Express Gratitude This Holiday Season

This wonderful feeling of gratitude blocks those toxic negative emotions which cause problems such as stress, depression, and other diseases

Happy moments are approaching our lives; Christmas and New Year. These holidays are perhaps the most significant and festive days of our society. These occasions are where we show gratitude for the things that are happening in our lives with pleasure and satisfaction, and share these moments with our families, friends, neighbors, and community. Even if we're close to our roots or not, these times should always be taken as a moment of gratitude and warm feelings for everyone.

In recent studies performed by psychologist Robert Emmons of the University of California, he found the benefits of what gratitude can potentially provide to our lives and our relationships. These studies indicated that in just over three weeks, people who kept a journal showed improvements in their immune systems, blood pressure, sleep patterns, and most importantly, a more refreshing start to their day. Psychologically, these individuals showed excellent levels of positive emotions such as joy, pleasure, happiness, and optimism. In regards to their relationships, grateful people demonstrated higher levels of generosity, forgiveness, and compassion.



This raises the following question: “How does a simple feeling of gratitude result into greater transformative effects?” Dr. Robert Emmons believes that if one integrates gratitude into their life, it will increase positive emotions and allow one to gain more pleasure in their life. Consequently, one will begin to participate in major positivism. This wonderful feeling of gratitude blocks those toxic negative emotions which cause problems such as stress, depression, and other diseases. It is certainly difficult to feel hate and gratitude at the same time, but if one practices the ladder one, the benefits are endless. Grateful people are more emotionally and physically tough because they have a perspective that allows them to enjoy significant events in their lives.
In Robert Emmons book, "Gratitude Works, A 21-day program for the Creation of Prosperity Emotional', he states the following:
"Often there is a division between knowing what to do and how we actually end up behaving. In psychology this is called the knowledge of making a jump. Similarly, there is a gap between knowing something for which we should be grateful for and how we generally feel. The depressing reality is that people don’t live based on what they know or if they should do it.”



The biblical character Paul confessed:
"I do not understand what I do. And if I do what I don’t want to do, I agree that the law is good. This way, I am not the one that does it, but the sin that dwells in me. I know that nothing good dwells in me, that it is in my sinful nature. Because I have the desire to do what is good, but I can’t accomplish it".

It does not matter how complex the philosophical problems, scientific problems, or the explanatory dynamic mechanisms seem to be, this simple act of gratitude works, and one must understand that it works and that it should be part of our daily life. Imagine for a moment that these feelings of gratitude we express in these festive occasions begin to spread gradually throughout our lives. Not only will it make us feel better, but we will pass these same feelings on to others; others who after all are part of the society in which we live. Now, it is understood that our society is not perfect, and that the road is long and difficult, but we should all start expressing these feelings of gratitude today, as it is our natural and spiritual obligation to do so.

If we want to improve our society, we need to start with ourselves. We should express gratitude for what we are, for what we have, for what we can have, and even for what was granted to us undeservedly.



We are the architects of a better society for our children, and for the children of our children. Sometime ago, the magnate of Microsoft Bill Gates once said: "It is not our fault to be born poor, but it is if we die poor." Gates was perhaps referring to money, but we should interpret significant poverty as a result from a lack of spirit, knowledge, values, love, and gratitude. We all, without exception, are part of one society, the "human society", and it is our moral obligation to be thankful as we will see that this small token of gratitude will unite us to be better. With this in mind, I think we all have hopes to better our lives and our planet. For example, what would happen if employers thank their employees for doing their job before they start and also after they completed their work? After all, gratitude is an exceptional and positive therapy.

Here I provide you with some simple tips on how to cultivate the practice of gratitude:
1)Keep a gratitude journal: where you just write a list of five things a week for which you are grateful for.

2)Practice counting out loud, while visualizing moments of gratitude, once on a daily basis.

3)Use visual clues to remind yourself to be grateful.

4)Learn words and even sentences of gratitude, if deems necessary.

5)Include positive gestures into your lives: learn to smile and say thank you.

6)Do not look for a conversation to talk about you, but to be thankful for sharing such good moments with individuals.

7)On Christmas be thankful for what you’ll be receiving, and on New Year, be thankful for what you’ll be accomplishing.



"It's not what we say, but how we express it that matters, and what makes us improve our relationships”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
From the members of the “NewMind Journal”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Feliz Navidad
Boun Natale
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Joyeux Noël
Feliz Natal

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The Benefits of Gratitude

By: Alexandria Addesso

Its seems that at this point in history more than any other society is at the pinnacle of “self-help”. Everyone wants to be fitter, healthier, happier, richer, and more successful. Self-help books can barely stay on bookstore shelves and many are in a panic to avoid gluten and embrace an extreme vegan or paleo diet.

University of California psychology professor Dr. Robert Emmons insists that rather than a fad diet or strategic investing, practicing gratitude can majorly impact one’s physical, mental, and emotional state. Emmons believes that practicing gratitude is so effective that he wrote several books about it titled Gratitude Works, Thanks, The Psychology of Gratitude, and Words of Gratitude for Mind, Body and Soul, and has given seminar studies on it. But what exactly does Emmons mean by gratitude? Is regularly tipping our servers or always saying “thank you” good enough?

Emmons stresses the need for a daily gratitude ritual. While always remembering to thank others is definitely necessary, one must go deeper in reflecting on gratitude. This can be accomplished by getting in the routine of reflecting on the day’s blessings before going to sleep or meditating on them in the morning including the immense event of being able to wake up. Another daily ritual Emmons recommends is a gratitude journal in which one can keep track of all their blessings.



Participants in a study carried out by Emmons were instructed to write down one thing that they were grateful for everyday and reported a 25 percent increase in happiness in the next 6 months. While in college I took an elective class called Death in Perspective. One of our assignments was to write someone, dead or alive, a letter of how grateful we were for their contributions to our lives. Those who felt comfortable enough read them out loud in class, others called the people they wrote the letter to and read it to them. The emotional release was immense. A study where participants did the same thing at the University of Pennsylvania reported that their symptoms of depression had significantly decreased.

“Gratitude heals, energizes, and transforms lives. We are engaged in a long-term research project designed to create and disseminate a large body of novel scientific data on the nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being” wrote Emmons on his faculty website.



It has also been noted that practicing gratitude positively affects a person’s physical health. Reduced blood pressure levels, improved kidney functions, a stronger heart as well as an overall reduction in stress hormones are all attributed to gratitude. A person who is consciously appreciative of their health is more likely to take better care of himself, exercise more, and even get more sleep at night.

According to Emmons, practicing gratitude helps a person deal better with loss and trauma and therefore become more resilient. When one is consciously mindful of the blessings and kindness they have received and thus benefited from, their brains become wired to seek out the positives in every situation.



“A grateful stance toward life is relatively immune to both fortune and misfortune,” said Emmons.

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