GRATITUDE AND HEALTH:
FEBRUARY 24TH

Gratitude research is begining to suggest that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress (Drs Emmons and McMullogh)

Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions like satisfaction, vitality, optismism and lower levels of depression amd stress (Drs Emmons and McCullough)

If you want to get healthier, give thanks. Grateful people have an edge when it comes to health.

"Thankfulness brightens your spirit, glows like sunshine and warms like summer sunbeams"--T.T. Braun

Research from the HeartMath has shown that positive emotions including appreciation increase harmony in the heart's rhythmic beating patterns. Overall, the body functions are more balanced and the nervous and immune system functions are enhanced.

"Being thankful during trials and tribulations is the soothing balm of a mother's love and power that opens the treasury of eternal wisdom"--T.T.Braun

Boost your health with a dose of gratitude.

Eileen and Kathy

Today I am grateful that I have a car with four wheel drive.

I am grateful that I have a beautiful grandson with two loving moms that I love as if they were my own daughters.

I am grateful that I have great health and have learned how to deal with all of the stressors in my life.

I am grateful that my sister will be returning from England tommorow and I will be able to talk to her once again.

Have a day full of gratitude.

I realized how grateful I am for reading glasses this morning as I was journaling. They seem like such a simple thing...and yet without them...I couldn't even post this comment...I think of all the people who have worked on developing them and the different lenses and frames that are available...and how inexpensive they are...cause I need a pair in every room, my purse, the car ...I think about how available they are...when I forget mine, they are easily replaced...I think of all the fun styles they come in...reading glasses rock...I am grateful!

Today I am grateful that I have passed on being grateful to my daughter and grandson. We agreed that we are going end our daily conversation with what we are grateful for that particular day.

She turned to her six year old son and asked him what he was grateful for and he said, in this order(chuckle) X Box, Mom, Dad, Nanny and Poppy, Buddy(my dog) and God.(lump in throat)

I am grateful that I am alive and well to pass gratefulness on to my generations to come. Why oh why didn't I have the sense to do this sooner?

My children are in Canada and I am so far away from them. Thanksgiving should be a daily affair. It will be for us from now on.

chick (grateful for being grateful) Pass it on!

GRATITUDE AND HAPPINESS: FEBRUARY 25TH

"Gratitude is the trailblazer to happiness. Do you want to be happy? Be grateful. If you are grateful, then you will not be unhappy."--Lionel Ketchian, www.happinessclub.com

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a reslut of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have."--Frederick Keonig

Look for the good in all that you have to do, and in everything that happens to you, and you'll be happier.

"Grateful people tend to be the happiest," says Dr. Michael McMullough, of the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness.

Focusing on gifts one has been given is an antidote to envy, resentment, regret and other negative states that undermine happiness.

If you are not happy as you would like to be, it is because you are not as thankful as you could be.

Eileen and Kathy

I am filled with gratitude today for wonderful neighbors. After being dumped on with a foot of snow last night, all the neighbors were out with plows, shovels and brooms helping everyone clear the mess.

I am filled with gratitude that I have Caller ID.

Ahhh...caller ID...that's why you didn't answer when I called...what...I was just kidding...I didn't try to call...I was just making a joke...I'm grateful that you aren't going to throw me in the moat...you aren't...are you?

Seriously, I am grateful for this wonderful forum for sharing our gratitudes. And I am grateful for my Granny's buttercups and my granddaughter's smiles...both light up my world!

SOME BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE: FEBRUARY 26th

It will give you a new perspective on life.

It will raise your energy.

You will feel less stress.

Your awareness will increase when you focus on what you have.

It will add value to your life.

Gratitude doesn't cost anything.

It will open your heart to love.

Eileen and Kathy

chick, what a great thing to start with grandchildren. You will always be blessed.

Just thought I'd share that I was away for a few days. I offered up prayers, even wrote one before a meeting, but I didn't take my journal and continue the habit I have at home of journaling, giving thanks, praying for others and doing a little Bible study. Even though I was away and having a great time, I didn't count my blessings. I missed it. From now on the journal goes with me.

Kathy, it certainly adds value!