Aloha & Happy New Year to all!

I wanted to talk about gratitude and a study around gratitude where scientists studied three different groups of people.  Those who practiced writing daily gratitude and then others who wrote things that they’re disappointed about every day. And then a group of neutral people who just wrote things that happened, but they didn’t get emotionally involved either way.

After some time the group who wrote about gratitude just experienced better wellbeing; they were more optimistic; good things started happening for them. They were healthier or health-conscious and they exercised more. There was a vast difference between how the gratitude group operated and felt versus the other two groups. 

They also did some kind of electromagnetic imaging of the brain. They could see the shift in the pattern of the brain, the hypothalamus and thalamus. That impacts a lot of our organs and our systems and our hormones and things like that. What this shows is that gratitude impacts you on a visceral level in so many ways in your life.  

I’m reflecting on the week when I was at a pure barre fitness session.  As I was turning, I could look outside and I saw Gary peeking in the window and smiling. I pulled away from the barre, went to the door and I waved and I got back to working out. 

After the workout, the lady behind me said, ‘Was that your husband? That’s so cute.’   And I’m grateful that after being married for 17 years, that when I see him, especially out in about unexpectedly, I just get all giddy and really happy to see him.  And he feels the same way.  I am grateful for that. Sometimes it’s easy to find gratitude in the things that happened to us that are good, right? And writing those things and getting into the emotion of it is a good positive thing.  It can be more challenging to find gratitude when you feel like there’s nothing to be grateful for or you feel like things aren’t going your way.  

I want to encourage you to look for the good in everything. 

Nothing is all bad and nothing is all good. Everything has a polar opposite. Here’s an example of turning a not so great situation into a gratitude moment. I tried the Popeye’s chicken sandwich recently and although I don’t do gluten, I wanted to try it. I wanted to see what the hubbub was all about, and once I ate it I didn’t feel well.  I could have been like, “Aw, man, this is crap” although I didn’t do that.  It was more like “Oh, I feel horrible, but I’m grateful that I tried it. Now I know what the hype is all about, and know I don’t need to do that again.”  

You can turn any situation into a moment of gratitude, a moment of learning. 

I want to hear from you. What are you grateful for this week? Show gratitude and be grateful for the big things, the small things and the lessons.

There’s always something beautiful in every moment to be grateful for. Gratitude changes everything!  

Have a fantastic day.