and to love with intention.

From my heart to yours, I wish you a Thanksgiving filled with peace, presence, and purpose.

With gratitude,

Dr. Lilian O. Ebuoma
The Inspirer