Gratitude as a Health Tool

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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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Grateful for meaningful distractions.

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Grateful to be at the threshold of something big.

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Grateful that hard work does pay off.

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Grateful for Senior Games and senior athletes.

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Grateful for starry skies.

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Grateful that there is always possibility.

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A little gratitude haiku this morning:

Maker sent new frames.
Recumbent trikes 18
months old, paint has wear.

Warranty claim, this.
But paint covered mere 12 months.
Maker still made good.

Catrike recumbents
wants us to race, win on theirs.
Made in USA!

We are much blessed.
We are also gobsmacked.
We are unworthy.

Ta to the old frame ...

What is this thread all about?

@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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[Epster]

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Gratitude: why bother? Read on...

@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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[Epster]

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Grateful for the givers of this world. 

@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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[Epster]

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More on the whys of gratitude:

 

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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Grateful for the compassionate hearts one finds in the trenches.

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Grateful for today. This minute. Riiiight now!

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Grateful for the possibility of transcendence.

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Grateful for a deep connection to the natural world.

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Some mornings make one grateful for their ignition, others inspire gratitude at their completion. This was the latter.

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Grateful for good, solid resolution. And a great night's sleep.:)

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Grateful for shade cloth, and plenty of it. 🙂

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Grateful that warm weather means tall grass, which in turn means more grasshoppers, which in turn means more song birds. I'm good with that. 

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Grateful for a hard riding medal chasing crew.

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Beyond grateful for a kick butt training crew.

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Grateful to be mobile.

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Grateful for full reservoirs.

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Grateful for this feral life.

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Grateful for wet soil. Good start to a weeding adventure!

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Grateful for personality, individuality, color and zest.

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Grateful to know who I am. And to have known early enough in life to make appropriate choices.

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Grateful for true love: a partner that sees me as I am, flaws and quirks right in there with attributes and who still wants to spend his life with me. Somebody give this man a gold star! 🙂

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Still feeling grateful for a partner that spends enormous energy making certain I know he celebrates the life choices that brought us to this point, together.  Love is good. True love divine.

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Grateful for this property; beyond gorgeous in its greening, blooming spring flourishes.

Colorado's State Flower: Colombine

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Grateful for life-giving, sustaining water, full reservoirs and water management professionals. Also grateful for the promise of a sunny weekend.