Gratitude is the Best Attitude!

The holiday season is usually filled with gratitude by most people. Imagine if this period of six weeks per year could be stretched throughout the entire year? It turns out that it would not only make one feel a whole lot better physically as well as mentally and spiritually, but, it would make the world an entirely different place as well. The concept of gratitude as being one tool in which one can use out of an arsenal of tools to combat: depression, fatigue, depressed immunity, etc., came into most of America's awareness when "the" Oprah, as I like to call her, had a gratitude themed show a while back. She suggested keeping a gratitude journal, which is nothing more than a notebook, or diary of what one is grateful for every day, 365 days a year. I started doing a gratitude journal awhile back and it did change my life. It did not turn me into an instant "Pollyanna", it did however, heighten my awareness regarding the gifts I have as a person as well as those around me. It also has caused me to access when I am in a bad mood and to stop "it" in it's tracks! It is something that has to be worked on constantly as human beings tend to look at the "glass as half empty," rather than, "the glass as half full." It is definitely well worth the effort as it does impact health in a positive manner, thereby, increasing gratitude. Health and gratitude work in unison, this has been proven. In fact, those who expouse gratitude frequently in their daily lives as more of a habit then a temporary state (such as the holidays, or a few other times per year), do have an advantage over those who are clueless as to what the concept of gratitude in fact is. It seems that people who are grateful on a consistent basis, take better care of themselves in general. Some specific areas in which an attitude of gratitude is helpful, is that of stress. Being grateful can assist us with our coping mechanisms regarding stressful events, thus, helping us to manage it better. Grateful people also seem to have healthier immune systems.
Gratitude can be cultivated much like a garden. A false belief in that only wealthy individuals are optimists or more grateful in general is definitely not the case. Optimism seems to develop through the "hell, fire and brimstone" periods in ones life, or what is deemed "the dark night of the soul" periods in life.
To start developing an attitude of gratitude, buy a cheap notebook and make a commitment to write in it as often as you can weekly. You can write something as simple as, "I love my dog." What this does is raise your awareness, step-by-step, to the world around you and it is like a catch-22 in that by seeing another's plight, it may not seem so bad to have the life you do. In short, it will show you what you take for granted in your life.