Thanksgiving - A Time for Gratitude
Well, it's that holiday season, and Thanksgiving is upon us. Once a year we are reminded to be thankful for what we have. Oftentimes, when we take the time to reflect on it, we find that there is much for which to be thankful. The problem is that we seldom take the time to count our blessing, give thanks, and consciously be grateful for what we have. Maybe it's an artifact of our capitalist society, but I along with many others frequently find myself longing for the things that I don't have rather than being grateful for what I do have. Well, that's just not a good thing to do! It is at the root of much mental anguish and distress. In reality, we don't need all that much to be happy and research supports this: air, food, water, sleep, shelter, and good social relationships count a lot toward our overall happiness. The cars we drive, the brands of clothes we wear, etc. really don't contribute all that much toward our happiness. What does chip away at our sense of well-being is believing that these things really do matter.
So, what are we to do? One thing that we can do is make the conscious effort to shift our attention to the things for which we are grateful: that we do have clothes to wear, a roof over our heads, music to listen to, and food to eat. Psychologists have done research to show that keeping a "gratitude" journal can help improve one's sense of well-being. The idea is to train the brain to become more aware of those everyday positive things. Maybe those things don't seem that positive, but it's likely that we take many of them for granted, and they would be sorely missed if we were to wake up and find them gone (imagine waking up and discovering that all of your shoes were gone!). With practice through using a gratitude journal, one can begin to catch those positive things as they occur - the song of the cicadas in the summer, a burnt orange sunset, or a friend who dropped by for a visit. Surely, we don't have to wait until Thanksgiving rolls around every year to give thanks. These opportunities are around us every day...and we'll appreciate them more as we get better at catching them. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
So, what are we to do? One thing that we can do is make the conscious effort to shift our attention to the things for which we are grateful: that we do have clothes to wear, a roof over our heads, music to listen to, and food to eat. Psychologists have done research to show that keeping a "gratitude" journal can help improve one's sense of well-being. The idea is to train the brain to become more aware of those everyday positive things. Maybe those things don't seem that positive, but it's likely that we take many of them for granted, and they would be sorely missed if we were to wake up and find them gone (imagine waking up and discovering that all of your shoes were gone!). With practice through using a gratitude journal, one can begin to catch those positive things as they occur - the song of the cicadas in the summer, a burnt orange sunset, or a friend who dropped by for a visit. Surely, we don't have to wait until Thanksgiving rolls around every year to give thanks. These opportunities are around us every day...and we'll appreciate them more as we get better at catching them. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
posted by Dr. Mike Brooks at 11:38 PM
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