GRATITUDE.....one way to health and happiness... Dr. Mercola

Developing an Attitude of Gratitude Can Help You Live a Longer, Happier Life

November 27, 2014 | 129,168 views

By Dr. Mercola

People who are thankful for what they have are better able to cope with stress, have more positive emotions, and are better able to reach their goals. Scientists have even noted that gratitude is associated with improved health.

As noted in a previous article on this topic published in the Harvard Mental Health Letter,¹ "expressing thanks may be one of the simplest ways to feel better:"

"The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). In some ways gratitude encompasses all of these meanings. Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible.

With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves.

As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.

...People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways. They can apply it to the past (retrieving positive memories and being thankful for elements of childhood or past blessings), the present (not taking good fortune for granted as it comes), and the future (maintaining a hopeful and optimistic attitude).

Regardless of the inherent or current level of someone's gratitude, it's a quality that individuals can successfully cultivate further."

Gratitude—It Does a Body Good

Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of biologic psychology at Duke University Medical Center once stated that: "If [thankfulness] were a drug, it would be the world's best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system."²

One way to harness the positive power of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal or list, where you actively write down exactly what you're grateful for each day. In one study,^3, 4 people who kept a gratitude journal reported exercising more, and they had fewer visits to the doctor compared to those who focused on sources of aggravation.

As noted in a previous ABC News article,⁵ studies have shown that gratitude can produce a number of measurable effects on a number of systems in your body, including:

Mood neurotransmitters (serotonin and norepinephrine)	Inflammatory and immune systems (cytokines)
Reproductive hormones (testosterone)	Stress hormones (cortisol)
Social bonding hormones (oxytocin)	Blood pressure and cardiac and EEG rhythms
Cognitive and pleasure related neurotransmitters (dopamine)	Blood sugar

Ways to Cultivate Gratitude

Cultivating a sense of gratitude will help you refocus your attention toward what's good and right in your life, rather than dwelling on the negatives and all the things you may feel are lacking.

And, like a muscle, this mental state can be strengthened with practice. Besides keeping a daily gratitude journal, other ways to cultivate a sense of gratitude include:

• Write thank you notes: Whether in response to a gift or kind act, or simply as a show of gratitude for someone being in your life, getting into the habit of writing thank-you letters can help you express gratitude in addition to simply feeling it inside.
• Count your blessings: Once a week, reflect on events for which you are grateful, and write them down. As you do, feel the sensations of happiness and thankfulness you felt at the time it happened, going over it again in your mind.
• Pray: Expressing thanks during your prayers is another way to cultivate gratitude.
• Mindfulness meditation: Practicing "mindfulness" means that you're actively paying attention to the moment you're in right now. A mantra is sometimes used to help maintain focus, but you can also focus on something that you're grateful for, such as a pleasant smell, a cool breeze, or a lovely memory.

Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude

Three years ago, the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California,⁶ in collaboration with the University of California, launched a project called "Cultivating Gratitude in a Consumerist Society." This $5.6 million project aims to:

• Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science;
• Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in medical, educational, and organizational settings and in schools, workplaces, homes and communities, and in so doing…
• Engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the role of gratitude in civil society.

In 2012, 14 winning research projects were announced, with topics covering everything from the neuroscience of gratitude, to the role of gratitude for the prevention of bullying. The organization has a number of resources you can peruse at your leisure, including The Science of Happiness blog and newsletter,⁷ and a Digital Gratitude Journal,⁸ where you can record and share the things you're grateful for. Scientists are also permitted to use the data to explore "causes, effects, and meaning of gratitude."

For example, previous research has shown that employees whose managers say "thank you" feel greater motivation at work, and work harder than peers who do not hear those "magic words." As noted in a previous Thanksgiving blog post in Mark's Daily Apple:⁹ "[R]esearch¹⁰ has shown that being on the receiving end of a person's gratitude can boost subjects' sense of self-worth and/or self-efficacy. It also appears to encourage participants to further help the person who offered the gratitude but also another, unrelated person in an unconscious 'pay it forward' kind of connection."

Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude as Part of a Healthy Lifestyle

Starting each day by thinking of all the things you have to be thankful for is one way to put your mind on the right track. Also, remember that your future depends largely on the thoughts you think today. So each moment of every day is an opportunity to turn your thinking around, thereby helping or hindering your ability to think and feel more positively in the very next moment.

