Worldwide Success

On the day that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a very important question is being asked at many kitchen tables across the US: What are you thankful for?  It is so easy to get caught up in the gloom and doom surrounding us these days that we easily forget how good we have it.  Despite of the recent financial turmoil, most people in the United States still live with abundance.

With few exceptions, most of us have plenty of food to eat, and the concept of starvation is better known to those that are concerned about their appearance than to those unable to afford food.  Foreclosures are forcing many people out of their homes, but we still have one of the highest home ownership rates in the world.  Unemployment has been rising rapidly, yet more than 93% of Americans are employed.  Despite of the recent turmoil, we are still one of the richest nations in the world.

Is the glass half-full or half-empty?  Studies have shown that people that are grateful for what they have are more optimistic about the future, are less prone to suffer from depression, and are more likely to take steps to improve their lives.  People that are thankful for what they have, instead of just resenting the fact that they don’t have everything they want, tend to be happier, healthier and more capable of achieving success.

But being grateful should not apply only on Thanksgiving day.  Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California-Riverside puts it this way: “It doesn’t really work if you do it only once a year.” 

“Practicing gratitude is like exercising”, says Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis: “Use it and you won’t lose it, even when times are tough, as they are for many folks right now.”

As reported in the USA Today, Lyubomirsky and Emmons have drawn the following conclusion from their research on the power of gratitude: 

• By being grateful, people with hypertension are able to lower their blood pressure.
• People feel less hostile and are more likely to quit smoking and lose weight when they practice gratitude.
• People who care for relatives with Alzheimer’s disease feel less stress and depression when they keep gratitude journals.
• Those who maintain a thankful attitude through life appear to have lower risks of several disorders, including depression, phobias, bulimia and alcoholism.
• Most people can lift their mood simply by writing a letter of thanks to someone. 

The next time you feel overwhelmed by the current economic slump, take a moment to think about all the things that you already have and can be thankful for.  You may be going through some very difficult times right now, perhaps facing foreclosure, or losing your job, or being beset with debt.  But for sure you have something to be thankful for.  At a minimum, make a mental note of all the things you are thankful for.  Better yet, write them down and review them on a regular basis.

So we end this article on this Thanksgiving day with a simple question:  What are you thankful for?

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