Fortunately, I came across countless research studies about gratitude. How it reduced anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and even suicidal thoughts, while boosting happiness and satisfaction with life. How it lowered blood pressure, boosted immunity, and encouraged healthy habits while improving sleep.
Research even suggested that gratitude improved the quality of romance and marriage! Now that seemed like an irresistible offer.
I started collecting practical tips for living in a more grateful way, and started trying them out. Warning: these ways of practicing gratitude could seriously damage your unhappiness!
Student Activities and Social Media: Twitter and FoursquarePaul Brown
This presentation provides an overview of Twitter and Foursquare and examines ways that Student Activities offices on college campuses can utilize. Originally presented to the Office of Student Programs at Boston College upon invitation.
Effective Animal Therapies for Autism Spectrum DisorderIhab Shahawi
There are many advances in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research, but one in particular showing great promise is the field of animal therapy. It is an alternative therapy that uses dogs, horses, and even dolphins to help autistic children gain better pro-social behavior through interaction with animals.
Is the culture of a country associated with the way people use Twitter? The answer is a definite “Yes!” We analyzed more than 2.34 million geo-located user profiles in 30 countries plus their tweets for 10 weeks
Blogpost: http://crowdresearch.org/blog/?p=6767
Paper:http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM13/paper/view/6102
Student Activities and Social Media: Twitter and FoursquarePaul Brown
This presentation provides an overview of Twitter and Foursquare and examines ways that Student Activities offices on college campuses can utilize. Originally presented to the Office of Student Programs at Boston College upon invitation.
Effective Animal Therapies for Autism Spectrum DisorderIhab Shahawi
There are many advances in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research, but one in particular showing great promise is the field of animal therapy. It is an alternative therapy that uses dogs, horses, and even dolphins to help autistic children gain better pro-social behavior through interaction with animals.
Is the culture of a country associated with the way people use Twitter? The answer is a definite “Yes!” We analyzed more than 2.34 million geo-located user profiles in 30 countries plus their tweets for 10 weeks
Blogpost: http://crowdresearch.org/blog/?p=6767
Paper:http://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM13/paper/view/6102
A primer on the Fintech market in India, with infographics on the market landscape, size and evolution paths. Includes estimates on penetration levels of digital banking and category specific growth expectations.
El sistema postsecundario es cada vez más pasivo y cómplice, perpetuando sistemáticamente el privilegio racial blanco intergeneracionalmente. Separados y Desiguales: Cómo la educación superior fomenta la reproducción intergeneracional del privilegio racial analiza las tendencias de matrícula de 4,400 instituciones postsecundarias por raza y selectividad institucional durante los últimos 15 años.
10 small things which can make you happy everydayJennifer Lynn
Happiness is something which is slowly becoming difficult to attain, largely because of increased stress at the workplace. Depression and many other mental illnesses emanate from lack of happiness. This presentation highlights some no nonsense ways to attain happiness naturally. Try to follow the tips given here and your happiness index is likely to go up.
http://www.therapytribe.com/therapy/what_is_codependency.html
Traveling is not just about visiting new places, but it is also about discovering the magic and wonder that lies within them. In this article, we invite you to join us on a journey where we will take you beyond the tourist hotspots and show you the hidden gems that will leave you enchanted
Travelling can have many benefits, including broadening one's horizons, increasing cultural awareness, enhancing personal growth and development, and providing opportunities for relaxation and rejuvenation. It can also be a way to escape from the stresses of everyday life and gain new perspectives on the world
Do not know how to share your feelings with your girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, ex, daddy or even with a stranger? Our emotional service Writers Per Hour will help you to write a perfect letter and describe what you feel.
Protecting Myself from Myself: Doing better in a challenging worldAlexei Orlov
The sun slowly came up like a faithful friend, distantly approaching.
I wrote this in the quiet morning of New Year’s Day, putting pen to paper while sitting in my car and looking out to the magnificently quiet beaches of Connecticut.
