8/14/2019 How To Be Happy: Don't Be Thankful On Thanksgiving

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How to Be Happy: Don’t Be Thankfulon Thanksgiving

By Robert Pagliarini – Columnist for CBS MoneyWatch

Thanksgiving is a complete sham.

Think about it. Valentine's Day is aboutlove, so you give your loved ones

chocolate and flowers. Halloween isabout dressing up and getting candy,

so you dress up and get candy. Flag

Day is about national pride, so you

hang the American flag. Thanksgivingis about introspection and becomingaware of all you have to be thankful for, so what do you do? You stuff 

an insanely large bird inside your oven, eat as much as your stomach

will allow, and maybe watch some football before you pass out from agluttony-induced tryptophan high.

Uh, what about all the introspection and gratitude? That goes out the

window faster than your diet.

It's a shame. The one day of the year we are allowed to gloat a bit --

that's really what gratitude is all about -- and we blow it. I was goingto build an entire movement around this (the URL

www.ThanksgivingIsASham.com is available), but instead of trying to

change a holiday, I've decided to take a different approach. Dowhatever you want on Thanksgiving, but I want you to start doing

something different for the other 364 days of the year. I want you tostart a gratitude journal.

Whenever anyone suggests I do anything with my time, they better

have a good reason for it. Here's why you should invest a bit of yourtime in this.

One of the best ways to increase your happiness and sense of well

being is to express gratitude. Don't believe me? Dr. Robert A.Emmons of the University of California, Davis has done extensive

research on gratitude and happiness. Here are some of his findings:

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• Those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercisedmore regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better

about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about theupcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or

neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

• Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to havemade progress toward important personal goals (academic,

interpersonal and health-based) over a two-month periodcompared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.

• A daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) with young

adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy.

• Participants in the daily gratitude condition were more likely toreport having helped someone with a personal problem or having

offered emotional support to another, relative to the hassles or

social comparison condition.

Dr. Emmons' research shows that daily gratitude exercises resulted in

higher reported levels of optimism, alertness, energy, enthusiasm, anddetermination.

I can tell you firsthand the power of doing this. About a week into my

gratitude journal, I got some really bad news. The kind of news thatyou can't shake for some time and that has long-lasting consequences.

The very first thing I thought was "This sucks!" I was shocked and

angry. After about 20 seconds of this, I immediately thought back to

what I had written earlier in the day. It instantly changed myperspective. Was I (am I) still upset by the news? Absolutely. But I'mlooking at it from a very different place.

Here's how you can start your own gratitude journal:

1. Allocate 10 minutes every day to this. That means scheduling anappointment with yourself if you have to. I've found that doing it first

thing in the morning is best.

2. Buy a blank writing journal. It doesn't have to be fancy, but itmust be strictly for your daily gratitude writings. Don't use it for taking

notes, doodling, etc.

3. Write for 10 minutes about anything and everything you aregrateful for. It's okay to repeat from one day to the next, but try to

come up with at least one new thing each day.

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If you are enjoying this and want to step up your happiness game,go to The Happiness Project blog by Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen

is a happiness guru. She also has a brand new book coming outcalled The Happiness Project . Make her daily advice a part of 

your other 8 hours.

Get started on your gratitude journal right away. Don't let theheadlines bring you down and cause you to lose your perspective or

alter your priorities. A sure-fire way to unhappiness, frustration,

and bitterness is to take for granted what you have and whatyou've accomplished. It doesn't matter if you're broke, in a dead-

end job, morbidly obese, alone, or depressed. There are things inyour life you have the right to feel grateful for. If you're waiting for

life or the economy to be perfect before you are grateful, you'll bemissing out on a wonderful gift.

Identifying and expressing gratitude can sometimes be difficult,

especially if you don't think you have much to be grateful for. Thefirst thing on my list tomorrow ... I'm grateful I'm not a turkey!

(Landscape image by vsz  , CC 2.0 )

For a limited time, you can download several free resources (assessment,

 poster, audio interview, video, and 

more) at www.other8hours.com and 

learn more about my new book, The

Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your FreeTime to Create New Wealth & 

Purpose.

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