Hello again Natural Health Family. I know that Thanksgiving has come and gone. However, practicing gratitude and thankfulness all year long helps to keep a good mindset leading to good health. We sometimes feel the need to receive something in order to feel thankful but I will show you that there are many things you can be grateful for right now.
Now everyone goes through their own ups and downs. There are times when we can feel overwhelmed and that everything seems to be falling apart. Sometimes it may seem like something that we want to be accomplished seems so far out of reach. We tend to be anxious or feel depressed when things don’t happen the way we expected them to happen. This is what many people call life. Life can appear chaotic but when we become still and realize everything that we can be grateful for life, it tends to turn back the other way. The practice of gratitude not only is calming to our mind (which relieves stress on our nervous systems) but it brings back the energy that our bodies need to live healthier and happier.
You may ask, well what is it that I can be grateful or thankful in times like these. Let’s first talk about what your body does without you thinking of it. On average, you breathe 20,000 breaths per day. That breath carries oxygen to the millions of cells in your body for your body to keep moving. Your heart beats up to 100,00 times per day pumping roughly 20,000 gallons of blood through the miles of vessels carrying it to all the cells of your body. Second, how about all your family, friends and others. Think about the times when you were in a rut so to say and a person that you know or didn’t know at the time helped you out. Life seems to help us out just at the right time. Lastly, those precious moments that you can only experience when you are fully present. Everyone remembers the times or experiences when it really made us feel a certain way. During this holiday season it is important to be with others and practice on helping them feel connected. There are many people in the world that have much less and when we reflect on all that life has to offer it is difficult not to be grateful for at least something.
Thankfulness or gratitude is a powerful emotion and when we practice it daily we condition ourselves to feel that way regardless of circumstances outside of our control. When we start to embody this emotion then we find that we have a new energy and a new outlook on life. Of course it is nice when we receive something like a present this holiday season, but remember that it is not the present itself but the connection between you and the other person that creates the feeling. So if you want, practice feeling grateful daily and see your life and health change for the greater. Thanks again for reading and have a great day.
Study showing how gratitude positively affects your health: Study: Gratitude is a healthy attitude – News on Heart.org
Dr. Chip
