One of my client who turned good friend, shares with me that I am the happiest when I am teaching my class. Even when I am down, teaching a class never fails to cheer me up. It is as if I had swallowed a “miracle” pill and the energy can’t be contained. If you have any idea what is going on in my head right now, you would laugh! Remember the commercial on this bunny playing a drum running on “energized battery”, it just keeps on drumming and drumming and drumming; non stop!
Her comment sounds absurd and I can’t help smiling but it leads me to ponder on many things. How do one make this joy stay on and on, 24/7, like in the commercial? Gosh…I can’t be on batteries forever!
Joy is a choice, one wrote. Take pleasures in life’s simple happenings, turning all negative circumstances into positive ones. Be mindful helps as the intention sets the right direction. Learn to create your own personal “List of Joy” is another great tip!
But the word Gratitude caught my eye. To me, nothing beats the word “Gratitude”.
Gratitude is defined most simply as “the condition of being thankful.”
In fact, I am grateful for a second chance to be here. It has been almost 3 months since my freaky bicycle accident. The body is still rehabilitating but not fast enough for me. Man………., you can’t imagine the depression that comes after. The mental struggle and the physical handicap. I can’t wait to jump on my bike again but I am forced to be patient.
“Thanks!” written by UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons, one of the leader in positive psychology research reports how practicing thankfulness can counteract not only bad situations but also the increasingly prevalent theory that we all have a predetermined “set point” for just how happy we tend to be.
Emmons observes that gratitude has rarely been studied by psychologists. This is unfortunate, he notes, as “Gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change peoples’ lives.” But – and here’s the self-help angle – “gratitude (or thankfulness) is an effortful state to create and maintain. It is not for the intellectually lethargic.”
Emmons writes, “Preliminary findings suggest that those who regularly practice grateful thinking do reap emotional, physical, and interpersonal benefits. Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism The practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness.” That cultivating gratitude can fight depression is no small deal, as antidepressants have become the most-prescribed medications in the nation. Not only all that, but being grateful can, or might, also protect us from heart attacks, lessen physical pain and confer other physiological benefits. At the same time, he avers that we need to be less focused on individuality and more aware and, yes, thankful for our relationships and dependency on others for our well being.
Thanfully, Emmons skillful book, concludes with instructions on how to practice gratitude and goes on to highlight it can be measured mentally, physically and spiritually. This measure of attainability, I know will come in helpful for most in this economic uncertainty.
I should thank Emmons for writing it, my blog project for assigning it to me and the simple fact of my living another day to write this.
And for me, oh boy… it is certainly working. And I feel much better already!