Attitude of Gratitude

I trust that you have spent this Thanksgiving weekend being grateful. If you forgot that part in the midst of travel, turkey, family time and black Friday, it's never too late!

If you can find a way to be grateful everyday for the big and little things in your life, it will greatly impact your happiness factor.

Aside from love, (way too complex to tackle in a blog post) gratitude is the most powerful positive emotion to battle negativity. In Barbara Fredrickson's book, Positivity, she gives evidence based research form her lab proving gratitude can dissipate feelings of negativity, anxiety and depression.

When you find yourself ruminating on a topic you feel quite negative about, break the cycle by making a list of reasons to be grateful. Depending on how deep the negative emotion goes, let the list grown until you eventually start to breath again and notice your shoulders falling away from your ears.

I was working with an individual one day that had gotten to a point of frustration she could barely talk about the negative culprit...then as her gratitude list grew (she was writing) she suddenly let out a huge sigh. When you are in a state of gratitude there is no longer room for that tension, pain, anxiety, unhappiness, depression, etc.

It can be hard to start your list, so here are some ideas to get you started...

my husband

three super kids

friends that I can call at 2am

wellness coaching

free from disease

warm home

two legs to run with

food in my belly

successfully paying the bills

2 supportive sisters

running water