Want an easy way to significantly improve the quality of your life? One that's available to you right here, right now, at no cost to you? Try gratitude. Studies have shown some of its many benefits include:
- More positive emotion
- More life satisfaction
- More optimism
- Lower levels of depression
- Lower levels of stress
- Greater goal attainment
- Greater feeling of connectedness to others
(Here's a good summary of some of the research on the benefits of gratitude.)
I've been focusing on gratitude a lot lately in my own journey. Not just gratitude for the big obvious things, but also gratitude for the little things I typically take for granted. This morning, gratitude came in a bowl.
As I was eating my muesli with yogurt and honey, I started picturing all the threads of connection radiating out from that bowl. When I really started thinking about it, it was mind-boggling how many people had to be involved, and how many different things had to come together. When I really take the time to ponder it, it seems nothing short of miraculous.
I started with the grains in the muesli. There was an opportunity to be grateful for the farmer who grew them. And for the sun and the rain (or irrigation) that provided them with what they needed to grow. And for all the people and companies who supported the farmer in the process.
From there I started thinking about how that grain got from the farm to my bowl, and all the people and processes that had to touch it.
And that's just the grain. There are also the almonds, and the yogurt, and the bowl I was using, and the spoon.
The first time I tried this gratitude exercise, I was sitting and savoring a cup of coffee. Really, anything in your life you appreciate and enjoy could be the subject of this focus.
The more you realize how much there is to be grateful for, even in the little things in life, the more available the benefits of gratitude are.
So what are you grateful for?
-- Time for a career change? Launch it with... -- by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams






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