In which I discover a cue to help prompt me to feel grateful for good health.

One of my resolutions is to “Cultivate gratitude.”

A study showed that people who daily reflected on five things they appreciated felt happier, had more energy, and slept better. People who worked on their gratitude even exercised more!

One way that I try to Cultivate gratitude is to be grateful for good health.

Good health is so easy to take for granted – I appreciate it only when some problem arises.

I found a good gratitude cue in my neighborhood. Because I live close to Lenox Hill Hospital, and because I spend a lot of time just a block away from it, visiting the Tasti-D-Lite store down the street, I often see people walking around the neighborhood wearing neon “Hospital Visitor” stickers.

Now I use the sight of those stickers as a prompt to appreciate the fact that I’m neither in a hospital nor have any reason to visit anyone in the hospital. For now.

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Marci Alboher of fabulous Shifting Careers fame pointed me to Awake @ the Wheel -- great stuff there! On a wide range of interesting subjects.

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Comments

[sheila]

I have done much the same thing, although not so frequently. I say tonglen whenever I see a medical helicopter flying by. Tonglen is the Buddhist practice where you send good intentions: May you be filled with loving-kindness. May you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be happy. I say it for the patient, then the helicopter crew, then the medical team awaiting the helicopter's arrival, then the family of the injured person.

I too see this as a reminder to help me appreciate my good health. But I also find that saying tonglen removes the sense of helplessness that I used to feel in the face of a crisis where I am too far away to render physical assistance. If everything is indeed interconnected, then perhaps this small gesture, like the beating of the wings of a butterfly, will have a larger effect in another place or time.

[Mrs. Micah]

When I'm in the hospital for work, I find a number of ways to cultivate gratitude and happiness. For one, I experience the joy of the babies I work with. And I feel grateful that I'm not visiting someone who's sick or sick myself (though sometimes I have to visit my mom). And then I'm deeply grateful for the amazing nurses who care for the NICU babies I work with and who treat them like other mothers.

[Heather at Grace303]

I do the same thing whenever I see an ambulance go by.

[Jonathan Fields]

Hey Gretchen,

Thanks so much for sharing a link to my Awake At The Wheel blog, I've enjoyed reading yours for a while, now, and am...grateful...for the wisdom you share!

[Never the Same River Twice]

Hmm. It's funny. This post reminded my of a game we played when I was a little kid. Whenever we drove past a cemetery, my cousins and I would hold our breaths so we wouldn't "breathe in any spirits." I grew up in the country near some VERY LARGE cemeteries, so sometimes I would be holding my breath for a really long time.

I remember being very grateful when I got to breathe again! It was a very immediate reminder of the joy of being alive. That may seem silly, but I might take up the practice again - as long as I'm not passing out while driving.

[grimo1re]

Hang on, cultivating gratitude helps with the exercising? How does that work? And how come you just drop that in one sentence and then move on to less important things! :)

[Looby]

I do something similar, my office is on a level with the helicopter landing pad for a large emergency department, and I always take a moment to say a little prayer for whoever is inside and those looking after them. I do the same when ambulances/fire engines go by with their sirens on.

[Harriet Cabelly]

It used to be known as counting our blessings. We've now formalized this concept and the big push is now Gratitude. Positive psychology states that keeping a gratitude journal improves people's happiness level. And doing it at bedtime puts us in a positive mindset to sleep (as opposed to watching the news). As elementary as this might seem, this exercise definitely shifts us away from the negative and helps us hone in more on the positive. Sadly,it appears to be easier to focus on the negative. (We will call to complain about a service, but how many of us will call to compliment a service person.) In our day to day dealings, more criticism and complaints are spoken than praise and positive acknowlegements. We all could benefit from some reconditioning towards the positive. And not just on Thanksgiving Day. Going back to the basics of expressing thankfulness and appreciation for what we have, goes a long way in helping us feel, act and exude positiveness.

I actually look forward to climbing into bed at night and writing my list of at least three things that I am grateful for.
(Robert Emmons book Thanks! is a must read)

Thank you for your wonderful blog on Happiness.

[fermion]

Coming to this thread late, but just in case somebody else wanders by:

How do you decouple gratitude from guilt? I've got millions of things to be grateful for, but thinking of them frequently makes me feel guilty that I'm experiencing undeserved good fortune, especially when I feel like I have been granted resources that I'm not taking full advantage of (like my talents or my health.)