Develop gratitude

As time goes on it’s easy to ignore all the good that surrounds you because we’re always focusing on the negative. Decades ago you might have been able to run a marathon. Today you’re lucking if you can jog around the neighborhood once without feeling intense pain in your feet and legs.

But at least you can run! And if you can’t run, at least you can stand! And even if you can’t stand, at least you’ve got a healthy mind. Keep going down the list and find things you are grateful for every day, however small.

Look on the bright side, even when it’s hard.

One study proved that this sort of positive outlook is good for us. Researchers made participants write down things they were grateful each and every day. At the end of the study, those who did this felt better about their lives and were more optimistic than those who didn’t.

Even more science can back this up. Gratitude affects us in many ways, both mentally and physically. The director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Program at Duke University’s School of Medicine, Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, lists the systems that are impacted by gratitude “mood neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine), reproductive hormones (testosterone), social bonding hormones (oxytocin), cognitive and pleasure related neurotransmitters (dopamine), inflammatory and immune systems (cytokines), stress hormones (cortisol), cardiac and EEG rhythms, blood pressure and blood sugar”.