| Want to know a simple way to increase your | | | | this on your own computer, you are probably in the top |
| enjoyment of life 100 percent? Develop an attitude of | | | | one percent of people in the world when it comes to |
| gratitude! Thankfulness in the heart makes all of the | | | | wealth. Did you ever think about that? |
| struggles and trials of life more bearable, and increases | | | | Maybe you have challenges and disappointments in |
| your joy in the good times. So how does gratitude | | | | these basic areas of life. Maybe you have a |
| work, and what are some things a person can do to | | | | handicapping condition or are living with chronic pain or |
| build more of it into their life? | | | | illness. Maybe your family life is filled with heartache. |
| If you've been working on the goal of having a more | | | | Maybe the bills are piling up and you can't figure out |
| positive attitude toward life, gratitude is a natural | | | | how you can ever meet them. Does this mean that |
| outcome. The first step in developing a more thankful | | | | you can't find a reason to be thankful? No, of course |
| spirit is to take a good look at the things in your life that | | | | there are reasons to be thankful. |
| are going well. Sometimes life feels like a roller coaster | | | | But even more important than why you can be |
| – up and down, up and down. But in reality, if you | | | | thankful is why you should live a life of gratitude. |
| look well, you'll see that there are challenges happening | | | | Studies have been done in which participants kept |
| during the up times, and good things happening during | | | | journals recording either things they were thankful for |
| the down times. | | | | or each day's hassles. The results were that the |
| The goal, when developing gratitude, is to accentuate | | | | thankful journal keepers had more energy, better |
| the positive, as the old song says. Put your focus on | | | | health, more hope for the future, and generally felt |
| those good things. Remember the other old | | | | better about their lives as a whole. In fact, one long |
| gratefulness song, "Count Your Blessings" from the | | | | term study showed the more thankful people to live |
| musical, "White Christmas?" In the song, we are | | | | almost seven years longer than the least thankful! |
| admonished to picture curly heads sleeping in the | | | | Religion often plays a role in developing gratefulness. If |
| nursery. Do you have children? What nicer thing is | | | | we acknowledge the benevolence of a higher power |
| there to be thankful for than your children, | | | | who gives us our health, food, ability to work, and even |
| grandchildren, or young friends. | | | | the air we breathe, it helps us realize that we are not |
| Health, family, and basic provisions are other things that | | | | really responsible for everything we have. It is at the |
| are often overlooked when someone is evaluating all | | | | same time freeing and humbling to realize that we are |
| the trouble in their life. In fact, if you are able to read | | | | not completely in charge of how things go in our lives. |