Top 10-ways-to-show-your-gratitude-and-appreciation (1)Sanorah Coaching
If you have ever wanted to be more grateful and appreciate what you ahve, you can use this simple, easy to read guide to help you to be more grateful, which will improve your self-confidence, boost your self esteem and change your life - achieve your goals by getting the confidence you have always dreamed about
Ielts Speaking Band 7.5 - 8 speaking cue card that taken from actual exams. You should prepare for this to score a good band.
https://www.booksknot.com/exams/ielts/
Similar to 12 powerful gratitude practices that bring joy (20)
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
Leaders are often faced with ethical conundrums(a confusing and difficult problem or question). So how can they determine when they’re inching toward dangerous territory? There are three main psychological dynamics that lead to crossing moral lines.
There’s omnipotence: when someone feels so aggrandized and entitled that they believe the rules of decent behavior don’t apply to them.
Consider cultural numbness: when others play along and gradually begin to accept and embody deviant norms.
Finally, when people don’t speak up because they are thinking of more immediate rewards, we see justified neglect.
Generally most people mean well, but simply execute their job poorly sometimes and sometimes, there are BAD bosses. We must learn “to Work "on Bad Boss
According to dictionary.com, “to work” something or someone is to put them into effective operation, to operate that thing or person for productive purposes.
Put your Bad Boss into effective operation to get whatever you want in your job or career by learning your boss’s secret desire and secret fear
Two biggest issues of Bad Boss are:
They can negatively impact our work performance.
They can make life miserable
We often hear “being difficult.” about Bad Boss. It’s hard to know exactly where the difficulty lie. All we know is it is difficult to work successfully with this person.
An incompetent person is someone who is
Functionally inadequate or
Insufficient in Knowledge, Skills, Judgment, or Strength
Mindset is a mental attitude that determines how we interpret and respond to situations.
Dweck has found that it is your mindset that plays a significant role in determining achievement and success.
A mindset refers to whether you believe qualities such as intelligence and talent are fixed or changeable traits.
People with a fixed mindset believe that these qualities are inborn, fixed, and unchangeable.
Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe that these abilities can be developed and strengthened by way of commitment and hard work.
Story of Katalin Karikó, a researcher who won the Nobel prize for medicine for her work on modifying the RNA molecule to avoid triggering a harmful immune response is a classical example of mindset.
Yet, her life was full of rejection and doubt.
Her achievement had much to do with her mindset.
A theory is a based upon a hypothesis and backed by evidence.
A theory presents a concept or idea that is testable.
In science, a theory is not merely a guess.
A theory is a fact-based framework for describing a phenomenon.
In psychology, theories are used to provide a model for understanding human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Hence study of Psychology theory is essential for SSB and all types of Interviewas it helps us to understand our own developmental psychology.k
Personality theorists should study normal individuals
All behavior is interactive
The person must be studied in terms of interactions with their environment
The brain is the locus of personality
There is a biological basis to personality
Definition of Personality
1- Personality is an abstraction formulated by a theorist.
2- It refers to series of events that ideally span over life time from childhood to adulthood
3-It reflects novel, unique, recurrent and enduring patterns of behaviours – his education and training .
4- Personality is located in brain- imagination, perception
5.Personality comprises the person’s central organizing and governing processes, whose function is to
Resolve conflicts,
Satisfy needs, and
Plan for future goals.
” Emotions are complex psychological states involving three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response”
"Discovering Psychology," by Don Hockenbury and Sandra E. Hockenbury
In 1972, psychologist Paul Ekman suggested that there are six basic emotions that are universal throughout human cultures: fear, disgust, anger, surprise, joy, and sadness.
In the 1980s, Robert Plutchik introduced another emotion classification system known as the wheel of emotions. This model demonstrated how different emotions can be combined or mixed together, much like the way an artist mixes primary colors to create other colors.
Plutchik proposed eight primary emotional dimensions: joy vs. sadness, anger vs. fear, trust vs. disgust, and surprise vs. anticipation.
