Do you know, every 40 seconds someone like you and me takes their own life? According to World Health Organization (WHO) about 800,000 people suicide worldwide in every year. Suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 29 and for every suicide that results in death, there are as many as 40 attempted suicides.
Several research findings show that grateful individuals are not suicidal. Research says gratitude also helps people cope with crisis. Consciously cultivating an attitude of gratitude builds up a sort of psychological immune system that can cushion us when we fall. There is scientific evidence that grateful people are more resilient to stress, whether minor everyday hassles or major personal upheavals.
Gratitude is a personal resource that we can readily access and cultivate. According to the American philosopher Adam Smith, gratitude opens the doors of reciprocity, prompts humans to reward each other, and binds people together in a society. Gratitude drives social equilibrium.
Genuine gratitude can bring unbelievable things in our life. It can literally take one to the top of the world!
Gratitude Power LLC, a New York based company dedicated to shine the light of gratitude, has announced Gratitude Contest 2022. The company has announced ‘Gratitude Ambassador’ for the ‘Gratitude Contest 2022’ to the viral Burger King employee, Kevin Ford, who never missed a day at his work for 27 years. He has also been awarded a free trip to Mount Everest along with one or two other winners of the contest.
"If we can inspire, motivate, train and guide people to be grateful and maintain their gratefulness for a significant period, then we will avoid them from having suicidal thoughts or tendencies. That is preventing suicide in my point of view," Said Abhit Pyakurel, Chief Gratitude Officer of Gartitude Power LLC on an announcement program held in Long Beach, New York.
"We are doing this in order to inspire and motivate people to be grateful and most importantly, to maintain the attitude of gratitude in their daily life and this is worth doing even if we will be able to inspire or motivate one person to be grateful because that is potentially saving one life", he added.
"This is the best honor I have received in my entire life," expressed Kevin Ford, after being awarded as the ‘Gratitude Embassador’ for the ‘Gratitude Contest 2022’. According to the company, everyone from all over the world can participate in the contest.
Gratitude is a personal resource that individual can readily access and cultivate. It can be measured by the Gratitude Questionnaire. This simple and easy-to-join contest can fill life with gratitude, fun and excitement to everyone who wants to experience gratefulness daily.
The cost to join the contest is $25 which covers a form of gratitude-questions to fill out; a best-selling book about gratitude (kindle version); a free pass to join a live Zoom-session named ‘Gratitude Pause’ daily to practice and create the firm attitude of gratitude; and daily support and reminder to practice gratitude via email, and text till September.
Once signed up for the contest, individuals will receive an email with a form and gratitude questionnaire explaining about all the steps to be eligible contestant. Contestants should fill out the form and questionnaire, and send back before 9/5/2022. According to Mr Pyakurel, two winners will be announced on 9/10/2022, the World Suicide Prevention Day at 5 pm eastern time.
On the 9/21/2022, World Gratitude Day, the company is planning to take the two winners and Kevin Ford to Mount Everest to celebrate the World Gratitude Day. They will have a helicopter flight to Kala Patthar, the highest altitude where helicopter can land. And they will be flown to the Everest View Hotel which has been listed on the Guinness Book of World Records (2004) as the Highest Placed Hotel in the world at 13000ft., to have breakfast and celebrate.
‘Grateful to be a part of this gratitude experience - the questions are thought provoking and one grateful thought causes a chain reaction that has me thinking from a positive perspective for the rest of the day. This is great practice, highly recommend!’ says Katy McAllister, the participant of the Gratitude Contest 2022.
After flying back to Kathmandu, on the same day, the company is also partnering in the screening of the movie, Gratitude Revealed to participate the worldwide gratitude celebration. The movie, Gratitude Revealed is made by the world-famous director of the movie ‘Fantastic Fungi’, Louis Schwartzberg. It took him fourty years to make this movie ‘Gratitude Revealed’.
Gratitude is a social-emotional response that signifies well-being. "Until now, Nepal is widely known as a land of Budhha and Mount Everest internationally, but now she will also be famous worldwide for gratefulness and gratitude", said Pyakurel.
Gratitude Power LLC also has started a petition, "Being grateful is preventing suicide" in change.org. The purpose of this petition is to raise awareness and shine the light on gratitude by bringing gratitude in mainstream media. The goal is to have 1 million signatures and handover the proposal to the White House to form the ‘World Gratitude Committee’.
Mr. Pyakurel, the founder and chief gratitude officer of Gratitude Power LLC, is a long-time meditation teacher, life coach and personality developer. He has extensive background and experience in motivating, inspiring, leading, and coaching people to be the best version of themselves for over 25 years.
