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Gratefulness Leads to Happiness
Last week we had a pre-class discussion/question about the practice of gratitude. This spawned from an excellent podcast I'd heard on the Tim Ferris Podcast concerning the importance of practicing gratitude. We followed up by asking each member of the class to express gratitude for something they had going well. Lots of good answers.
We discussed how a million things go right every day including making it to the gym, seeing family and friends, even just the fact that we have arms is incredible in its own way. (Imagine your life without arms)
Too often we get caught up in small irritants. Little problems can throw our entire day off with ruminations or reminders of something that in the grand scheme of things can be considered minute like your spouse not taking out the garbage. Not a big deal when you consider that at least you have a spouse or at least you have money to afford food that creates the garbage.
The podcast below follows the practice of gratitude as a means of creating and nurturing a sense of well being and gratefulness for all of the little things that are going right in life. We live in what is considered the best time to be alive. There is no black plague, you get to work out for an hour at least 2-5 times per week with your friends, and my favorite from the podcast was that if we need surgery we have anesthesia. Before modern times all surgeries were done while you were awake. HOLY SMOKES.
What you nurture in life is what will grow. If you nurture feelings of anger, irritation, or hatred you will feel those emotions more often and they become a sort of default. The same is true for well wishes or gratefulness. Reminding yourself to be thankful for what you have will make you grateful and happier.
“So it is not happiness that makes us grateful. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy.” -David Steind-Rast
I hope you all enjoy this podcast as much as I did. This is A.J, Jacob on the Tim Ferris Podcast. (Below is a little synopsis)
In this episode, A.J. will be taking us through 10 strategies for being happier through gratitude in these stressful times and his agreement to do so just builds upon the gratitude I already have for this man. I hope you enjoy, and if you benefit in some way from these strategies, please feel free to reach out and thank him.
