Tag Archives: gratitude

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Daily Gratitude

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Daily Gratitude: I don’t totally agree with this because I think there are things you can do (such as a gratitude journal) that can actually make you feel better.

The basic concept here though is to not wait. Don’t wait until you feel “like it” to take action on something. Do it regardless of how you feel and then see what happens to your feelings later.

As I’ve said before, Nike got it right and it’s the only “bumper sticker” saying that I think is worth it – just do it! Who can argue with that.

Most of the time, once you start to do something, your feelings about it will change. Once one little feeling starts to make a turn around, the other feelings will begin to participate in the party. It’s not as simple as that but I just wanted to lighten things up.

Has that ever happened to you? If so, tell us about it

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Daily Gratitude

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Daily Gratitude: This is one of those truisms we should all have tattooed on our foreheads.

I know I’ve talked about this before but everyone benefits from repetition.

We’ve mentioned the benefit of stopping and pausing between something happening to you and you responding. That pause is so that you can assess your response and see if it’s valid and appropriate. If you can wait 90 seconds then your body has a chance to eliminate all the stress chemicals that accumulated due to your original response. This helps calm you down even more.

Along with this saying it pays to remember that “nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so” (thanks to Willie for that one – you know – Willie Shakespeare). But it’s true. I could look at something and be ecstatic about it and you could look at the exact same thing
and be miserable.

Once we accept both of these concepts it allows us freedom to feel as if we have a choice and if we’re trying to improve our lives then perhaps we can alter our perspective and see things differently- trying to find the good in them.

Start on simple events and see if you can take that pause and change your outlook.

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Daily Gratitude

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Daily Gratitude: You hear people say “just be happy” and you want to smack them. You know what, though, they are right. We can choose to be happy or unhappy. It’s how we judge things that contributes to that choice. If things look horrible (what is that determination based on? Usually it’s based on our past experience), we are much more likely to be unhappy….and to blame it on those “horrible” things. Someone else may come along and based on their past experience they may think that something is lovely and therefore they now feel happy – because of those lovely things. How can we change? First of all by recognizing that our judgments are, indeed, based on our past experiences and also recognizing that sometimes our recollections are biased. Secondly we can choose NOT to put much stock in the past, telling our brain that even though it may have felt unsafe in the past, you have changed, things have changed and you’re no longer as helpless as you may have been when “that lying” happened. This is not easy and it has to be practiced but you can feel safe again. Then we can ask ourselves whether we want to be happy or unhappy. That question may shock you for a minute because you’re so used to that choice being made for you (by your brain) but once you realize that it’s you that makes the choice, the more power you feel. If you tell yourself “I can choose to be happy right now!” and then add “I am completely safe”, the freedom you feel (especially the first time) will he overwhelming. Once again I recommend you start with something simple. Print out the questions and hang them around the house so you cd. Look st them frequently each day and see how your life and your happiness level change.