What Does it Really Mean to Have Gratitude?

gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving from Journey to Joy Counseling!  This week is full of cleaning, shopping, preparing, and cooking for many people.  It’s easy in the busyness to get lost in the planning and lose sight of what this holiday is all about: Gratitude. According to the Oxford Dictionary, gratitude is “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”.  But what does it really mean to have gratitude?  How do you work to increase your gratitude?  This week we are going to discuss what gratitude really means, and what it looks like in action. Be Present Gratitude forces you to be present, and to see things in the here and now.  When you are grateful, you...

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15 Simple Ways to Practice Gratitude

gratitude

Life can be hard, and it can be very easy to focus on everything that goes wrong.  Sometimes it is a choice to be positive and to focus on the blessings we have.  Practicing gratitude is an everyday decision to focus on the little things, and not take them for granted.  Gratitude is "the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful".  It’s reminding ourselves that despite everything that may be going wrong, there are many things going right. Gratitude has many health benefits, including providing help for Depression and Anxiety.  When you focus on the positive and being grateful, your brain produces feel-good hormones like dopamine and serotonin.  Practicing gratitude also teaches you to reframe negative thoughts into positive...

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