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Gratitude as a Health Tool

Gratitude can improve your life, and may even save it! No really. Dartmouth posted this web page on the importance of gratitude: http://www.umassd.edu/counseling/forparents/reccomendedreadings/theimportanceofgratitude/

 

Hereโ€™s a clip from that page:

 

"Researchers ... are turning their attention to the study of gratitude and its relationship to health and mental well-being. I will present some of their findings here to help us understand how gratitude is helpful and why it's important to our well-being.

 

People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis have been found to exercise more regularly, have fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and feel more optimistic about their upcoming week as compared to those who keep journals recording the stressors or neutral events of their lives.


Daily discussion of gratitude results in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, energy, and sleep duration and quality. Grateful people also report lower levels of depression and stress, although they do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.


People who think about, talk about, or write about gratitude daily are more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or offered emotional support to another person.


Those with a disposition towards gratitude are found to place less importance on material goods, are less likely to judge their own or others success in terms of possessions accumulated, are less envious of wealthy people, and are more likely to share their possessions with others.


Emerging research suggests that daily gratitude practices may have some preventative benefits in warding of coronary artery disease."

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I'm grateful for our cooler days, now that our heat wave has passed - and our continuing outlook for a strong El Nino this winter.

 

Smiley Happy

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My goodness but I am grateful for fresh regional fruit! Second day this week I had just fruit for lunch. Yummy summer spoilage! 

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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@Epster wrote:

For today, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I offer four seasons of gratitude for the wild splendor that is our back yard. 

 

Thankful for this winter view.

old west backyard.jpg

 

Thankful for this spring view.

hogback_love.jpg

 

Thankful for this summer view.

one of six birdhouses.jpg

 

And thankful for this fall view.

 

wm lunch spot.jpg

 

I'm a master gardener, but know better than to try to compete with Ma Nature's landscaping prowess.


Great backyard Epster. Should produce some nice, tasty rattlers.  What kind of birds use the houses?  Why are you a Master Gardener?

 

Am just a curious guy.

 

Smiley Happy

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"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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@Epster - How far do you have to go, for routine groceries?


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"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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@Epster - Those photos make it look like you're in the middle of nowhere, but those travel times aren't bad at all!


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"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful to live in a community that turned out in droves to support the USA Pro Challenge bike race.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful my spouse values athletic pursuits.

 

@tghoff38 Eh, you can take this one at face value. DH's physical conditioning is impressive. His support of our tandem athletic pursuits is nothing short of marvelous.

 

OK, possible underbelly: last night he was talking about getting a slightly slower Catrike recumbent model because he's a stronger rider than me and he doesn't wanna leave me in the dust. Thems fightin words, right there! Smiley Wink

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful to the US Pro Challenge for gifting the public with a great show, and for local crowd control measures that kept that same public focused and safe.

 

Edit: @tghoff38 the underbelly here: traffic jams, street closures, trespassers, an inability to get in our usual morning walk on our usual route because of the aforementioned; public drunkeness and this morning's Denver Post story talking about the fact that the Pro Challenge continues to lose money...

 

I am still grateful. Smiley Happy

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful for this day, ripe with possibility for each one of us!

 

Edit: @tghoff38 the underbelly here: I have about 15 hours of cooking to accomplish (pickled carrots, onion, garlic; baba ghanoush, aubergine balti; a batch each of pinto chili and of black beans) plus regular farm work (you don't wanna know); financial planning to accomplish (again, you don't wanna know); and good golly but if I don't get out on the property with a weed whacker soon I may need an airlift outta here, cuz ain't no 4wd getting up here no how, I dun't get that road cleared ... see? My day is positively ripe with possibility. (Zoom, zoom!Smiley Very Happy)

 

Hoping your day surprises you with blessings, @tghoff38

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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@Epster wrote:

@EveRH Let's see ... I can be picking up tickets at the will call for a community theatre show within 15 minutes; buying organic, non-GMO groceries at a mom-and-pop health food store in under 20; buying junk food and pre-packaged yuck from a national grocer in about 7, riding my bike through a world famous sculpture garden in about 25 or climbing a 12,000 ft mountain in about 50.

 

The world's most perfect location, you ask me! Smiley Happy And for that, boy oh boy you better know I am beyond grateful!

 


Those sculptures there in the park are sooo neat!  I love that stuff!!

 

I'm grateful for the opportunity to associate with folks that recognize and appreciate the goodness and beauty this world and life offers.

 

BTW Epster - I usta live in Wyoming - over across the Divide.  Also in Montana.   

