With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it brings to us a focus on gratitude. If cultivated, this “attitude of gratitude” has tremendous health benefits. “Benefits associated with gratitude include better sleep, reduced symptoms of physical pain, lower levels of inflammation, lower blood pressure and a host of other things we associate with better health,” according to Glenn Fox, an expert in the science of gratitude at USC. Psychologically it has been shown to “unshackle us from toxic emotions and has lasting effects on the brain” said another study conducted by the University of Indiana.
In last week’s Sunday Satsang with Tim and Lisa Clark of Ananda Village, Lisa shared how she actively cultivates gratitude everyday, first upon waking by reflecting on what she is grateful for in her life, but also as she looks toward the rest of her day, gratitude for whatever tasks lay ahead. She went on to say, “when we have gratitude, it allows us the space to be at peace, because there is nothing more we want or need.”
It’s a wonderful state of being that we can’t help but share. So what a great gift to ourselves and others!
As we prepare to enter the holiday season there is no better doorway then gratitude. Let’s then together practice the presence of gratitude in our hearts and in our lives.
Together with hearts full of gratitude,
Ananda in Texas