It has become custom to think about what we don’t have. To look at the world around us and wish we had that, whatever that is. We have been taught to strive and always keep reaching, not that there is anything wrong with that. What is not emphasized enough in our modern day culture is to stop and be grateful for what we have already achieved and for what we do have. Being grateful has many positive effects on our body and mind.
Think for a minute about a time when you really desired something, a relationship, a car, a job, a house, a vacation. Where did you feel it? Where in your body to feel desire? Most likely you felt it somewhere in our chest. Now take minute and think about something you are truly, deeply grateful for. Where did you feel that? I am sure you did not feel it in your head. You felt in your chest, right?
Studies continue to come out telling us how being grateful impacts our health. Science has recently discovered there are more nerve pathways from our heart to our brain than the other way around. What we feel in our heart drives our decision. When we fall in love we feel it in our heart. When a relationship ends or we lose a loved one we feel, “heartbroken”.
In a recent University of California, San Diego study a correlational analysis of gratitude was associated with better sleep, less depressed mood, less fatigue, and better self-efficacy to maintain cardiac function. Patients expressing more gratitude also had lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers. See the full study conducted at University of California, San Diego here.
Studies from around the world have shown that being grateful increases our longevity, imagination and problem solving skills. A study in Japan showed Those that have experienced a life worth living – Ikigai – lived longer, healthier lives.
Find something today to be grateful for. Better yet don’t go to bed tonight until you have found five things to be grateful for. Your Heart will thank you for it.
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You can also read this article about Gratitude posted earlier.
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” Zig Zigler
Namaste