These emotions can then be combined to create others, such as happiness + anticipation = excitement.
In 1999, Ekman expanded his list to include a number of other basic emotions, including embarrassment, excitement, contempt, shame, pride, satisfaction, and amusement
Anger is an intense emotion you feel when
Something has gone wrong or
Someone has wronged you.
It is typically characterized by feelings of
Stress,
Frustration, and
Irritation.
Anger is a perfectly normal response to frustrating or difficult situations.
Anger only becomes a problem when
It’s excessively displayed and
Begins to affect your daily functioning and the way you relate with people.
Anger can range in intensity, from a slight annoyance to rage.
It can sometimes be excessive or irrational.
In these cases, it can be hard to keep the emotion in check and could cause you to behave in ways you wouldn’t otherwise behave.
Cognitive distortions are
Negative or irrational patterns of thinking.
Simply ways that Impostor Syndrome convinces us to believe things that aren’t really true.
Inaccurate thought patterns that
Reinforce our negative self perception and
Keep us feeling bad about ourselves
These negative thought patterns can play a role in
Diminishing our motivation,
Lowering our self-esteem
Contributing to problems like
Anxiety,
Depression, and
Substance use.
Trauma Bonding is the attachment an abused person feels for their abuser, specifically in a relationship with a cyclical pattern of abuse.
Is created due to a cycle of abuse and positive reinforcement
After each circumstance of abuse, the abuser professes love, regret, and trying to make the relationship feel safe and needed for the abused person.
Hence Abused
Finds leaving an abusive situation confusing and overwhelming
Involves positive and/or loving feelings for an abuser
Also feel attached to and dependent on their abuser.
Emotional abuse involves controlling another person by using emotions to Criticize , Embarrass ,Shame ,Blame or
Manipulate .
To be abusive there must be a consistent pattern of abusive words and bullying behaviours that Wear down a person’s Self-esteem and Undermine Their mental health.
Most common in married relationships,
Mental or emotional abuse can occur in any relationship—including among
Friends
Family members and
Co-workers
Attachment-related patterns that differ between individuals are commonly called "attachment styles."
There seems to be an association between a person’s attachment characteristics early in life and in adulthood, but the correlations are far from perfect.
Many adults feel secure in their relationships and comfortable depending on others (echoing “secure” attachment in children).
Others tend to feel anxious about their connection with close others—or prefer to avoid getting close to them in the first place (echoing “insecure” attachment in children).
Borderline personality disorder, characterized by a longing for intimacy and a hypersensitivity to rejection, have shown a high prevalence and severity of insecure attachment.
Attachment styles in adulthood (similar to attachment patterns in children):
Secure
Anxious-preoccupied (high anxiety, low avoidance)
Dismissing-avoidant (low anxiety, high avoidance)
Fearful-avoidant (high anxiety, high avoidance)
Conduct disorder is an ongoing pattern of behaviour marked by emotional and behavioural problems.
Ways in which Children with conduct disorder behave are
Angry,
Aggressive,
Argumentative, and
Disruptive ways.
It is a diagnosable mental health condition that is characterized by patterns of violating
Societal norms and
Rights of others
It's estimated that around 3% of school-aged children have conduct disorder and require professional treatment .
It is more common in boys than in girls.
Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a psychiatric disorder that typically emerges in childhood, between ages 6 and 8, and can last throughout adulthood.
ODD is more than just normal childhood tantrums
Frequency and severity of ODD causes difficulty at home and at school.
Children with ODD also struggle with learning problems related to their behavior.
Two types of oppositional defiant disorder:
Childhood-onset ODD:
Present from an early age
Requires early intervention and treatment to prevent it from progressing into a more serious conduct disorder
Adolescent-onset ODD:
Begins suddenly in the middle- and high-school years, causing conflict at home and in school
There have been at least 13 different types of intelligence that have been identified so far.
These different ways of being smart can help people perform in different areas from their personal life, business, to sports and relationships.