Most experts agree that there are no shortcuts to happiness. Even generally happy people do not experience joy 24 hours a day. But a happy person can have a bad day and still find pleasure in the small things in life.

Be thankful for what you have. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, remember the 1,000 reasons you have to smile. Face your past without regret; prepare for the future without fear; focus on what's good right now, in the present moment, and practice gratitude. Remember to say "thank you"—to yourself, the Universe, and others. It's wonderful to see a person smile, and even more wonderful knowing that you are the reason behind it! 

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THE BLACK PROBLEM IN THE USA!!

WE  KNOW  THE  BLACKS  WERE  BY  AND  LARGE  GREATLY  MISTREATED  IN  SLAVERY  IN  THE  USA.

WE  KNOW  THAT  AFTER  THEY  WERE  GIVEN  FREEDOM  THROUGH  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.....IT  WAS  NOT  UNTIL  THE  LATE  1960s  AND  INTO  1970s  THAT  EQUALITY  BEGAN  TO  START  ON  ITS  PATH.

YES  WE  KNOW  THERE  HAVE  BEEN  SOME  CASES  WHERE  BLACKS  WERE  MISTREATED  BY  THE  POLICE....WE  WELL  REMEMBER  RODNEY  KING  GETTING  BEAT  WITH  STICKS  BY  L.A.  POLICE,  CAUGHT  ON  VIDEO;  EVENTUALLY  JUSTICE  PREVAILED.

THEN  WE  MUST  REMEMBER  WHITES  HAVE  BEEN  MISTREATED  BY  POLICE  DEPARTMENTS;  THEY  TOGETHER  WITH  BLACKS  WRONGLY  ACCUSED  AND  IMPRISONED,  SOME  FOR  DECADES,  BEFORE THE  REAL  TRUTH  WAS  BROUGHT  TO  LIGHT.

BUT....THERE  STILL  IS  AN  UNDERLING  BLACK  PROBLEM  IN  THE  USA.

I  HOPE  IT  HAS  IMPROVED  SINCE  THE  EARLY  1990s  when  I  lived  in  Florida  for  3  and  1/2  years..... south  of  Petersburg  and  then  over  to  Fort  Lauderdale  way.

IT  WAS  WHILE  IN  FLORIDA  I  LEARNT  THE  STATS  FOR  PRISONS;  THE  BACKS  IN   THOSE  EARLY  YEARS  OF  THE  1990s.

75  percent  of  all  incarcerated  in  prison  were  BLACK!!

BACK  THEN  BLACKS  WERE  15  PERCENT  OF  THE  POPULATION.

I  WOULD  HOPE  THESE  STATS  HAVE  CHANGED,  FOR  A  SHOWING  OF  THE  BLACK  POPULATION  TO  BETTER  EDUCATION  AND  GENERAL  WAY  OF  LIVING.  THE  STATS  BACK  IN  THE  EARLY  1990s  WERE  NEVER  EVER  GIVEN  OUT  ON  TV  NEWS  ETC.  PROGRAMS..... JUST  WOULD  NOT  HAVE  BEEN  "POLITICALLY  CORRECT."

THERE  WAS  A  LARGE  POPULATION  IN  THE  FORT  LAUDERDALE  AREA  WHO  WERE  BLACKS  FROM  JAMAICAN,  FROM  AFRICA,  THE  SAME  ETHNIC  PEOPLE.  BUT  THEY  HAD  BEEN  UNDER  BRITISH  RULE  AND  BRITISH  TEACHING  AND  EDUCATION [EVERYONE  WORE  THE  SAME  UNIFORM  TO  SCHOOL,  SO  NO  DIFFERENCE  WAS  PORTRAYED  OF  CLASS  DISTINCTION.  BE  POOR  OR  RICH].

I  CAN  TELL  YOU  FROM  BEING  AROUND  THESE  JAMAICAN  BLACKS....ATTENDING  THEIR  CHURCH  SERVICES...... THE  BLACKS  OF  JAMAICAN  SEGREGATED  THEMSELVES  WILLFULLY  FROM  AMERICAN  BLACKS;  IN  FACT  THEY  WANTED  NOTHING  TO  DO  WITH  THEM.

