Life through my eyes......
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” ~ Brian Tracey
Thought you might like this so I decided to share if you dont...tough cookies..you knew what today was gonna focus on, before you even came here lol.....if you can't get with it..you can feel free to go kick rocks in your bare feet in some traffic..maybe rush hour :)
Gratitude is under-rated. Most of us focus on the things we want to achieve in life – the things we have not yet achieved – the things we do not yet have. We hanker after it, gripe about it, wish we had it, wonder when we will get it and scheme to achieve it. It is all well and good to have goals and to visual them and work towards them, but it is critically important to your happiness to take time to appreciate the things you do have and have already accomplished.
The benefits of gratitude
Being grateful immediately increases your satisfaction with your life and allows you to feel happier, which in turn allows you to accomplish more.
Gratitude refocuses your priorities
Focusing on what you are grateful for also reminds you of your priorities and of what is fundamentally important to you. Often we get caught up worrying or focusing on little things that really are not important to us. Thinking about what we are grateful for allows us to refocus and re-centre ourselves on what is important to us.
Gratitude lets you enjoy the simple good
Gratitude allows you enjoy the good in your life. Often times we feel that only achieving the big goals – getting the big promotion, winning the lottery, having the best party – are what will make us happy. But focusing on being appreciative allows you to focus on the many small good things that occur in your day that you are grateful for – such as being on time for the bus, getting your favorite drink in the vending machine, seeing a beautiful sky, sharing a laugh with your partner, seeing your kids healthy and happy and playing. These things make life very enjoyable and satisfying but often we take them for granted in our search for the big and flashy successes. Practicing gratitude allows us to appreciate our success and our happiness more.
Gratitude reduces envy and negative emotion
When you are busy appreciating and savouring all the good things already in your life, there is little time for hankering about what others have. Take a simple common materialistic example. Let’s you say you have a regular 20 inch TV, but you want one of those new fandangled, flat screen, plasma items to watch the big game on. Imagine that you keep thinking of how great it would be see the game on that big screen and how you wish you had it – you will feel very dissatisfied with the TV you do have and envy all those who have the TV you wish you had.
Now imagine instead that you focus on appreciating the fact that you have a TV to watch the game on – your own TV, in the comfort of your home where you can sit in your favourite chair and relax and enjoy your game viewing experience. You will feel more satisfied and appreciate the TV you have rather than being unhappy wishing you had another TV. Being grateful help reduce envy and resentment and promote satisfaction and happiness.
Gratitude improves your physical well-being
Studies have shown that people who take a few minutes each day (for a week) to write down the things that they are thankful for sleep better, exercise more and feel less stressed than the control group who did not engage in a daily gratitude exercise.
Gratitude improves your emotional well-being
Further experiments have shown that people who practice feeling grateful recover from traumatic events more quickly. They are less bothered by negative memories of the event and when those memories do surface they are less intense. Gratitude helps to makes sense of negative events – even the most negative events serves the purpose of making you stronger.
Grateful people achieve closure and recover faster from negative events.
As you go through you day today, practice being aware of the many good things in life. Never mind if it feels corny, just do it. Simple things such as your good health, your family, your friends. Try to focus on those things and acknowledge to yourself how grateful you are to have them in your life.
posted@9:14am
Thought you might like this so I decided to share if you dont...tough cookies..you knew what today was gonna focus on, before you even came here lol.....if you can't get with it..you can feel free to go kick rocks in your bare feet in some traffic..maybe rush hour :)
Gratitude is under-rated. Most of us focus on the things we want to achieve in life – the things we have not yet achieved – the things we do not yet have. We hanker after it, gripe about it, wish we had it, wonder when we will get it and scheme to achieve it. It is all well and good to have goals and to visual them and work towards them, but it is critically important to your happiness to take time to appreciate the things you do have and have already accomplished.
The benefits of gratitude
Being grateful immediately increases your satisfaction with your life and allows you to feel happier, which in turn allows you to accomplish more.
Gratitude refocuses your priorities
Focusing on what you are grateful for also reminds you of your priorities and of what is fundamentally important to you. Often we get caught up worrying or focusing on little things that really are not important to us. Thinking about what we are grateful for allows us to refocus and re-centre ourselves on what is important to us.
