count your blessings. really.

| 25 TrackBacks

It's been a rough month for my family, but lately I've been focused on counting my blessings rather than my trials. I have a lot to be grateful for--family, friends, health, and job security (in a job I love), to name just a few.

I've always felt that actively listing and talking about the good things in my life has had a positive effect. Turns out that researchers at UC Davis have results that support my thoughts on the matter. Here's an excerpt from the AP wire story (as published in the SJ Mercury News):

In one set of observations, college students kept a diary, with some instructed to write about how they felt grateful and others told to concentrate on daily hassles or routine events.

There were fewer illnesses among the "gratitude" group, which also reported exercising more and offering more emotional support to others, Emmons and co-author Michael E. McCullough wrote in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, at which Emmons is a consulting editor.

In another experiment with people with neuromuscular diseases, the researchers found that emphasizing gratefulness improved satisfaction with their lives, as well as their amount and quality of sleep. That study involved observations from the participants and family members.

So, all you bloggers out there...as we welcome in a new year this week, why not write a post about what you're most grateful for? And if your software supports it, trackback to this post so that I can hear about it, too. :)

25 TrackBacks

Elizabeth Lane Lawley says, I've always felt that actively listing and talking about the good things in my life has had a positive effect. Turns out that researchers at UC Davis Read More

that each blogger list all of the things for which they are grateful for and trackback to her original post as a point of collation. Great Idea. I always try to keep The Obvious? focussed on the positive aspects... Read More

Gratitude: \Grat'i*tude\, n. [F. gratitude, LL. gratitudo, from gratus agreeable, grateful. See Grate, a.] The state of being grateful; warm and friendly feeling toward a benefactor; kindness awakened by a favor received; thankfulness. By way of Euan S... Read More

I've got a lot of them. Blessings. I could start this entry in the same cheesy manner I get from freshmen who begin their essays with a dictionary excerpt. Areligious person that I am, much to my mom and dad's... Read More

It is one of those days; the wind is howling, the sun cannot make up its mind whether or not... Read More

It is one of those days; the wind is howling, the sun cannot make up its mind whether or not... Read More

grateful? from emergency weblog on December 30, 2003 11:49 PM

Liz asks the blogosphere to count its blessings and I’m grateful for…. Nanowrimo, for giving me the push I needed to get back on the horse, so to speak. Dori,... Read More

blessings from Violets are Red on December 31, 2003 1:40 AM

Another year is coming to a close. Two thousand three is only the nineteenth complete year I have lived through, but so much has happened in so short a time. I can't even imagine what my life will be like... Read More

Elizabeth Lane Lawley points to an AP article that refers to this project on the psychological and health benefits of expressing gratitude for the good things in your life. The idea that there is a relationship between thoughts and health... Read More

A good year from Caveat Lector on December 31, 2003 10:49 AM

I am actually ashamed to say how good a year this has been for me. It’s been wretched for a lot of people I care for, for the country I live in, for the world. Counting my blessings skates the edge of gloating. Woo-hoo, I got mine, screw you. Which Read More

New Year's Eve from Planned Obsolescence on December 31, 2003 8:54 PM

I've returned from the MLA adventure, and the Louisiana adventure before that, and the London adventure before that. I'm not, as Liz is, the kind of person who ordinarily prefers sleeping in her own bed, but after the better part of three weeks on the ... Read More

Normally, as a year exits, I'm cursing on its way out, particularly with the kind of years I had in 2001 and 2002. But 2003 turned out to be probably the best year of my life. I'm hoping 2004 builds on the great things that happened this year rather th... Read More

Enumeration from Kendra's Tagebuch on January 1, 2004 1:53 PM

Thanks for the reminder from Elizabeth at mamamusings that it's important to remember the good things in life. 1) I can't imagine having a happier, more contented marriage. My husband is, daily, the biggest blessing in my life. Read More

counting from george.h.williams on January 1, 2004 11:48 PM

Keep on the Sunny Side There's a dark and a troubled side of life There's a bright and a sunny side too Though we meet with the darkness and strife The sunny side we also may view Liz argues for... Read More

New Year, New Haven from AKMA’s Random Thoughts on January 2, 2004 12:24 AM

Today Margaret and I were enjoying a New Year’s brunch at a friend’s house, when someone asked when we left town next. “Tomorrow morning,” Margaret said, and I nearly dropped my coffee cup — but she was right, and tomorrow... Read More

From Liz Lawley (via George, a reminder of the material benefits of optimism. So, here goes: The boy. His mother,... Read More

From Liz Lawley (via George, a reminder of the material benefits of optimism. So, here goes: The boy. His mother,... Read More

Count your blessings from Adrian Warnock's UK Blog on January 2, 2004 12:17 PM

I have too many to count Read More

New Year's Traditions from Across, Beyond, Through on January 2, 2004 12:36 PM

For the past twenty or so years, I've had a New Year's tradition of making a list, not of resolutions, but of gratitude. Usually, by the end of the list, I find myself making a resolution to remember and to... Read More

January from Planned Obsolescence on January 2, 2004 12:39 PM

Welcome to 2004. The year started while I was asleep, as I predicted; after a minor DVD-marathon (yeah, yeah, yeah; I've been a Buffy-fan for years, but somehow never made the spin-off leap. I'm now... somewhat intrigued, though not enough to find out ... Read More

Looking Ahead/Looking Back from the chutry experiment on January 2, 2004 1:55 PM

In a sense, all of my blog entries are Janus-faced, looking in two directions simultaneously: into the past they are in the process of recording and into the future where they may (or may not) be received. The beginning of... Read More

Hoops. At the end of the year, the faculty write self-evaluations and plans of work for the upcoming year. This annual inventory is different than counting blessings or hopes because it is externally driven. The target audience isn't self, and... Read More

Matthew 24:43 from nichole's auxiliary storage on January 5, 2004 11:59 AM

My bit of the world is an entirely different place than it was when I first contemplated Liz Lawley's call for blessings. Before New Year's Eve, I would have a list a lot like the others who tracked back: I'm Read More

Year in Review from miscellany is the largest category on January 5, 2004 6:10 PM

Not really, but a few months in review, since I've hardly posted much in recent days, as evidenced by the fact that my blog is slowly lifting up its skirt and showing its underclothes. Thanksgiving. Yes, that far back. As... Read More

New Year's Traditions from Across, Beyond, Through on August 9, 2004 9:42 AM

For the past twenty or so years, I've had a New Year's tradition of making a list, not of resolutions, but of gratitude. Usually, by the end of the list, I find myself making a resolution to remember and to... Read More

 

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This page contains a single entry by Liz Lawley published on December 30, 2003 11:46 AM.

travel plans for the new year was the previous entry in this blog.

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