Benefits of Being Grateful – Mother’s Day Gratitude
On Sunday we celebrate mothers around the world. Mothers who have raised countless sons, daughters, step-daughters and step-sons, and sometimes even grandchildren. We will celebrate their strength, courage, and resilience in tackling what is one of the hardest “jobs” in the world. But most importantly, we will be grateful and appreciative for everything they have done for us throughout our lives. And being grateful is an amazing thing, not only for our relationships with our own mothers, but also for our own personal well-being. Being grateful can do wonders for our own positive mindset and levels of happiness.
In their bestselling book “How We Choose to Be Happy – The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People” 
And hand in hand with that is what behaviorists have long been saying which is that the happiest people don’t fit the traditional view of having an “unmovable happiness set-point” (in other words naturally happy or unhappy). If anything, through practices like yoga and gratitude meditation, your “happiness set-point” can be whatever you want it to be, regardless of your situation. The mystic Rumi once said “Work in the invisible world as least as hard as you do in the visible.” The invisible world lives within you as beliefs and attitudes and that’s where lasting happiness lives.
Not only will your “happiness set-point” be raised through gratitude, you’ll also:
Feel more connected
This can be extremely helpful if you’re estranged from your mother or a wall has been built up between the two of you for whatever reason.
Boost your health
Studies show that those who are grateful often feel less pain, go to the doctor less often, have lower blood pressure, improved immune system, and are less likely to develop a mental disorder.
Improve your emotional equilibrium
Instead of being happy one minute, sad the next, angry after that, and everything in between, practicing gratitude helps you balance out how you feel and keep it consistent.
Be able to sleep better and longer
When you’re constantly worried at bedtime about your marriage, finances, work, or kids, the level of stress in your body will not only keep you awake, it will also likely cut your sleep short. However, when you replace the feelings of stress with feelings of gratitude, it will induce the relaxation response, setting you up for a night of sound sleep. This in turn will help boost your overall energy levels during your waking hours.
Become more attractive to those around you and feel more confident
When you are practicing gratitude, you naturally become nicer, more trusting, and more social, traits not lost on those around you who will in turn reciprocate with similar feelings. How’s that for a great self-esteem boost?
Bounce back easier from difficulties
When you practice gratitude you naturally have a more pro-active coping style, leading you to seek out help in times when life gets challenging. In other words, you become more resilient.
So this Mother’s Day, make being grateful a big part of your day, because not only will you probably get a shower of appreciation back from your mom, you’ll also reap some pretty great physical and emotion benefits along the way.
To raising your happiness set-point to the highest it can be – Anna
References
Amin, Amit. May 2016. “The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life.”
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