Daily Gratitude

Research shows that people who keep a daily gratitude list feel better about their lives as a whole and feel more optimistic about the coming week. Compared to control groups, they exercise more frequently and report fewer physical complaints. They also experience more positive emotions, fewer negative emotions, and exhibit more helpful behavior towards friends and neighbors. (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) -- more... What are you grateful for? Here's my list today. Feel free to add yours to the comments!

Wow. I am just so grateful to be an American. I left the voting booth this morning in tears...so grateful to live in a country where I am not arrested, beaten, or killed just for expressing my opinion. I am grateful for inspiration--a few days ago I received personal direction to vote for a candidate that I had decided against. I don't know what it means, but I followed the inspiration and felt good about it--part of why I think I was so emotional. Anyway, on to today's gratitude list...

Thank you for this incredible, beautiful, wonderful day. Thank you for living in this nation and all the opportunities and freedoms it affords. Thank you for my husband. He is just so great--what else can I say? Thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for keeping us together. Thank you that we get along so very well. Thank you for his beautiful, clean, spacious home--and thank you for all the wonderful plans to improve it! It's so exciting! Thank you for modern technology. Thank you for this incredible, wonderful, amazing, awesome business. Thank you for finally "getting" just how simple it is. Thank you for Sue. Thank you for Elisa. Thank you for Susan. Thank you for sooo many blessings I can hardly count them. Oh, thank you for Amy, too, and all the kind people who have responded to my emails. Thank you for the wisdom that making changes in my own life allows me to set the example for others. Thank you for getting that. Thank you for Shannon's enthusiasm this morning. She's so funny. Thank you for all the support and wonderful, positive, enthusiastic people I have surrounding me, encouraging me, uplifting me, sharing with me. I am so very blessed. What could be more wonderful?

Lesson 19: Change and Acceptance (Part 4)

This post is my thoughts on a lesson from the Beyond Freedom home study course for personal growth and life achievement. This course has been instrumental in transforming my life from stress-full to stress-FREE. Order your own copy today at: http://www.LibertyLeague.com/margieremmers And transform YOUR life from where you are now, to where you want to be.

In previous posts, I discussed my thoughts on this lesson, and last time I began working on the 6 part exercise--I only got through part 1 before my time was up! Let's see how well I do today... ;o)

2. Name the top three things you would like to change about yourself.

Wow. This is interesting. First, it says the "top" three things--that implies that most people have more than three!!!! Hahaha.

Second, it doesn't mention any category--it could be anything about yourself.

It's interesting that the first thing that popped into my head was how I look--I wish I was thinner, had a better body, had better hair, was prettier. I have always been obsessed with how I look--comparing myself to everyone I see and always coming up short. If there is one thing that I would say has held me back from achieving all I wanted to in my life, it is the fact that I have always believed I'm not pretty. As I would look at other women and what they have achieved in life, the first thing that pops into my mind is "Well, I can't do that...I'm not pretty enough." It really has plagued me as long as I can remember.

Of course, a good deal of what I don't like about myself in this area I can change--if I put in the effort.

The second thing that popped into my head as I thought about this question is, "I wish more people liked me." Again, I have always been plagued by the fact that I don't have a lot of friends, didn't get invited to parties, didn't go on a lot of dates, etc. I have thought over the years that people rarely have lukewarm feelings about me--they either love me or they hate me. I doubt that is true, but that was my perception.

And of course, if I really wanted to, this is an area I could change, too--if I put in the effort.

I learned how to be a good friend from my friend Elisa. Elisa would call me regularly just to chat, invited me to parties, or out to see things. We ended up having babies around the same time, and so it was fun to talk about our new motherhood or child rearing. Our friendship stayed alive for many years because Elisa knew instinctively how to make and keep a friend--she knew that it required effort. Because of Elisa, I realized that all those years that I complained about not having friends, not being invited places--all those years I never made the effort to be a friend to anyone else.

Now when I think about friends, I realize that it is my fault that I don't have more of them, and that if I ever wanted to have more, I know exactly what I need to do.

The third area that I would like to change is my difficulty "letting go"--I am often wound up tight...a rule follower, not a rule breaker, trying to be perfect all the time. This is what led to my near heart attack at just 37--holding everything in and taking on too much. And, of course, this has led to my difficulty making friends as well. People want to be around those who make them feel good about themselves, and I think I make people uncomfortable.

The good news is that I am already working on these three areas. Perhaps that's why they came to my mind so easily as I started this exercise.

Wow. Time's up again already. More next time.

Daily Gratitude

Research shows that people who keep a daily gratitude list feel better about their lives as a whole and feel more optimistic about the coming week. Compared to control groups, they exercise more frequently and report fewer physical complaints. They also experience more positive emotions, fewer negative emotions, and exhibit more helpful behavior towards friends and neighbors. (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) -- more... What are you grateful for? Here's my list today. Feel free to add yours to the comments!

Thank you thank you thank you for an incredible morning and an incredible life. Everything is so amazing! Thank you for vision and clarity and understand and "getting" it--finally getting it. Thank you for the pennies from heaven! Thank you for my health--for my wonderful bike ride, for my soothing yoga, for my relaxing shower. Thank you for my husband, my beautiful home, my wonderful children. Thank you for a day off of school! Thank you for the pumpkin party. Oh, thank you thank you thank you for such a different life than before. Thank you for Amber. Thank you for technology. Thank you for the amazing human mind--so much creation before us! Thank you for the many wonderful men as examples for my son. Thank you for such an amazing relationship with my children. Thank you for the beautiful fall colors and the cool (but not too cold!) weather. Thank you for friends and loved ones. Thank you for my new kitchen! Thank you for the money that is circulating all around me and showering down on me! Thank you for the Bahamas. Thank you for my talk cast. Thank you for Aisza and Sue and Linea and Coleen and Anthony. And thank you for getting it. Oh, thank you for getting it.