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It's also the time of the year when it is customary to be a little kinder and do nice things for others like donating and giving presents.
I feel it is also a good time to dwell on things that we are grafeful for. When we shift our attitudes to focus on being grateful and giving thanks (instead of harping on things that upset us), it has a direct link to our wellbeing.
The following study had researchers who recruited a group of participants and asked half to take time weekly to write a few sentences about things that they were grateful for that week (Emmons and McCullough, 2003). The other half of the participants wrote about their irritationa and complaints.
After 10 weeks, the group that centered on gratitude felt more optimistic about life than the other group.
Surprisingly, the group that was grateful saw physical changes as well. They were more active as they exercised more and made less visits to the doctor than the group that focused on the negative aspects of life.
There was another study by Toepfer et al (2012) that tested the effects of writing letters of gratitute to other people. The results clearly showed that those that took time to say thank you in writing made people happier, more satisfied with life and had less symptoms of depression.
Take some time to feel grateful for all the little and big blessings in your life. Write them down too since this active approach to gratitude can have tangible and lasting effects on our mental well being.
A big thank you for following and reading my posts weekly.
References
Emmons RA and McCullough ME (2003). Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation Of Gratitude And Subjective Well-being In Daily Life. J Personality Social Psych. 84(2): 377-389. DOI:10.1037/00223514.84.377
Toepfer SM, Cichy K and Peters P (2012). Letters Of Gratitute: Further Evidence For Author Benefits. J Happiness Stud. 13: 187-201. DOI: 10.1007/s10902-011-9257-7
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