November 18, 2009
Develop gratitude, the King of Virtues, for a good and happy life.
This wisdom from ancient Rome is echoed by 21rst Century positive psychology research. According to Dr. Robert Emmons , optimism, hope, forgiveness, compassion, wisdom, and love all seem to flow better when we start with gratitude.
Using the life satisfaction scale to measure happiness, Dr. Emmons found that spending just 5 or 10 minutes a day writing down things we are grateful for every day for a week could markedly increase our happiness. Not only does it increase happiness for the time we do the exercise, but people were markedly happier more than a month later.
Why not go a step further and inventory your blessings in a journal or scrapbook that you can look through time and again to help boost your gratitude when you need a happiness lift. Find out how to build your own Thanksgiving Inventory with this article to get you started.
No matter how you get started…
Develop gratitude, the King of Virtues, for a good and happy life.
Affirmation I count my blessings everyday. I keep an inventory of the things I am grateful for to boost my happiness and gratitude when I feel down.
Journal or Meditation Question What blessings might I count in my gratitude inventory? How many good things in my life can I list? How can I keep track of my gratitude list so I can refer back to it during the difficult times and build on it during the good times?
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