Cultivating Gratitude
"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thankgiving weekend has passed, but the thankfulness continues. Daily I have so much to be grateful for, even in things that at first would not seem a blessing. For example, over the weekend our car broke down about an hour outside of Thames while my son Lukas was driving it. And at first I freaked out: How would I get the car back to Thames? What was wrong and could it be fixed before we leave in 3 days for Borneo? How much would it cost to fix? But as the mishap unfolded, I saw so much to be thankful for. First and foremost, Lukas was safe, no one was hurt, he was with a friend who had family in the town. Lukas was leaving Waihi and only 2 minutes outside The Karangahake Gorge. If he had been on the Gorge Road, there would have been nowhere to pull over and it would have been very dangerous. But he wasn't, he was in a quiet town on a quiet street when the car died. His friend was able to get his uncle to tow the car to his house where it sat safely overnight. My friend, Rick knew a good mechanic in Waihi and I was able to get in to see them first thing in the morning. The mechanic was great, diagnosed the problem quickly and fixed it in an hour. And what could have been a major engine repair ended up being a corroded fuse which cost $2.00 to replace. (There was labor and a couple of extras of course, but relatively very inexpensive.) And we leave in 3 days, and have to drive to the airport at 3 AM to catch an early morning flight, and it could have happened then! But it didn't. Lukas is safe, the car is home, it's running fine and all is well. So much to be grateful for.Gratitude is a great feeling! And it's good for you too. So much new research explaining just how good it is for you on so many levels. There is a great website about the science of gratitude and the science of a meaningful life. It's my new favorite website! Greater Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life. Take the time to visit the site and look around, it is magnificent! It's a project through UC Berkeley (Yay, my old Alma Mater) and it has so much great information and wonderful videos. It is worth taking some time to look around.You can also become involved in their Gratitude Journal Research Project - Thnx4:
Thnx4 is a sharable gratitude journal. Take the 14-day gratitude challenge, learn more about yourself, and add to the growing body of research on the benefits of saying thanks!
Keeping a Gratitude Journal is one of the "Ten Ways to Become More Grateful." Read this article by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D. - the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology.To close, I want to share one of the videos by Robert Emmons from The Greater Good Site, The Benefits of Gratitude.The Benefits of GratitudePlease share some of your recent Gratitude Stories, I always love to hear them. And as always, thank you for stopping by, I appreciate it.