December 2007
The blessing in thanksgiving
I decided not to wait around to be invited to someone’s Thanksgiving dinner this year. For a foreigner, these holidays can be really challenging! Instead, I hosted my own special day and invited some of the people who have meant a lot to me over the past year. It was a blast - I even bought a turkey fryer! I enjoyed the day so much and found myself filled with gratitude all weekend long.
Feeling good reminded me of the research done by Dr. Robert A. Emmons. As a professor at UC Davis, he studies the psychology of emotion and religion and is particularly interested in ‘happiness’ and ‘well-being’. It’s his research on gratitude that interests me, because he has found that people who are grateful, feel good.
More specifically grateful people experience:
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greater well-being in life
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more vitality
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less depression and stress
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more positive emotion
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are more pro-social
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tend to be more spiritual
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place less importance on materialism
Sometimes one may feel that there is little for which to be grateful for. I know that the holidays, in particular, are a sensitive time for people who are hurting. My encouragement to you, is that if you sometimes feel you’re the only person in the world, consider becoming the world to one person! Don’t wait around to be on the receiving end, get out and find a way to give! Research proves that you will feel better once you exercise your gratitude.
The book and movie review list mentioned in my last newsletter is now available for you to view. Thank you so much for your contributions which are now available on my website. Thanks also for your support during the past year. Wishing you the best of the season!
Kathryn