Friday, June 28, 2013

Giving Thanks ~ The Gifts of Gratitude



Do you know that happiness… the sheer joy in being alive… is within your reach?

All you need is an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude creates happiness because it makes us feel full… complete… it’s the recognition that we have all we need… at least in this moment.

Recent scientific research has begun to indicate that positive emotions such as gratitude and love… strengthen and enhance the immune system… enabling the body to resist disease and recover more quickly from illness… through the release of endorphins in the bloodstream.

Endorphins are the body’s natural pain killers.

Among other effects… they stimulate dilation of the blood vessels… which leads to a relaxed heart.

What this means is that the more we experience a sense of gratitude… we literally bathe ourselves in good hormones and feel happier and more content with our lives.

Like most great spiritual truths, gratitude is stunningly simple.

This is not to say it’s necessarily easy to practice.

All kinds of distractions… obfuscation… and negative attitudes from our upbringing may get in the way.

But all you really have to do to receive gratitude’s gifts is to make a commitment to be thankful on a daily basis… and the world will be suddenly transformed into a beautiful wonderland in which you are invited to play.

Consciously cultivating thankfulness is a journey of the soul… one that begins when we look around us and see the positive effects that gratitude creates.

We do this by noticing those around us to whom gratefulness comes easily and realizing how much we enjoy being around these people.

We also tap into these gifts as we think about times in the past when we felt particularly grateful.

Remember the peacefulness and the delight that accompanied those times?

As we come to understand the gifts of gratitude… we realize that being grateful is not something remote or foreign… and part of the natural joyful expression of our full humanness. ~MJ Ryan

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