Tag Archives: Gratitude

Gratitude – the magical emotion

One of the most healing and healthy emotions, if not the healthiest emotion is gratitude. 

Gratitude affects you physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually – on every level. All your worries and cares – are all given a comforting, healthy boost when you express gratitude – you can’t be miserable and depressed when you are grateful.

How can you express gratitude? 

gratitude

Be grateful you are alive, that your heart is beating, that you have the potential to heal and grow and think, and have loved ones in your life. Be grateful that you can walk. Appreciate your feet, toes, and knees. legs, bones, muscles, balance, eyes, ears, and more!

Look back on your life and see when you were guided and helped, perhaps unknowingly. 

When you feel gratitude your brain releases feel-good chemicals (dopamine and serotonin). They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside

Your body is full of miracles – every single body part: cell, tissue, organ, bone, gland, tooth, fluid is a miracle. Your breathing is a miracle, your heartbeat, the rhythms of your brain, your nerves, your eyes, your energy, and more. But it’s not just about your body. Practicing gratitude towards others can benefit you in many other ways, The following are a few of the benefits of an attitude of gratitude:

  • It makes us happier, enhances empathy, and reduces aggression…
  • It reduces stress. …
  • It improves self-esteem. …
  • It helps us be more resilient. …
  • It helps us sleep. …
  • It improves our physical health. …
  • It improves our romantic relationships. …
  • It improves our friendships and opens the door to more relationships. (1)

What are you going to do today to express gratitude?

  1. 10 benefits of a gratitude practice. By Katherine. Life Coach Directory. August 4th, 2020

You Have a Secret Super Power!

Just like a super hero, you have a super power! toy panda dressed as a super hero

If you use it you’ll be happier, live with reduced stress, avoid depression and even have more energy.

We call it vitamin G.

You don’t get this vitamin in your foods – you can make it yourself.

What is this mysterious vitamin?

Gratitude. Research shows that expressing gratitude makes people happier, healthier and more alive.

How do we cultivate vitamin G?

Here are some ideas:

Start by making an effort to thank people more often. Then advance to counting your blessings at least once a day for 30 seconds.

Do it now! We’ll wait. OK, finished?

Don’t you feel better? See, it didn’t take long and you can do it whenever you have down time.

Here are some more gratitude ideas:

  • If you’re in the car thank it for running properly and even thank your mechanic for doing such a good job (we realize at times this is a bit of a stretch).
  • Be grateful for your health (be sure to mention your chiropractor).
  • If you don’t have ideal health send gratitude to your parts that are working properly.

The Rocky in You!

Be grateful for your family and friends and always thank the Rocky in you. The Rocky in you? We mean your ability to go ten rounds with the champ, getting punched and clobbered, and still be standing. Nurture your inner Rocky – no matter what life hits you with, you can take it, grow and learn from it.

You can do it – it’s really powerful. Those who use this secret super power always benefit from it. (1)

  1. Emmons RA, McCullough ME. Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2003:84(2):377-389.

Gratitude: Some Mental Hygiene

A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things. – Plato

Our minds often need a break from our thoughts.gratitude

We seem to be programmed to complain, worry, criticize and doubt. These thoughts do serve a purpose – making us aware of danger and preventing mistakes. But this defense can get out of hand and dominate our thoughts, weigh us down and make us miserable. Life can lose its luster as we get caught in our own minds.

Balance our Thoughts

Plato’s observation above is an excellent mental exercise to balance our thoughts and enhance personal peace and contentment. Research reveals that people who feel grateful have higher levels of well-being and are happier, less depressed, less stressed and more satisfied with their lives.

Expressing gratitude also leads to enthusiasm and inspiration, because it promotes the savoring of positive experiences, no matter what the present circumstances are in life.

Why wait?

But why wait for gratitude to hit us? We can deliberately cultivate gratitude, and increase our well-being and happiness right now. How? It’s easy.

Start by writing three or four things you are currently grateful for. Don’t have pen, paper or screen to write on? Reflect on the little things as well as the big things in your life that are going well:

  • Things that went well today or yesterday
  • Goals you have achieved
  • Things you like about yourself
  • What you like about where you live
  • People who have touched your life in a good way: teachers, mentors, friends
  • Even your dog or cat
  • And your wonderful caring chiropractor (we had to add that)?

Do it once a day, a few times a week or once a week or any time.

Key for success: write with a friend. Ancient wisdom has shown us that learning with a study-partner improves our success in any endeavor.

NOTE from Dr. C:  Two years ago, my gift to my yoga students was a gratitude jar into which they placed a daily “gratitude”.  Delving into that jar at the end of the year and reading some of the “gratitudes” was a very salient reminder of all the joys through the year many of which get “forgotten.”