If you live in Minnesota you might be a little bored with our long cold winter. The picture of the bleeding hearts was taken at our Como Park Conservatory. I try to get there every February and I am so grateful we have this haven of warmth, flowers and plants all year. My focus in yoga this week was gratitude and here is some research by Robert Emmons with some of the many benefits of being grateful.
“1. Gratitude allows us to celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions. Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional systems like newness. They like novelty. They like change. We adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house—they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore.
2. Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness.
3. Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering, if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. I believe gratitude gives people a perspective from which they can interpret negative life events and help them guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.
4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. I think that’s because when you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.”
from Why Gratitude is Good by Robert A. Emmons, syndicated from Greater Good, Jun 20, 2011
March has a few well known holidays like St. Patricks Day. If you are having a hard time finding anything to celebrate, here are some obscure holidays. Below are the ones I plan on celebrating in March. For a complete list see http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/.
March
8 International (Working) Women’s Day
14 Learn about Butterflies Day
16 Everything You Do is Right Day
25 Pecan Day