Holiday Doldrums? Not Feeling so Grateful?
By Nancy Lee Bentley, * Wholistic Health Expert. Posted on .
Gratitude in action. When I was first married to my kids’ father in Florida, I had trouble with the heat and really missed the changing seasons of the Midwest. I started saying this phrase silently, over and over to myself in my head: “I’m grateful for being with you, but let’s move from here.” I never once said it aloud, for over a year. Then one day out of the blue, HE voluntarily, spontaneously burst forth with “Hey, let’s move from here.” OMG, tell me it doesn’t work.
This holiday season of gratitude is a natural time to start, even if it takes a little effort. While you may have to jumpstart or prime the pump on your own gratitude, once the flow gets started, it creates more, and you’ll feel it more. You know, inertia and all that. Hint, hint. If you start more actively expressing appreciation to your partner, your family, and friends—and mean it – they’re much more likely to catch the bug and return it back to you.
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Why is it important to have gratitude, especially when things are tough?
Of course, it’s much easier to feel gratitude when things are positive. That’s true, but what about when you’re feeling miserable? You might not be able to change the circumstances in your life right now, but you can change your attitude about it.”
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The bottomline here is this, “Whatever you focus on, whatever you put your energy into, you naturally get more of. It’s part of the laws of the Universe, the physics of momentum.” Focus on your misery, and you’re bound to stay stuck in it. Focus on any scrap of goodness you can possibly find in your life and you are taking a step toward your freedom out of it.
Furthermore, from my How Gratitude Helps Your Relationship article picked up by the Huffington Post: “Sometimes it’s all you can do. Feeling gratitude for what you DO have, even if it’s little, actually shifts your mindset and your energy. It gets you out of yourself and your “poor me” state, it opens your heart and creates a new momentum that continues and amplifies, producing some truly amazing results.”
The New Science of Gratitude. You not only will feel better and more energetic, but calmer, as well, which are just some of the benefits reported in the scientific studies on gratitude. Dr. Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, one of the foremost authorities and guru of the “New Science of Gratitude,” found that people who view life as a gift and consciously acquire an “attitude of gratitude” will experience multiple advantages, including improved emotional and physical health.
