Many spiritual teachers and most world religions agree on one universal principle: being grateful is important and beneficial to our emotional state.When we put our attention on all the good in our lives, the good tends to increase. Remember to be thankful for the small everyday things such as the pine tree outside your window or the birds singing in the tree. We can also be thankful for the extraordinary, like the birth of a child.
An excellent teacher who inspires us to relish the attitude of gratitude is Brother David Steindl-Rast, who serves a worldwide Network for Grateful Living, an interactive website with several thousand participants daily from more than 243 countries.
Robert A. Emmons, a psychologist at the University of California at Davis, found that those who wrote in a “gratitude journal” on a weekly basis experienced better health and more energy, and for patients with neuromuscular disease, less pain and fatigue. The more they found to be grateful for and the more detail they described in their journals, the greater benefits they experienced.
Be grateful especially when you feel down, because it’s difficult to feel grateful and unhappy at the same time. Gratefulness inspires happiness.During this season of thanksgiving, join me in keeping a gratitude journal. What are you grateful for? Let’s continue writing in our journals throughout the year, and also noting the synchronicities and successes we experience. Click “comments” to share your list of what you’re grateful for. I’m grateful for my family, for fresh air, the walking path around my neighborhood, for organic apples, my local farmer’s market, and for my readers and students from around the world.
Be grateful especially when you feel down, because it’s difficult to feel grateful and unhappy at the same time. Gratefulness inspires happiness.During this season of thanksgiving, join me in keeping a gratitude journal. What are you grateful for? Let’s continue writing in our journals throughout the year, and also noting the synchronicities and successes we experience. Click “comments” to share your list of what you’re grateful for. I’m grateful for my family, for fresh air, the walking path around my neighborhood, for organic apples, my local farmer’s market, and for my readers and students from around the world.
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You taught me well about having a gratitude journal, that basic level of intention can really go far. Check out Melissa, over at The Inspired Room for her post on gratitude journals and being thankful: (http://tinyurl.com/58kzxq)
Thank you for enriching my life (and my blog)
Yes, writing each day or evening like this can change your life. Thank you. Right now I am grateful for the most amazing massage, sore neck, back & ankle all feeling Blissful. Grateful for the healthy food & internet here at the restaurant & fo sticking to my healthy eating the last 4 days. Oops, I just ordered pie. Just kidding.
Rae,
Thanks for sharing some of your gratitude list with us, even gratitude for the pie. Let’s keep writing as I am grateful for all of your writing workshops I attended over the years.