Habits of grateful people

1. Once in a while, they think about death and loss.
2. They take time to smell a rose (savoring positive experiences).
3. They take the good things as gifts, not birthrights (entitlement is the opposite of gratitude).
4. They are grateful to people too, not just for things.
5. They mention the pancakes (grateful people are habitually specific, they tell when and why are grateful for it).
6. They thank outside the box.

Benefits of gratitude

Psychological benefits:
-increased happiness and pro-social tendencies
-decreased negative states, stress and anti-social sentiments
-optimistic, satisfied view of life
-enhances the frequency and magnitude of enjoyment of pleasant, positive emotional experiences
-counteract hedonic adaptation and habituation
-make it easier to access and enjoy pleasant, positive emotions.

Physical and social benefits:
-fewer physical ailments and discomforts
-reduces blood pressure
-make you socially accessible
-greater relationships satisfaction
-find partners/friends for solid relations much easier
-remind us our partner strengths
-bind us closer to them.

About gratitude and way to increase it in our life

Being grateful is a way of life. The grateful person accepts all of life as a gift. It is about satisfaction versus deprivation. Gratitude strengthen social ties and increase one's sense of personal worth.

A. Gratitude journal -to write at least once a week, minimum of 5 things you are grateful for it- hints
- write and deliver a gratitude letter from time to time
- imagine a different life, substracting the good things
- deprive yourself consciously, find happiness in deprivation.

B. Gratitude letter - hints
-to someone who helped you, write a real letter with what she/he did for you, why are you grateful, how she/he impacted in your life.
-deliver it in person, face to face, read it to that person, pay attention how you feel, how she/he feel, leave the letter to her/him.

Positive stress and the art of gratitude

Probably everyone heard about negative and positive stress. The positive one is the one that help our growth. But where is that red thin line that will make the difference between the good one and the bad one? In the end, it is just our perception and previous experience that will help us to reach to this conclusion. And we got another curious side effect, in the face of adversity we found ourselves able to do much more than we where thinking we could. In conclusion, we should be gratefull for every problem that we meet in our way. Because every problem has a gift hidden in the solving process. And often we got the problems because we need their gifts. Be glad of having them, because this is how we grow faster.