BENEFITS OF GRATITUDE

WISDOM NUGGET: "Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all." - William Faulkner

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Experience must have shown you somehow that it is not in the habit of the natural man to remember to show gratitude. Please understand that "showing gratitude is more than good manners or courtesy. It is good spirituality."- Alfred Painter.

One time tested strategy for not forgetting to be thankful is to keep records of God's blessings in your life, especially through the people around you. When was the last time you took stuck of God's goodness in your life?

There was a teenager who didn't want to be seen in public with her mother, because her mother's arms were terribly disfigured. One day when her mother took her shopping and reached out her hand, a clerk looked horrified. Later, crying, the girl told her how embarrassed she was.
Understandably hurt, the mother waited an hour before going to her daughter's room to tell her, for the first time, what happened. "When you were a baby, I woke up to a burning house. Your room was in flames. I could have gotten out the front door, but I couldn't abandon you to die in there, what life would there have been without my little baby? You. I chose to die with you than leave you alone. I ran through the fire and wrapped my arms around you. Then I went back through the flames; my arms on fire. When I got outside on the lawn, the pain was agonizing but when I looked at you; your little cute sparkling eyes and charming smile on your face, your little mind not aware what was happening. That joy of your safety was worth my difigured arms." Stunned, the girl looked at her mother through new eyes. Weeping in shame and gratitude, she kissed her mother's marred hands and arms. The little girl knew nothing of the awesome benefits she had in her mum, let alone remember them.

Researchers affirm that gratitude can also boost our mental health and well-being. They found that people who kept notes on what they're thankful for have reported higher levels of positive emotions, more joy and pleasure, more happiness and optimism. They felt more alert, alive, and awake than others who did not practice gratitude. Notably, people who are focused on things they are thankful for are less depressed and less angry. From our previous write up, remember how researchers found that gratitude can increase your set point of happiness by 25%?

Alfred North Whitehead puts it this way, "No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude."