Expressing Gratitude Is A Healthy Thing To Do

It seems so easy to forget what we have that is wonderful.  It also seems that we are hard wired to look at what we have that sucks -- our jobs, our homes, the weather, or minor aches and pains.  That time of life sucks or at least my life sucks thinking is unhealthy.  With practice we can turn those thoughts around and head them back toward gratitude.  Studies show that we can deliberately cultivate gratitude, and can increase our well-being and happiness by doing so. In addition, grateful thinking—and especially expression of it to others—is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.  That type of cultivation is really pretty easy.  Just take a minute and think of three things for which you are grateful.  Write them down.  Tomorrow do the same thing except try to come up with three different things.  Pretty soon you will have thousands of things for which you are grateful.  Give it a try.  You'll feel better about life, about others, and about yourself.