Gratitude as a Health Tool

[Epster]

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/

Here’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."

[EveRH]

Whenever I'm in a medical waiting room, I look at the other people sitting there, and am grateful that I don't have as many complications as they have! I know that some of their problems may not be their fault, but others are related to poor diet & lifestyle choices. That's certainly motivation for me to make better choices, because I don't want to wind up barely mobile & unable to breathe!

[Epster]

Grateful that truth needs nothing from anyone in order to be truth. Truth just is. 

[Epster]

Grateful for distinct personalities, that our unique approaches to life has made such a fascinating, if not downright hypnotic, display. 

[Epster]

Beyond grateful for sunny days. Ahhhhhhhh ... yes, please.

[Epster]

Grateful for the unquenchable human spirit.

[Epster]

Grateful for pluck; everyone should have some.

[Epster]

Grateful that artistic endeavor feeds my soul.

[Epster]

Grateful that we live in a place with four seasons, and that we enjoy each season in its time.

[Epster]

Grateful for small, local organic farmers. 

[Epster]

Grateful for bike designers and engineers. Today on the trail we saw road bikes, recumbent trikes, mountain bikes, cyclocross, fat boys, cruisers, elliptical bikes, kids on tricycles, tandems. So wonderful to see so many people enjoying the trail.

[Epster]

Feel free to post a thought of gratefulness here whenever you like. Gratitude (even just the exercise of looking for something for which to be grateful) will improve your health.

Here's what Eric Barker, UCLA researcher, has to say about it:

Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude
I can’t emphasize this one enough. Showing gratitude for the good things you have is the most powerful happiness boosting activity there is.
It will make you happier.
It will improve your relationships.
It can make you a better person.
It can make life better for everyone around you.

For more information, on this topic, or to learn how Eric uses science to help people improve their life, visit his blog Barking up the Wrong Tree: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/blog/

[Epster]

Feel free to post a thought of gratefulness here whenever you like. Gratitude (even just the exercise of looking for something for which to be grateful) will improve your health.

Here's what Eric Barker, UCLA researcher, has to say about it:

Gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude
I can’t emphasize this one enough. Showing gratitude for the good things you have is the most powerful happiness boosting activity there is.
It will make you happier.
It will improve your relationships.
It can make you a better person.
It can make life better for everyone around you.

For more information, on this topic, or to learn how Eric uses science to help people improve their life, visit his blog Barking up the Wrong Tree: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/blog/

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[Epster]

Grateful for mountains and nature that nurture my soul and grateful for this new phase of life.

Ahhhhhhhhh .... (breathing in, breathing out) ummmmm ... yes!

[Epster]

Grateful for a husband and life partner who trains for the Senior Games with me in the winter, spring, summer and fall.

[Epster]

I am grateful for good health and living in a senior-friendly county that has already developed hundreds of miles of bike trail and which has hundreds more in the planning stages.

[Epster]

I am grateful for the US constitution, for lawyers and idealists, for left for right, for the wild patchwork quilt that is America. Happy Inauguration Day! May we progress in peaceful disagreement toward a shared prosperity.

[Epster]

I'm grateful to have set the ball in motion, and wildy optimistic regarding the outcome.

[Epster]

I'm grateful for opportunities that shall present themselves at tonight's meeting. 

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@Epster wrote:

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/

Here’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."

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[EveRH]

I am grateful that the contractors finished my big masonry project 100% yesterday .. right before we had torrential rains overnight! In the 6 weeks for this project, I think there were only 2 days when there were short, light showers, that would have held things up!

[Epster]

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@EveRH wrote:

I am grateful that the contractors finished my big masonry project 100% yesterday .. right before we had torrential rains overnight! In the 6 weeks for this project, I think there were only 2 days when there were short, light showers, that would have held things up!

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Yay for great timing!

[Epster]

I am grateful for the short time spent on this forum, grateful that interacting with such a variety of personalities and personal expressions proved that I am ready to resume living my crazy beautiful life at full throttle. As you have no idea what I’ve endured these past few years, please accept it as fact when I state that I required respite.

Thank you for being part of my recovery. Be good to each other; eat your vegetables; get up from your computer and take a walk; drink, eat and spend less and beyond all be happy.

[EveRH]

@Epster - I'm sorry you're not planning to continue posting on AARP; you're just the sort of person Online Community needs, having a good attitude & respecting our differences! I wanted to send you a private message, so perhaps we could exchange e-mail addresses to keep in touch, but apparently you've changed your settings, and I couldn't do that.

Hope you change your mind & visit us again periodically!

[wilful]

I just read a thread about the Jews here in America and in Israel and it struck me how lucky we are to have Jews as part of our melting pot.

I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for the existance of Jewish folks. 

[wilful]

Adios Epster - Vaya Con Dios,

your pal,

wilful

[EveRH]

I'm grateful that the contractor picked up his little earth-mover this morning, and that there's only 1 last task for my big project to be finished. Next comes some tree removal ..

[Epster]

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@EveRH wrote:

I'm grateful that the contractor picked up his little earth-mover this morning, and that there's only 1 last task for my big project to be finished. Next comes some tree removal ..

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Yay!

Will the tree removal move the raccoon away from your domicile? And will it grant you a fantastic view?

[Epster]

I'm grateful to those who discovered and developed spice. Sweet, savory, pungent, delicate ... there's a world of flavor in my spice cabinet! Yahoooo!

[Epster]

I am grateful for our rainy forecast: may we actually see some precipt*, and may we end the fire season without a blaze.

*thunderstorms have a habit of splitting over a nearby canyon and missing our wee but happy hogback. 

[Epster]

I'm grateful to be able to listen to the elk rut from my living room. Make that I'm grateful that I have a living space to afford us safety during this annual event. A montage of the elk rut as experienced in nearby Estes Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOaJ-wbMoRM

We have fewer elk this time of year than do they. (Hurrah) 

[wilful]

Epster - Thanks for posting the elk video. It was great! Reminds me of when I usta hunt elk outta Villa Grove. I love them animals. They are magnificent. I'm grateful I had the opportunity to experience them.