Welcome to Day #11 of 21 Days of Gratitude
(Today's post is a compilation from the original 21 Days of Gratitude Project and other additional websites.)
Today we invite you to focus on a wonderful way that you can use “gratitude” to activate your body’s natural relaxation response.
Or, another way of stating it, Mindfulness + Gratitude = Savoring
The choice to slow down, to “savor” something, must be made consciously. But–once you do–the benefits become very apparent.
You see - stress and happiness cannot co-exist.
Savoring (from http://psychcentral.com/lib/
"This is “being in the moment, smelling the roses and tasting your coffee,” Siegel said. It’s savoring everyday moments. Mindfulness helps us learn how to savor situations.
Mindfulness involves “training the mind to be more in the present moment,” and to “be open to whatever is happening each moment,” according to Siegel, who’s also a mindfulness expert and author of The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems.
In fact, mindfulness supports each pathway to happiness. Many people have a narrow definition of mindfulness, such as you must banish all thoughts from your mind and become a blank slate. But being mindful is as simple as bringing your attention to walking, instead of continuing to get lost in thoughts about your to-list and what happened yesterday, Siegel said.
This is a skill that you can practice with various exercises. “The same way you can develop physical fitness, you can develop psychological fitness,” Siegel said. Mindfulness exercises help people step out of your thoughts and be fully engaged in the here and now. You can download or play many meditations that can help you to develop mindfulness on Siegel’s website.
According to recent research, we spend almost 47 percent of our time “mind-wandering,” or having thoughts about something other than what we’re currently doing. And this makes us unhappy.
“In fact, how often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged,” said Matthew A. Killingsworth, one of the study’s researchers, in a statement.
Even something as tedious as shoveling snow can make us feel happy, if we’re fully engaged in it, (savoring) Siegel said. In the same way, something as pleasant as talking to a friend, if your mind is wandering, won’t make you happy."
So, as soon as you find yourself “savoring” something (anything), you have shifted your energy in a powerfully positive way.
Action Steps for this week:
1) We’d invite you to make a commitment to yourself that, a half-dozen times over this coming weekend, you will bring yourself into present moment awareness while you look for opportunities to “savor.”
~ Savor the beauty in the sights aroung you.
~ Really pay attention to the sounds in your environment.
~ Be mindful regarding the family rituals that are most meaningful to you and/or create new ways for your family to relax and savor time together.
As Bonnie Snyder of http://www.serenitypathways.
2) Mindfulness + Gratitude = Savoring
3) Continue your daily list of 5 things that you are grateful for in your Gratitude Journal.
Elyse
Savor: To appreciate fully; enjoy or relish.
Or, another way of stating it, Mindfulness + Gratitude = Savoring
The choice to slow down, to “savor” something, must be made consciously. But–once you do–the benefits become very apparent.
You see - stress and happiness cannot co-exist.
Savoring (from http://psychcentral.com/lib/
"This is “being in the moment, smelling the roses and tasting your coffee,” Siegel said. It’s savoring everyday moments. Mindfulness helps us learn how to savor situations.
Mindfulness involves “training the mind to be more in the present moment,” and to “be open to whatever is happening each moment,” according to Siegel, who’s also a mindfulness expert and author of The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems.
savoringpresent participle of sa·vor (Verb)
| Verb: |
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In fact, mindfulness supports each pathway to happiness. Many people have a narrow definition of mindfulness, such as you must banish all thoughts from your mind and become a blank slate. But being mindful is as simple as bringing your attention to walking, instead of continuing to get lost in thoughts about your to-list and what happened yesterday, Siegel said.
This is a skill that you can practice with various exercises. “The same way you can develop physical fitness, you can develop psychological fitness,” Siegel said. Mindfulness exercises help people step out of your thoughts and be fully engaged in the here and now. You can download or play many meditations that can help you to develop mindfulness on Siegel’s website.
According to recent research, we spend almost 47 percent of our time “mind-wandering,” or having thoughts about something other than what we’re currently doing. And this makes us unhappy.
“In fact, how often our minds leave the present and where they tend to go is a better predictor of our happiness than the activities in which we are engaged,” said Matthew A. Killingsworth, one of the study’s researchers, in a statement.
Even something as tedious as shoveling snow can make us feel happy, if we’re fully engaged in it, (savoring) Siegel said. In the same way, something as pleasant as talking to a friend, if your mind is wandering, won’t make you happy."
So, as soon as you find yourself “savoring” something (anything), you have shifted your energy in a powerfully positive way.
Action Steps for this week:
1) We’d invite you to make a commitment to yourself that, a half-dozen times over this coming weekend, you will bring yourself into present moment awareness while you look for opportunities to “savor.”
~ Savor the beauty in the sights aroung you.
~ Really pay attention to the sounds in your environment.
~ Be mindful regarding the family rituals that are most meaningful to you and/or create new ways for your family to relax and savor time together.
As Bonnie Snyder of http://www.serenitypathways.
2) Mindfulness + Gratitude = Savoring
3) Continue your daily list of 5 things that you are grateful for in your Gratitude Journal.
Elyse
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