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I'm grateful that I live in an area that has so much live entertainment! Saw an excellent musical drama last night: "Damascus Square," inspired by a true story of identity crisis. There was so much buzz about this original production, they had to add another performance, to accommodate patrons!


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@Epster - What a fabulous view!!

 

I'm grateful that a large masonry repair project at my house is moving along. I'm sorry that I had to lose 2 holly trees that had self-planted, and grown up too close to the retaining wall .. but they'll be replaced .. maybe something flowering.

 

Retaining Wall Removal - 3 Cropped.jpg


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Yep: Hahn's is revered for the unobstructed 360 view. 

 

Hurrah on your project's progress! Definitely something to be grateful for.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful for online forums (I'm looking at you, RV.net) that can help one navigate the learning curve to getting out on the road full-time.

 

So much to learn before we hit the road full-time (yes, still a decade away, but...). So much to learn before we select and purchase our 'starter RV' toy hauler next year. 

 

 

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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Woo hoo! Beyond grateful that our 14-year-old beater car (Yeah, the one we are seriously thinking of using to tow the toy hauler. Un. Huh.) just passed the smog test without any work being done on it. Woo hoo! (I still think it needs a tune up). 

 

While its less than perfect paint job makes it the perfect vehicle to leave at trailheads, our beater does look better than this one. 

 

beater car.jpg

 

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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Grateful for the last two 70-something degree days, home delivered local organic milk, and these glorious pre-dawn hours.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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@Epster wrote:

Yep: Hahn's is revered for the unobstructed 360 view. 

 

Hurrah on your project's progress! Definitely something to be grateful for.


A neighbor who's been here since major development started here in the 1960s, said that our area used to have a great view of the river, but in the last 50 years all the trees grew up, and there's quite a bit of obstruction now. I should take a photo, now that I have a digital camera! ๐Ÿ™‚ You sure can't see much in this wintery shot:

 

Deck in Snow - 1.JPG


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I'm a fan of Paramahansa Yogananda too, and his "Autobiography of a Yogi" is in my bookcase! One of the best, but simplest books I've read, is by Baba Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Albert), titled "Remember .. Be Here Now". The simple concept is to be 100% present in whatever you're doing at the moment. The book was published back in 1971, but when you see how people are today, it's even more important for them to read it! No matter where people are, 80% of them AREN'T present .. they're ignoring whom they're with, so they can talk to others on their smart phones, or they're playing electronic games, or texting to people elsewhere.


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"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful that we have for years lived far below our means and that we are not driven to 'keep up with the Joneses' but instead to keep up our retirement savings program.  I am grateful for a mate who places greater importance on shared experiences than on material goods. And I am grateful that we plan to catch up on all those thus-far-not-taken vacation trips in retirement.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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I am grateful to be able to hike up and take in views atop Hahn's Peak north of Steamboat Springs, CO. I am equally grateful for the two mule deer fawns that bounded past our dining room window a minute ago in their quest to catch up with their momma.

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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Here are some folks to whom I shall forever be grateful:

 

Gandhi, Aldous Huxley, Friedrich Hayek, Carl Jung, Danny Kahneman, Will James, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Paramhansa Yogananda, Robert W. Service, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jack London, John Sarno.

 

The wisdom they made public is a valuable and useful part of me.

 

Thanks guys.

 

The deeper part of me automatically acknowledges those I've temporarily forgotten.  And - they, in turn are aware.

 

Smiley Happy

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I'm grateful for being in touch with folks who appreciate Nature - without which, I think we would be somewhat diminished.  One day, a pair of wild Mallards landed in our pool and paddled around for a half hour.  Delighted me to no end!

 

P.S.  Altho not out in it anymore - I am a huge Nature lover.  The wilder - the better!

 

    Smiley Very Happy

 

 

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I'm grateful that I can get a lot of organic produce & eggs, although the price of the latter is astronomical around here! I'm grateful for all the birds around here, and what wildlife still manages to coexist in the suburbs.


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My daughter had the lasik eye surgery done yesterday.  She researched the various clinics in SoCal, and ended up at the one in Brentwood, which happened to be close to the UCLA Med Center, where she works. 

 

I am soo grateful that the surgery went very well - and she now has nearly perfect vision - without contacts or glasses!  Hurray!

 

Smiley Very Happy

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@wilful wrote:

 

I am soo grateful that the surgery went very well - and she now has nearly perfect vision - without contacts or glasses!  Hurray!

 

Smiley Very Happy


I second those hurrays and add a few yippees! 

"The key to success is to keep growing in all areas of life - mental, emotional, spiritual, as well as physical." Julius Erving
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