Not too long ago, I lost my best friend to Sickle Cell Disease. Today, when I think about my best friend, instead of the usual tears, I smile. How have I been able to make it hurt less? By being thankful that our paths crossed, albeit under very unusual circumstances. I cope with my loss by being grateful for every joke, every laughter, every tear, every fear, and everything else that we shared. By choosing gratitude over despair, I am better able to deal with my loss. Being thankful for the little things makes my grief recede to the background. Then and only then can I focus on the good memories and the positive feelings associated with them.
With these positive feelings, I celebrate Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. I will admit that I love Thanksgiving mostly because I get to try and enjoy so many delicious foods without guilt. Well, without too much guilt. After all, it’s Thanksgiving! But beyond the food and festivities, we should regard thanksgiving not only as a highly significant act but also as a tool to make us healthier.
Thanksgiving as a tool to a better health
Simply being thankful can make us happier and healthier. Expressing gratitude causes our brain to release neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. These natural mood enhancers, commonly called the “feel-good hormones,” immediately uplift our mood and make us happier. One of the reasons we are generally happier during Thanksgiving is the high levels of serotonin and dopamine floating around in our brains. However, after Thanksgiving, there is a dump. Yes, some of that dump is because we ate too much. But the dump is also due to a drop in our serotonin and dopamine levels after all the festivities. In fact, we all feel somewhat down after a much-anticipated event because of the sudden decrease in our feel-good hormones.
So, how do we maintain this happy feeling that improves our mental health? By being intentionally thankful every day! By expressing gratitude daily, you strengthen the network of nerves and cells in your brain to regularly produce more of the feel-good hormones. Once you understand and experience this, you can consciously improve your mood by always being thankful.
Thanksgiving comes naturally to some people. However, several others struggle with practicing gratitude. By being aware of the benefits of thanksgiving, we can become more intentional about giving thanks. In addition to making us happier, giving thanks promotes our health and wellbeing in many more ways. But you don’t have to take my word for it! Check out these ten scientifically-proven benefits of practicing gratitude.
10 Benefits of practicing gratitude
1) Lower blood pressure and better heart and cardiovascular health.
3) Improved sense of wellness and greater satisfaction with life.
4) Reduced depression and anxiety.
5) Stronger social network and friendlier relationships.
9) Better and healthier eating habits.
10) Higher optimism and hope for the future.
Now that we understand these benefits, here are a few ways to practice gratitude as part of a healthy lifestyle.
3 Simple Ways to practice gratitude
1) Start a gratitude journal
Daily write down at least three things that you are grateful for each day. Writing it down is important, so you do not forget. And on those days when everything seems to be going wrong, you can come back and reflect on what you have written down in the past.
2) Express gratitude to others
Express gratitude to at least three people daily. Tell each person at least one thing you are grateful for about them. Expressing gratitude is a gift that keeps on giving. It not only improves your mental health it also improves the mental health of the recipient.
3) Counteract negative thoughts with a thankful one
Daily counteract every negative thought that comes to your mind with a thankful one. For example, instead of thinking about the loss of my best friend, I focus on how fortunate I am to have had a friendship that made saying goodbye so hard.
Avoid a generic thanksgiving
One of the mistakes we make is that we express a generic thanksgiving. This time of the year, it is common to hear the question, “what are you grateful for?” and we all give generic answers, “Being alive, having friends and family, the food we eat, being healthy, having a roof over our heads” etc. And those are all great reasons to be thankful. However, we short-change ourselves when we gloss over all these incredible blessings. First of all, the more things you are grateful for, the more feel-good hormones your body produces and the happier and healthier you become. Secondly, when you start counting your blessings and naming them one by one, I promise you, you will be so busy that you won’t even have time to focus on anything negative.
The Thanksgiving Blueprint
Psalm 136 in the Bible gives us a blueprint of how we ought to give thanks. We can sum up these 26 verses in two to three sentences to convey the same message – “Thank you, God, our creator, for your faithful love and miracles. For delivering us from slavery, destroying our enemies, and providing us with food” – However, the psalmist knew the benefits of being specific when we give thanks. He avoided a generic thanksgiving by listing the details and concrete reasons for his thankfulness.
So, this year, I challenge you to avoid a generic Thanksgiving. Instead, be more specific and thankful for the little things. Choose someone or something you are grateful for and list the many ways you are thankful for that person or thing.
final thoughts
Today, I choose to express gratitude for my husband. Following the example of the psalmist, here are a few little things about my husband for which I am specifically grateful.
1) For consistently making sure that there is fuel in my vehicle.
2) For stepping away from whatever he is doing and seeing me to the door whenever I leave home.
3) For calling me at 9 am every day to make sure I got to work okay.
4) For calling me on my lunch daily to find out how my morning went.
5) For listening when I talk endlessly. At least, I think he does, most times.
6) For laughing at my nerdy jokes.
7) For taking on the doctor role when the kids are ill, while I still get to be their momma.
8) For seeing positive things in me that I do not even see myself.
9) For being a great life and business partner who will not unilaterally take any life or business decision without my input.
10) For grooming my boys and training them to become responsible men.
As you might have guessed, I had to stop there. That list is truly endless. I could pick any of my kids, family members, or friends and produce a similarly infinite list about each person. So, this Thanksgiving, let’s not just perform an overview of gratitude. I challenge you to start your list and be very specific. Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what The Lord has done!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Yours in health and fitness,
Doctor Abi
Great initiative. Never easy at first, sometimes for the most part of the journey but with helping hands and support from family and friends, one is able to gradually get back on his/her feet. Keep doing what you have begun Dr Abi and thanks for sharing.