When Dr. Stephanie asked me to write about gratitude over the Thanksgiving weekend it was an obvious choice of topic. Which is why it is puzzling to me that I’ve sat here staring at a blinking cursor for a ridiculous amount of time.
Maybe it’s the post turkey haze…
Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had the first relaxing weekend that I can remember in at least 2 months and I’m not quite ready to start with the higher brain function yet…
But I think part of it is that I don’t want to write the same thoughts on gratitude that we’ve all heard.
A study from the University of California has shown that people who practice grateful thinking reap emotional, physical and interpersonal benefits. People who regularly keep a gratitude journal report fewer illness symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and are more optimistic about the future. They have concluded that gratitude is a choice.
It’s easy to be thankful on Thanksgiving. We are lucky to have a day set aside to give thanks, to spend time with our loved ones, and to express gratitude for all that we have.
So how can we make this choice part of our every day lives? Especially as the busy holiday season descends on us, how can we keep a grateful heart?
Why not embrace the technology that has permeated our lives? I found an article on Yahoo listing the top gratitude apps. I’d never thought of that before but now, after reading about these I can’t decide which one I want to download first!! These three are for iPhone but I’m sure there are some available for android too. The point is that they’re out there so go find them!!
Exactly as the name implies, you can make your daily entry and rate your day, list the things you’re grateful for and even attach a picture. When you’ve posted your entry, you get rewarded with an inspirational quote.
from the official site:
Live Happy is a positive psychology iPhone app developed by Signal Patterns’ SP Labs research team together with Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of the book The How of Happiness and professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside
If you want your gratitude to be more social this is the app for you, it allows you to share your grateful thoughts and positive feelings with the rest of the world. I don’t know about you but there are times when the negativity of facebook is more than I can take. This sounds like a welcome change. You can even follow the worldwide stream of thankful thoughts either via the mobile app or online by searching Twitter for the #LiveHappy hashtag.
also from the Live Happy folks, here’s the scoop from the official site:
Gratitude Stream is a global “stream” of good thoughts and thanks. Expressing gratitude is a scientifically-proven method of boosting your short and long term happiness. (Even Oprah promotes keeping a gratitude journal!)
You can join the Gratitude Stream through our free Gratitude Stream iPhone app or via the Online Gratitude Stream right here. Join in and spread the cheer or simply enjoy and let the ‘stream’ wash over you.
Whether you decide to use one of these apps or good ole’ pen and paper, choose gratitude. Choose it today and every day. You’ll be glad you did.
“In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy.” —Albert Clarke
Wishing you a grateful and happy heart,
Kathleen 🙂