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“When a person pours his feelings of love into words, the act of speaking fuels and intensifies the love”, said Rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneersohn, the 5th Chabad Rebbe. “Through speaking about it, the emotional energy radiates with more passion, and the person is aroused with more love and fondness for the object of his love. The same applies to all emotions: when they are not expressed through speech, they are reduced until they completely dissipate. When they are expressed verbally, they augment and grow considerably”.
By focusing on and especially talking about the good in our lives, we foster happy emotions. The more we focus on and talk about it, the more intense these happy feelings become.
Throughout the day, Jews recite many blessings of gratitude. There are blessings for various foods that we eat (before and after), for benefiting from pleasant aromas, for reaching milestones, for hearing good news and many, many more.
The attitude of gratitude is so important that it’s ingrained in our very name. We are called “Jews”; this name comes from Judah or Yehuda, the name of Leah’s fourth son. Yehuda is a cognate of the word “Hoda’ah”, which means “to offer thanks”. This became the name of the Jewish people because it defines who we are, namely thankful beings.
This attribute is the antithesis of a sense of entitlement. We see ourselves as debtors who owe so much to our forebears and our progenitors. We are not creditors to whom something is owned.
Hence a person who builds gratitude into his life will find more happiness because expressing an emotion feeds it and strengthens it.