Your Daily Brush: Gratitude for a Daily Dose of Mental Hygiene
Incorporating a gratitude practice into your mental hygiene routine will contribute to your sense of wellbeing and it might even help keep depressive thoughts at bay.
Dear Friends,
Of course you know that gratitude is a good thing! But how often do you actually sit down and think through what is going right in your life?
We live in an imperfect world. (How’s that for understatement?)
Though it may sound like a cliche to speak about gratitude, it is a practice that anyone can do - and its benefits are backed up by a lot of research.
In fact a recent meta-analysis, i.e. study that combines the results of many studies, found that a regular practice of gratitude, not only promotes one’s emotional health, it can also protect against depression.
Keep in mind that how we think affects how we feel. So when we dwell only on what could have been or should have been, we miss what is.
By the way, I share this information about gratitude not as some expert talking down from an insulated Ivory Tower. I am a fellow traveler on this shared path we call life. In fact, like many people, I’ve faced challenges and struggles that most would not guess, even now!
But it is my ability to feel gratitude that has enabled me to connect with meaning and purpose in my life - and this keeps me moving forward.
You don’t have to take my word for this. Go ahead and give it a try! Not a dip your toe in the water kind of try. Do a serious plunge into the pool kind of try - and you will experience the benefits yourself.
To define one’s life by what is going right rather than what is going wrong is not just health promoting. It can also be transformative.
Go ahead and give it a try!
Rx: As you keep your eyes and heart open to the pain, suffering and injustice in the world, and possibly even in your life, I invite you to take a few minutes to tally up what is going right.
Hold space for the difficulties and challenges and at the same time, create space in your mind and heart and invite in what is good.
Who are the people in your life that you are grateful for?
What are the things in your life that you are grateful for?
What is going right for you, even if your life is far from perfect?
What might you have that someone else looking from the outside would wish for in their lives?
Spend a few minutes sitting in a state of gratitude each day and let that feeling permeate throughout your mind and body. This is a powerful way to brush your mind and promote your mental hygiene.
To your health!
