[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Paul Smith
paulsmith at samobile.net
Tue May 24 16:27:29 UTC 2016
Hello and good day to most of you for the second time. Hope that your
day is going well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.
Last evening I was looking through a back issue of the "University of
California at Berkeley Wellness Letter," and I found an article of
significant interest that I'd like to share it with you. It has no
name attached as author, but its title is "The Science of Gratitude,"
rendered as follows:
It makes sense to feel gratitude about good health and happiness, and
not just on Thanksgiving. But can gratitude itself--feeling or
expressing it--enhance physical and emotional well-being? Gratitude may
seem to be primarily a matter of spiritual advisers ("count your
blessings") or motivational speakers, but it has become the focus of
scientific study in recent years, often stemming from related research
on happiness, stress, optimism, and the health benefits of social support.
In the latest study, in the journal _Personal _Relationships (yes,
there is such a peer-reviewed journal), researchers found that
expressing and perceiving gratitude helps protect marriages from the
adverse effects of conflicts. They interviewed 468 married people
about the degree to which they felt appreciated by their spouse, their
level of financial strain and the conflicts this caused, and their
marriage quality. Spousal gratitude was found to be the best predictor
of marital quality and seemed to have protective effects--that is,
spouses who consistently perceived gratitude and appreciation from
their partner were less likely to suffer the marital instability that
can result from marital stress and conflict (as evidenced, for
instance, of thoughts about divorce). And there may be a positive
"spillover effect," as people who feel appreciated by their spouse are
more likely to express their gratitude, leading to a feedback loop of
more positive behaviors and attitudes (what goes around, comes around).
Of course, some people are simply more grateful than others, whether by
choice or disposition or due to their life experiences. But why, and
to what effect? Can gratitude be cultivated, and should it be? Can
simply expressing gratitude make you _feel gratitude--and feel better?
A major resource for research on these and other questions is the
Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley. It is undertaking a
three-year, $5.6 million project called "Expanding the Science and
Practice of Gratitude" to deepen the scientific understanding of the
role of gratitude in health, personal and relational well-being, and
human development. It also promotes "evidence-based practices of
gratitude in medical, educational, and organizational settings."
For more about the Center's gratitude projects, go to
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/expandinggratitude.
One of its projects is the Digital Gratitude Journal
(thnx4.org),
an online journal that allows users to record and share the things for
which they're grateful. These results will be made available to the
research community.
And there you have today's Daily Thought article which I trust gave you
some useful information. By the way, just in case you were wondering,
I have posted my thoughts and freelings up on their website.
Until tomorrow when, Lord willing another daily thought article will be
posted, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe,
individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.
Your Christian friend and brother, Paul
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