Attachment is an emotional bond with another person. John Bowlby described attachment as a "lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.“
Earliest bonds formed by children (with caregivers) have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life and Attachment so developed
Serves to keep the infant close to the mother, thus improving the child's chances of survival.
Are innate drive Children are born with and is a product of evolutionary processes
Emerges and are regulated through the process of natural selection,
Are characterized by clear behavioural and motivation patterns.
Nurturance and responsiveness were the primary determinants of attachment.
Children who maintained proximity to an attachment figure were more likely to
Receive comfort and protection, and
More likely to survive to adulthood.
e-RUPI is a person and purpose-specific cashless e-voucher designed to guarantee
that the stored money value reaches its intended beneficiary and can only be used for
the specific benefit or purpose for which it was intended. The idea is to create a minimal
logistics, leak-proof delivery mechanism for a wide range of government Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT) programs across the country. The digital e-voucher platform can also
be used by organizations who wish to support welfare services through e-RUPI instead
of cash
The term ‘Moonlighting’ became popular in America when people started working a second job in addition to their regular 9-to-5 jobs. Since the rise of the work-from-home concept during the pandemic, employees got free time after work hours. While some took up their hobby in their free time, others started searching for part-time jobs. Especially in the IT industry, employees took up two jobs simultaneously and took advantage of the remote working model. This concept of working for two companies/organisations is referred to as moonlighting.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
The French Revolution, which began in 1789, was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France. It marked the decline of absolute monarchies, the rise of secular and democratic republics, and the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This revolutionary period is crucial in understanding the transition from feudalism to modernity in Europe.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
The Indian economy is classified into different sectors to simplify the analysis and understanding of economic activities. For Class 10, it's essential to grasp the sectors of the Indian economy, understand their characteristics, and recognize their importance. This guide will provide detailed notes on the Sectors of the Indian Economy Class 10, using specific long-tail keywords to enhance comprehension.
For more information, visit-www.vavaclasses.com
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
This is a presentation by Dada Robert in a Your Skill Boost masterclass organised by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan (EFSS) on Saturday, the 25th and Sunday, the 26th of May 2024.
He discussed the concept of quality improvement, emphasizing its applicability to various aspects of life, including personal, project, and program improvements. He defined quality as doing the right thing at the right time in the right way to achieve the best possible results and discussed the concept of the "gap" between what we know and what we do, and how this gap represents the areas we need to improve. He explained the scientific approach to quality improvement, which involves systematic performance analysis, testing and learning, and implementing change ideas. He also highlighted the importance of client focus and a team approach to quality improvement.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Students, digital devices and success - Andreas Schleicher - 27 May 2024..pptxEduSkills OECD
Andreas Schleicher presents at the OECD webinar ‘Digital devices in schools: detrimental distraction or secret to success?’ on 27 May 2024. The presentation was based on findings from PISA 2022 results and the webinar helped launch the PISA in Focus ‘Managing screen time: How to protect and equip students against distraction’ https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/managing-screen-time_7c225af4-en and the OECD Education Policy Perspective ‘Students, digital devices and success’ can be found here - https://oe.cd/il/5yV
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
1. 12 Powerful Gratitude Practices That Bring
Joy
By Joel Almeida
Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large
amount of Gratitude.” ~A. A. Milne
Gratitude didn’t come naturally to me. If there had been a championship for complaining, I
would have been a serious contender.
For years I felt entitled to everything, including the kindness of others. This didn’t make me very
happy, since it was always easy to find something or someone to complain about. The more
critical I grew, the less appealing life seemed and the worse I got on with others.
The weather seemed awful, supermarket queues too slow, bosses too unappreciative, children too
rowdy and messy, winters too cold, summers too hot, health too unsatisfactory, work too
stressful, prices too high, quality too low, TV too boring, politicians too self-serving, traffic too
slow, drivers too inconsiderate, and so on.
If I had continued living like that, I might have ended up complaining that water was too wet and
the sky too blue.
