November 21, 2008
PRINCIPAL’ S CORNER
You can't turn on the news, read the paper, or surf the Net without
hearing bad news lately. The downturn in the economy has had a
negative impact on nearly every part of our lives. News channels
are even starting to run stories about recognizing stress in both
adults (and children) and making suggestions for how to manage it.
I have always found that when I am the most stressed, I can regain my
perspective by counting my blessings. No, things are not perfect
right now. However long, long ago I learned never to say the words
“it can't get any worse” because that's about the time that
I am proven very, very wrong.
Counting your blessings, acknowledging gratitude, can be a powerful
tool in maintaining your sanity when the world feels like it's
crumbling. Wikipedia defines gratitude as a positive emotion or
attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will
receive. It's the positive aspect of being grateful, or thankful,
that counteracts the negativity you were feeling.
Although gratitude is something that anyone can experience, some people
seem to feel grateful more often than others. People who tend to
experience gratitude more frequently than do others also tend to be
happier, more helpful and forgiving, and less depressed than their less
grateful counterparts .
I once had a friend who was going through a really bad time in her life
(no really, I'm not making this up). Everything seemed to be
going wrong, each day worse than the one before it. She heard
something about keeping a gratitude journal (I'm pretty sure it was on
Oprah) and she tried it. Each day, no matter how horrendous the
day had been, she wrote down three to five things she was grateful
for. She doubted it would help. But the funny thing is,
once she got in the habit of reminding herself what she had to be
grateful for, she was better able to see the positives in her
life. It wasn't a miracle cure, but it helped.
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, let's try to truly count our
blessings and be thankful for what we have. H.U. Westermayer (sorry I
don't know who he was) once said that, “The Pilgrims made seven
times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished
than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of
thanksgiving.” Kinda puts things in perspective, don't you
think?
Kashdan, Uswatte, & Julian, 2006; McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003
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This page was last updated 25 November 2008