Practice Gratefulness
Recent research in the field of positive psychology- the study of what goes well in life- point to effective interventions which increase our sense of well being. One such intervention is the practice of Gratitude. Robert Emmons has studied and written about the positive affects gratitude can have on our emotional well being. Based on his research, he recommends keeping a gratitude journal in which you write, daily, three to five good things that happened to you. If this is too demanding, a variation of the exercise is to think of three to five good things that happened to you today while preparing for bed or while lying in bed as you fall asleep. You can take it a step further as Carol Kauffman, Harvard University, suggests, and think of three to five good things that happened and what part you played in making them happen. For example, you stopped to admire and appreciate the beauty of the sunset… well, maybe you didn’t create the actual sunset, but you did stop to sweeten the moment by savouring its beauty….
Sonja Lyubomirsky and colleagues atUniversity of California, Riverside, conducted an experiment where students were asked to write a gratitude journal entry three times a week over the duration of twelve weeks. At the end of the trial the happiness levels for participants in the experiment increased dramatically and were sustained up to six months later.
Practicing gratitude shifts our focus from what doesn’t go well to what is good and going well, reinforcing our positive thought tracks in the brain and diminishing the ancient negative tapes in our heads.
Free Your Mind of Negative Thoughts
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