Fortunately, I came across countless research studies about gratitude. How it reduced anxiety,
depression, emotional exhaustion, and even suicidal thoughts, while boosting happiness and
satisfaction with life. How it lowered blood pressure, boosted immunity, and encouraged healthy
habits while improving sleep.
Research even suggested that gratitude improved the quality of romance and marriage! Now that
seemed like an irresistible offer.
I started collecting practical tips for living in a more grateful way, and started trying them out.
Warning: these ways of practicing gratitude could seriously damage your unhappiness!
1. Tell your partner exactly how a recent episode made you love them even more.
Be very specific and detailed. For example, “I love that you thought about what I would really
like for our anniversary, and that you made all the bookings because you know it takes me ages
to pick a hotel.”
It doesn’t have to be in connection with an annual event, such as an anniversary. It could be
something as small as the way they hug you to cheer you up when they see that you’ve had a
hard day. But tell them exactly what it is you loved about that, and why.
2. This detailed expression of gratitude signals your responsiveness to your partner. It tends to
make them more responsive too. Romance thrives on mutual responsiveness.
2. If your relationship is going through a rough patch, imagine the disappearance of your
partner.
This is counter-intuitive, but it makes you more grateful for all that is good in the relationship.
People who suddenly lost their partner often tell of how relatively insignificant their petty
disagreements now seem. They often say they would give anything to have their loved one back.
If I even think about trying this, it immediately makes me way more grateful for my partner. It
makes me realize how lucky I am.
3. Look beyond a gift.
Think consciously about the trouble that somebody took to bring something good into your life,
often at some inconvenience and cost to themselves.
We enjoy watching Grand Slam tennis tournaments on TV. We thought that we might one day
get to watch a tournament in person, but tickets for the main courts sell out rapidly. Then our son
surprised us with tickets for prime seats at a Grand Slam event.
It was totally unexpected. We were so touched that he went to all the trouble and expense. The
tennis and setting were magnificent, and the awareness of his love even better.
4. Relish each good moment more consciously.
Have you noticed, really consciously noticed, the many patterns that bubbles make in a warm
bath? Or the bizarre shapes of white clouds in a blue sky? Or the quirky way that an eggshell
starts to crack when you strike it? Or the comforting feel of your pillow when you go to bed after
a long, hard day?
Wonderful little delights await us, moment by moment. But we need to notice them consciously.
Then gratitude starts flowing through each moment of life.
I fill a pan with water every morning, to boil some eggs. I love watching the bubbles in the water
as they dance for me. It helps to set the tone for my day.
5. Shout for joy when something really good happens to you.
I used to be an expert in misery.
Did I gain admission to medical school? Keep it quiet, I don’t do happiness.
Was I graduating and did my parents want to celebrate? Don’t bother coming, Mum and Dad, it’s
just another day.
3. What was I thinking? If I could go back and shake myself hard, I would.
“Shout for joy!” I would urge my younger self. “Get up, put on your favorite song, jump around
and dance like a wild child!”
Whatever you celebrate becomes more real to your mind. And you become more grateful for it.
6. Fast forward.
When we got married, the photographer made us pose endlessly. We were relieved when it was
over. In our relief, we leaned in for a kiss.
The experienced photographer immediately clicked it.
I remember thinking, “That photo’s going to make us so happy when we’re old.”
That peek into the future made me feel even luckier in the moment.
Use every opportunity to create memories that will delight you for years. You’ll feel grateful in
the moment, and grateful again that you can look forward to good memories.
7. Tell someone else when you’re particularly taken by something.
We get to see some spectacular sunsets in the summer. I just have to go to our picture window
and look out over rooftops. It’s as if a great artist has splashed colors across the sky.
“Wow!” I’ll call out, spontaneously. “Come and look at this! Isn’t it stunning?”
Sharing the appreciation with someone else makes you more grateful.
8. Introduce a guest to your favorite places, people, music, food etc.
There’s a reason why you love some things so much. Somebody else might not yet appreciate
those delights. In opening their eyes, you open your own eyes again and become more grateful.
