Gratitude

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about being grateful. I love the subject and actually taught a lesson on it for our young women's group last week. I found some interesting stuff on being grateful and thought I might share some of it with you.

Dr. Michael McCollough, of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Robert Emmons, of the University of California at Davis, say their initial scientific study indicates that gratitude plays a significant role in a person's sense of well-being. The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises (such as writing in a gratitude journal) resulted in
higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, was more likely to help others, exercised more regularly and made more progress toward personal goals. According to findings, people who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved. McCullogh suggests that anyone can increase their sense of well-being and create positive social effects just from counting their blessings. (The Osgood File, CBS Radio Network, July 12, 2002)

People who do not feel gratitude are only cheating themselves out of happiness in life. -Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments

[Gratitude] is a quality I have found in every happy person I know. It is a quality that instantly makes a person more likable and more at peace. Where there is an abundance of this virtue, there is happiness. Where there is an absence of this virtue, there is often sadness, resentment and futility... If we only look around us, there are a thousand reason for us not to be happy... the more we focus on the things we don't have, the more unhappy and more resentful we become. -Joseph B. Wirthlin (Live in Thanksgiving Daily, Ensign, September 2001)

This is one of my favorite quotes:
Think to Thank. In these three words is the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness. -Thomas S. Monson, as quoted by President James E. Faust (Gratitude as a Saving Principle, Ensign, December 1996)

It is so true! When you are grateful for your blessings and gifts in this life, it is reflected in your attitude and countenance. That alone will make your marriage better. When you are thankful for your spouse (or boy/girlfriend, parents, etc.) it only can foster greater love.

Here are a few other quotes on the subject:

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,
and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. -Buddha

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. -H.U. Westermayer


Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. - William Arthur Ward


As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter
words, but to live by them. -John F. Kennedy


The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. –Eric Hoffer

So, today I thank you guys - my friends and family. (Wait, this sounds like a Budweiser commercial... so here's to you wingman....) Thank you guys for helping to make my life wonderful! There are always challenges, but you have been blessings to me and help make the challenges seem more like scenic byways rather than detours :)