SINCE  THE  1970s  we  have  two  generations  of  America  blacks;  we  have  a  black (well  half  black),  President.  It  has  to  start  in  the  family,  from  the  ground  roots  up,  to  teach,  educate,  and  raise  good  respectable  black  children.

WHAT  WE  HAVE  SEEN  IN  FERGUSON  THESE  PAST  DAYS  HAS  BEEN  ANYTHING  BUT  RESPECT  FOR  LAW  AND  ORDER  AS  WELL  AS  RESPECT  THAT  A  GRAND  JURY,  WITH  DOZENS  OF  HOURS  LOOKING  AT  ALL  EVIDENCE,  THEY  SAID  THERE  WAS  NOTHING  TO  BRING  A  CASE  OF  ANY MURDER  OF  BROWN  BY  A  POLICE  OFFICER.

BROWN  WAS  6'5" -  MASSIVE  YOUNG  MAN;  PROBABLY  THOUGHT  HE  WAS  INVINCIBLE;  THERE  WAS  SOME  KIND  OF  FIGHT  IN  THE  POLICE  CAR.

ALL  THE  EVIDENCE  THAT  THE  JURY  SAW  WILL  BE  MADE  OPEN  TO  THE  MEDIA  AND  PUBLIC.

THE  FACT  SEEM  TO  BE  VERY  CLEAR  THE  OFFICER  WAS  ACTING  IN  SELF  DEFENCE,  AGAINST  A VIOLENT  YOUNG  MAN,  WHO  HAD  VIOLENTLY  ROBBED  A  STORE  SHORTLY  BEFORE  THE  POLICEMAN  ARRIVED  ON  THE SCENE.

I  WOULD  SAY  BEING  A  YOUNG  STRONG  6'5" HULK  OF  A  MAN  WANTING  TO  DO  YOU  HARM.  FIGHTING  FOR  YOUR  GUN  IN  THE  POLICE  CAR,  IS  A  LETHAL  WEAPON  BY  ITSELF.

SO  WHAT  DO  A  PERCENTAGE  OF  BLACKS  DO  WHEN  THE  GRAND  JURY  HANDED  DOWN  ITS  VERDICT;  THEY  MAKE  IT  AN  EXCUSE  TO  GO  VIOLENT,  AND  BURN  DOWN  BUSINESSES  AND  BASICALLY  RIOT  ON  THE STREETS  OF  FERGUSON.

WE  HAVE  BLACKS  WITH  GOOD  JOBS,  MANY  RESPECTABLE  CITIZENS;  SOME  FAMOUS  IN  ATHLETICS  AND  HOLLYWOOD,  AND  PUBLIC  POLITICS.

BUT.... YES  BUT....  SOMETHING  IS  STILL  DRASTICALLY  WRONG  IN  BLACK  AMERICA  WITH  THE  BLACKS  NOT  FROM  JAMAICA.

I  LIVED  FOR  3  AND  1/2  YEARS  AMONG  THE  BLACKS  FROM  JAMAICA,  AND  THERE  IS  A  WORLD  OF  MENTAL  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THESE  TWO  SECTION  OF  BLACKS  IN  THE  USA..... AS  STATED  BACK  IN  THE  EARLY  1990s  THE  BLACKS  FROM  JAMAICA  DID  NOT  WANT  ANYTHING  TO  DO  WITH  USA  BLACKS.

THAT  TELLS  A  STORY  RIGHT  THERE!

THE  FERGUSON  RIOTS  AND  THEIR  MENTALITY  SHOW  THAT  MANY, TOO  MANY,   BLACKS  OF  THE  USA  HAVE  A  LONG  WAY  TO  GO  YET  TO  RESPECT  DUE  PROCESS,  OR  PEACEFULLY  TAKE  THEIR  PROTEST  INTO  PEACEFUL  CHANNELS  WITHIN  THE  LAWS  OF  THE  LAND.

A  SAD  COMMENTARY  OF  A  LONG  WAY  TO  GO  FOR  SOME  BLACKS  TO  USE  THE  LAW  IN  A  RIGHT  WAY,  AND  NOT  TO  TAKE  THE  LAW  INTO  THEIR  OWN  HANDS  AND  MIND-SET,  BY  BURNING  DOWN  BUSINESSES  AND  LOOTING  AND  SUCH  LIKE,  WHICH  JUST  SHOWS  A  LACK  OF  EMOTIONAL  CONTROL.
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