Commenting on gratitude coexisting with sadness, SMU Lee Kong Chian Professor of Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources Jochen Reb, who is also the Director of the Mindfulness Initiative at SMU said one can feel multiple emotions and mixed emotions, adding that one can feel relieved that something bad did not happen, grateful for this, happy that one escaped it – and still worried that something similar might happen in future. Prof Reb highlighted that experiencing a ‘positive’ emotion does not preclude also experiencing a ‘negative’ emotion. On practising gratitude, Prof Reb said that this can be cultivated through mindfulness: paying attention, without judgment, to what is happening in the present moment, including how he responds to events and experiences. He recommends keeping a gratitude journal, in which people regularly note things they appreciate, alongside mindfulness practice, both of which research supports. But he cautions against forcing yourself to feel gratitude. He stressed that it begins with how we make sense of what happens around us and to us, because there is no single, objectively correct way to interpret events or interactions; one develops habitual ways of making sense of the world over time. He added that by practising making sense of the world in a certain way, one can learn to experience gratitude more often. Prof Reb said that gratitude need not be reserved for major events.