Gratitude lets you enjoy the simple good
Gratitude allows you enjoy the good in your life. Often times we feel that only achieving the big goals – getting the big promotion, winning the lottery, having the best party – are what will make us happy. But focusing on being appreciative allows you to focus on the many small good things that occur in your day that you are grateful for – such as being on time for the bus, getting your favorite drink in the vending machine, seeing a beautiful sky, sharing a laugh with your partner, seeing your kids healthy and happy and playing. These things make life very enjoyable and satisfying but often we take them for granted in our search for the big and flashy successes. Practicing gratitude allows us to appreciate our success and our happiness more.
Gratitude reduces envy and negative emotion
When you are busy appreciating and savouring all the good things already in your life, there is little time for hankering about what others have. Take a simple common materialistic example. Let’s you say you have a regular 20 inch TV, but you want one of those new fandangled, flat screen, plasma items to watch the big game on. Imagine that you keep thinking of how great it would be see the game on that big screen and how you wish you had it – you will feel very dissatisfied with the TV you do have and envy all those who have the TV you wish you had.
Now imagine instead that you focus on appreciating the fact that you have a TV to watch the game on – your own TV, in the comfort of your home where you can sit in your favourite chair and relax and enjoy your game viewing experience. You will feel more satisfied and appreciate the TV you have rather than being unhappy wishing you had another TV. Being grateful help reduce envy and resentment and promote satisfaction and happiness.
Gratitude improves your physical well-being
Studies have shown that people who take a few minutes each day (for a week) to write down the things that they are thankful for sleep better, exercise more and feel less stressed than the control group who did not engage in a daily gratitude exercise.
Gratitude improves your emotional well-being
Further experiments have shown that people who practice feeling grateful recover from traumatic events more quickly. They are less bothered by negative memories of the event and when those memories do surface they are less intense. Gratitude helps to makes sense of negative events – even the most negative events serves the purpose of making you stronger.
Grateful people achieve closure and recover faster from negative events.
As you go through you day today, practice being aware of the many good things in life. Never mind if it feels corny, just do it. Simple things such as your good health, your family, your friends. Try to focus on those things and acknowledge to yourself how grateful you are to have them in your life.
posted@9:14am
posted by Ms.Honey at 6:01 AM
23 Comments:
Amen!
Beautiful!
Great post. You little addition in the beginning was funny! Yes, we know what Mid week on Honey's blog is about! LOL
Misunderstood...LOL
Tasha...thanks I do what I can
Lady...Hey I just had to warn folks LOL
I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT... thanks lady...and I was cracking up at you tellin people to kick rocks, barefoot and dodging cars...LOL. amazing.
JMW..I do what I can :)
LOL @ "you can feel free to go kick rocks in your bare feet in some traffic"
Girl that post is on P-O-I-N-T!!!!--GREAT JOB :-D
and that is why you are the B.O.M.B
im grateful that u always find those wonderful quotes that i can relate to :-)
MSB...LOL I am forever telling someone to go play in rush hour traffic LOL
Deep...I get it from you :)
TTD..See I do what I can to relate to the masses LOL...plus I can relate to it too so that makes it easier
Misunderstood...where the heck have you been at I meant to say that earlier lol
Nice!
I'm grateful for my family!
Great Post. Thanks for the reminder...
you are so deep! so deep!
LMBAO @ your advisory. Do you. We know what Wednesday's are about over here. It is important to remember it too.
TSG....That's a wonderful thing to be thankful for
Fergie..thank you
Tanyetta...LOL Hmm I try :)
MizzJJ...Hey just wanted to warn those that are new LOL or thought it would be something diff lol
Girl, you should be on Oprah.
Powerful stuff. ;-)
YOU ARE AWESOME AND SPECTACULAR!!!
and i ain't jus sayin' that cause you're my little sister!!
thank you for sharing this, cause all of us need a reminder from time to time of the benefits of bein' grateful!! so now folks can't be walkin' around actin' like they DON'T know!! right?? ;)
peace, love, and hugs!
oh yeah. i'm grateful for you!!
That was AWESOME!
Let me find out you're writing a textbook on Gratitude. This would make a perfect chapter 1.
I'm around...having bloggers block.
KICK ROCKS SUCKAS!
Hey, this post was really good-I feel really humbled to have been Blessed enough to read it...
Hey Honey *waves*
This was really good! Thanks for sharing :)
Hey Honey *waves*
This was really good! Thanks for sharing :)
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