I love it when visitors stay with us, partly because I get to show them around some favorite spots.
There’s one place where a man-made canal crosses high over a river with an old mill, and green
hillsides with sheep climb steeply skyward. I could spend hours there, just soaking it all in.
Sometimes my guests will even notice details that I missed. Their delight multiplies my own.
9. Build a bank of gratitude.
Life won’t necessarily go your way forever. If adversity strikes, it can be difficult to recall a time
when you were grateful.
4. Build a bank of gratitude by storing notes, pictures, and other documents about what you were
thankful for.
Mine includes lots of pictures of sunsets, family, travels, and nature, and notes regarding some
kindness shown to me, little improvements in my health and fitness, and things I achieved. I even
store some notes about difficult times that made me wiser and stronger, and about unhelpful
people whose behavior inadvertently helped me in some way.
If you like to write on paper, you can choose a beautiful notebook and write in it each day. It
shouldn’t be too difficult to find a few things you’re grateful for. If you get stuck, you can
express thanks for being spared some undesirable things (life in a war zone, for example, or a
disabling illness.)
If you prefer to write on pieces of paper, you could collect these papers in a big gratitude jar. It
will delight you more than a jar of sweets delights a little child.
If life ever gets on top of you and your mind is filled with complaints, you can visit your bank of
gratitude to regain a sense of perspective. Gratitude and joy need never be too far away.
10. Invite someone to be your gratitude buddy.
If your partner is a naturally grateful person, you don’t have to look far. You can encourage and
coach one another in living more gratefully.
Even then, you might like to invite a trusted confidante to join you in the conscious practice of
gratitude. You can make a pact to practice one or more of these tips at least once a day, and
encourage each other when you slip. Sharing your practice in this way helps to make gratitude a
habit and a new way of living.
I’m fortunate to have a naturally grateful partner, but I do enjoy sharing my gratitude practices
with others. Then I have to live up to what I proclaim.
11. Be aware of how gratitude feels in your body.
When you regularly practice gratitude, you start to feel a kind of joy in your body. It’s like a
homecoming, as if you’re relaxing into a warm bath after shivering outside in the freezing winter
of complaints.
Be conscious of how your limbs, your hands, your feet, your neck, your body, your face and your
gut feel when you’re expressing gratitude. Take a couple of minutes to meditate on the
sensations. Enjoy the glow of gratitude and add it to your list of things you’re grateful for.
12. Widen your net of gratitude to include more people.
Did you have a favorite teacher? What was it you loved about them? What effect did they have
on your life?
5. One of my big regrets in life is that my first music teacher died before I could properly thank
him. He taught me a wonderful approach to musical composition. I use what he taught me almost
every day, and music-making brings me so much joy in life.
Think of all the people who contributed to your life. Thank them, one by one. Write to them,
phone them, email them, visit them, do anything that works, but be sure to thank them.
Be as detailed and as specific as you can. Show them how much you understand their good
intentions and effort. Let them know exactly what their contribution means in your life.
That will make them glow. And it will make you glow.
Express gratitude to people at every opportunity. It strengthens the bonds of goodwill and
connection on which we humans thrive. It allows us to be part of something bigger than
ourselves, and to attempt good and important things as we join others in working for meaningful
causes.
Of course, gratitude is not always appropriate. Sometimes there are very good reasons for
dissatisfaction and complaint, such as in abusive relationships. Even there, a habitually grateful
person can sometimes more easily find solutions because they are more warmly connected to
people who can help out.
—
I like these simple practices because they’re relatively easy to do, yet they bring huge benefits.
They’ve opened the door to a much more joyful way of living for me. I now experience much
warmer relationships with my loved ones and others.
We know from neuroscience that what we do habitually can change even our brains. I used to be
a champion complainer. Now I’m steadily improving at practicing gratitude.
If these practices work for me, a complainer by instinct, then they can work for anyone.
I’d love to hear what gratitude practices you’ve found useful. Let’s add to the list of practices
and spread the joy. Thanks for the privilege of writing for you.