Tag Archives: words of wisdom

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.”

Words of Wisdom for June 2016

quotes Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. – George Washington

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. – Abraham Lincoln

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. – Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free! – P. J. O’Rourke

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you! – Pericles (430 B.C.)

No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. – Mark Twain

quotes by Mark Twain

Interesting Facts for March 2016

Sound smart, or at least interesting, at the next office party or meeting.

Where the Wild Things Are book cover

 

Where the Wild Things Are was originally titled Where the Wild Horses Are until Maurice Sendak realized he was really bad at drawing horses.

 

 

Jadav Payeng started planting trees on a barren Indian sandbar when he was 16 years old in 1979. Today he lives in the forest he planted which covers over 1,300 acres and is home to rhinos, tigers, deer, apes and elephants.

Words of Wisdom for March 2016

words of wisdomWords to make your day make a little more sense

A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he is finished. – Zsa Zsa Gabor

Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy. – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fashions are induced epidemics. – George Bernard Shaw

The quieter you become the more you can hear. – Richard Alpert

Please share your favorite words of wisdom in the comments below. We are always looking for new ways to become wiser.