Tropical Health

How to Develop and Attitude of Gratitude

By Susan Patterson

Would you describe yourself as a grateful person? Do you always keep a running tape of how many things in your life are wonderful and how happy you are to have them? This could be material provisions, a job, friends, relationships, family etc…Or, do you tend to get rocked very easily by the ups and downs of your life and often overfocus on the hurdles? If so, it is time for an attitude adjustment big time!

According to Bob Emmons Ph.D., professor of psychology at the University of California, “Gratitude, the cardinal moral emotion that promotes cooperation and makes our society civil and kind, is the feeling of reverence for things that are given.”

Benefits of an attitude of gratitude

Studies show that gratitude impacts the physical, psychological and even social aspects of our well-being. Gratitude makes it possible to take a difficult situation in our life, our negative and turn it around for good.

Physical benefits

  • Lower blood pressure
  • Stronger immune system
  • Fewer aches and pains
  • Better sleep

Social benefits

  • Feeling less lonely or isolated
  • More outgoing
  • More forgiving
  • More compassionate, generous, and helpful

Psychological benefits

  • More alert, awake and alive
  • More joyful
  • More optimistic

Don’t wait to be grateful

If Thanksgiving is the only time of the year that you actually take the time to reflect on all the good in your life, it’s time to learn how to develop that grateful feeling all year long. When my kids were little, I had the great privilege of homeschooling them and one of the things we focused a lot on was gratitude. I had a little box of smooth stones that we called gratitude rocks. Each day the kids were drawn stones from the box and set one in front of them and tell us what they were grateful for. After the box was empty we would celebrate all the good things for a bit and gently place the rocks back in the box for another day. This was a wonderful way to start our day. Like my little homeschool lessons, we all need to make it a practice to let gratitude lead the way as we go into each day.

Here are some tips to help get you on the right course:

Keep a gratitude journal: As my kids grew up, we added a gratitude journal to their daily schedule. This has been a great experience for all of them. Two of my three daughters still journal today – a healthy practice for venting, releasing stress and cultivating an optimistic outlook.

Write letters: Pick one person weekly to write a note or letter to thank them for being a part of your life. Giving away gratitude like this is the best way to receive it yourself.

Make a thankful board: This practice is especially good for visual people. Place all sorts of reminders on a cork board that will help you remember what you are thankful for. This might include pictures, notes, postcards, trinkets etc… Whatever reminds you of happy things that you should be grateful for.

Give yourself reminders: I found that placing sticky reminder notes around my home was a great way to stay optimistic. Use brightly colored sticky paper and write optimistic notes to your self. Here are some suggestions:

  • Today I choose to be happy
  • This is a great day and I am so optimistic
  • I am so grateful today
  • Happy, happy, happy
  • Smile, it is a wonderful day

Challenge yourself

Don’t be afraid to put yourself in difficult places where you need to stretch your gratitude muscles. This will help you learn to develop an undercurrent of gratitude that will carry you through even the most difficult times.

Be still and quiet

Sometimes it is hard to focus on being grateful when there is lots of static all around. Take time daily to sit and be quiet. I like to walk around my yard and garden and organize my happy thoughts. Find a place that works for you and make the time to practice being grateful.

-Susan Patterson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The #1 Thing You Must Do To Be Truly Happy

By Susan Patterson

Shh.. don’t’ tell anyone but I am going to give you the secret to happiness!

Here it is. To be forever happy all you have to do is eliminate all insecurity, all fears of failure, all negative thinking, uncertainty and sadness from your life. In short, to arrive at a place of constant happiness all you have to do is learn to live a completely inhuman life.

A casual stroll through your local bookstore says it all. Don’t worry, be happy… this is the thing so many strive for, yet, hopelessly never achieve. Despite major advances in technology, our collective mood seems desperately paralyzed in a place of solemness. Even higher education and an increased choice of consumer products seem to do very little to propel us towards happiness. Yet, the pursuit of happiness is a billion dollar industry.

Motivational speakers abound in our country, packing auditoriums with the “good news.” All you need to do is learn how to replace negativity with positivity and you are well on your way to happiness. Tape a few affirmations to your bathroom mirror and your day is bound to go smooth as silk. Have you ever tried this? I have, and guess what? It didn’t work. In fact, in all my efforts to banish negativity from my life and fill my thoughts with all things positive, I have become exhausted and frustrated… generally more unhappy than I was when I began the pursuit of happiness.

Forced positivity is a train wreck waiting to happen

So, why does positive thinking not work? The simple answer it is that life throws us all kind of curves, some are joyful and some are hard, very hard. If we don’t ever learn how to navigate the rough waters of life, learn how to enjoy insecurity, embrace uncertainty and become familiar with failure… we will never be happy. Fake or forced positivity is nothing short of a train wreck.

If we don’t learn how to be content, dare I say, even “happy,” in all things, we go through life unprepared for what will undoubtedly come before us at some point or another. Happiness must be an undercurrent, a constant, a no matter what.

Learn from troubles

We all go through difficult patches in life, this is to be expected. The key to staying happy in all things is to remember that there is something to be learned from every mountain we must climb or ditch we find ourselves in. Sometimes we learn something about ourselves and sometimes we learn something about other people. No matter what, treating each wave as an opportunity to grow, and an opportunity to become a better person.

Don’t pretend that everything is ok

Remember that having an open and accepting attitude towards a challenge is what will keep you grounded no matter what storm enters your life. Meet the negativity in your life head on with an open mind and seek the tools you need to get through the difficulty. Just applying a positive thinking band-aid will not allow you to really work through the issues to find a solid solution, it will merely hold the bad feelings at bay for a short stint of time.

Live a healthy life

Living a healthy, well-rounded life is far more important than mastering the so-called art of positive thinking. Eat a diet that is rich in whole foods, eliminate refined and fast food, get plenty of rest and exercise daily. Adopting a healthy lifestyle will prepare your mind and your body to work through stress and challenging situations.

Yes, being an optimist is a good thing but don’t let positive thinking be your excuse to not deal with the difficult things in your life! Choose happiness in all things.

-Susan Patterson