{"id":741,"date":"2009-11-09T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/11\/10-reasons-to-make-gratitude-lists.html"},"modified":"2009-11-09T15:32:02","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T15:32:02","slug":"10-reasons-to-make-gratitude-lists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/11\/10-reasons-to-make-gratitude-lists.html","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons to Make Gratitude Lists"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my spiritual practices is to make regular gratitude lists<\/a>. I aim for every day. Lately I’ve gotten a couple of notes, both from strangers and friends, saying this jotting down of thanks helps them. It’s certainly not news–people have been counting their blessings since the first breath, I imagine. But here are some reasons you might want to add it to your handful of spiritual supplements. <\/p>\n

1) You could reduce your stress<\/a> and improve your overhall health.<\/p>\n

2) Looking at the positive trains your brain to see the good things as much as you do the not-so-good.<\/p>\n

3) You can see the genuinely positive elements in negative experiences–without being in denial or pollyanna-ish. <\/p>\n

4) Some say that “like attracts like”–and when you see your life as generally good, more good will come to you.<\/p>\n

5) Appreciative people are more popular than complaining, negative people. <\/p>\n

6) You can shift your mood from hopeless to hopeful; grateful people are happier<\/a>–less fearful and depressed and more optimistic. <\/p>\n

7) You can realize you have enough, now–making you less easily threatened, more fulfilled, and more generous.<\/p>\n

8) You’ll inspire other people to count their blessings, thereby spreading happiness in the world.<\/p>\n

9) When you are filled with gratitude it’s much harder to see yourself as a victim and much easier to be full of happiness and pride.<\/p>\n

10) Your love-light will shine a bit brighter. And we need more love-light–especially yours.<\/p>\n

Here are some gratitude quotes to inspire you.<\/a><\/p>\n

Like what you see? <\/strong>Click here to subscribe<\/strong><\/font><\/a> and get Fresh Living in your in-box every day!<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my spiritual practices is to make regular gratitude lists. I aim for every day. Lately I’ve gotten a couple of notes, both from strangers and friends, saying this jotting down of thanks helps them. It’s certainly not news–people have been counting their blessings since the first breath, I imagine. 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She was a founding editor at Breathe magazine, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Women's Health, Natural Health, Yoga Journal, Lime.com, Vegetarian Times, and ABCNEWS.com. A native New Yorker, Valerie holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Beloit College in Creative Writing with a minor in Women's Studies. She also lived in Maui for a while where she drank green papaya juice and taught some creative writing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/vreiss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}