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Living in Gratitude: 7 Ways to Make the World a Better Place

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You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person. ~Scott Scorrell

During our lifetime, each of us makes an impact. One of the most significant impressions we can make is by doing what we can as individuals to make the world a better place.

Here are 7 ways we can have a positive influence.

1. DO NO HARM

If everyone endeavored to achieve this goal, our world would be transformed. We should all strive to live by this motto. Help others. Be patient. Smile more. Say thank you. Be courteous. Make eye contact. Spread kindness, love, and goodwill every day.

2. ENJOY YOUR TIME

Instead of focusing on the negative, look at what is wonderful and amazing. Sure, it’s easy to get caught up in what isn’t going our way, to complain, argue, and get upset or annoyed. Yet by looking and being grateful for the good, we can shift our outlook, enjoying what life has to offer.

3. UPLIFT THE NEXT GENERATION

Being a good parent or grandparent (or an encouraging adult influence if you don’t have children in your life) is a way to positively impact and inspire the younger generation and as such, the world as a whole. Working toward offering youth new and better opportunities, talking to them about what it means to be part of a connected, global world and teaching them to make their own uplifting contributions is a huge payoff for the next generation.

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Living In Gratitude: A Simple Formula For Living Your Best Life

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To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist. That is all. ~Oscar Wilde

Life is a gift. When we wake up every day to that realization and do the things that really matter, we move from a place of mere existence to one of living.

So what DOES matter? Below is a simple formula for living your best life.

Take care of yourself, body, mind, and spirit.

Learn from the past. Plan for the future. Live in the present.

Be kind, even to those who are unkind.

Take responsibility for your actions.

Realize mistakes are learning opportunities not something to beat yourself up over.

Listen more. Talk less.

Do something nice and try not to get caught.

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

Be humble.

Be gracious.

Praise rather than criticize.

Laugh. Love. Hug.

Connect with others.

Surround yourself with people who inspire and support you. Do the same for them.

Be on time.

Live beneath your means.

Spend time in nature.

Take time to be alone. Reflect.

Be courteous and polite.

Say thank you. A lot.

Be tolerant and understanding, even if you don’t agree.

Give of your time and talents.

Communicate clearly.

Don’t take things personally.

Instead of assuming, ask for clarification.

Take risks. Overcome fears.

Believe in yourself.

Be grateful.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s all small stuff.

May your day be filled with gratitude and good things.

 

 

Living In Gratitude: 10 Tips on Disconnecting From Your Digital Devices

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Digital media is everywhere and most of us are engaged in its use on a daily basis, both personally and professionally.

Digital media is defined by the Digital Media and Society report as “products and services from the media, entertainment and information industry, it includes digital platforms (websites and apps), digitized content (text, audio, video, images) and services (information, communication, entertainment) accessed via a variety of digital devices.”

Life as we know it has changed thanks to digital media, including how we connect and collaborate. Hyperconnectivity, the increasing digital interconnection of people and things, has done much to improve our quality of life including speeding up the dissemination of knowledge and information, building bridges over the boundaries of time and location, and fostering unparalleled levels of communication and social interaction.

Many of digital media’s positive effects are found in our professional lives. We can collaborate and communicate more easily with people around the world. We can improve our skills via online courses. We can work virtually.

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Living In Gratitude: 7 Ways to Cultivate Resilience

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Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient. ~Steve Maraboli

Resilience, the ability to recover quickly from adversity, is a skill that proves its worth throughout our lives. The characteristics of this personal toughness include:

  • They practice mindfulness and purposefully pay attention to their life
  • They possess a solid self esteem
  • Recognizing that this too shall pass
  • Use past successes to confront current challenges
  • Not comparing themselves to others
  • Realizing setbacks and adversity are stepping stones to transformation
  • Finding humor in every situation
  • They relinquish control

Harnessing the capacity to recover from difficult times is critical for healthy childhood development but this characteristic is often needed most as we enter midlife. During this time, life can serve up innumerable stressors: divorce, loss of a parent, financial concerns, illness, or obstacles in our careers.

Thankfully, with the perspective gained from life experience as well as the ability to better manage emotions, those in their middle years possess characteristics and behaviors that may allow resiliency to be more easily developed. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 13 Life Changing Lessons

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Wayne Dyer was a profound person whose wisdom about honoring ourselves and living in truth give us great insight into how to live life. Below are 13 life-changing lessons we can learn from this incredible man.

  1. Cooperation is healthier than competition

When we constantly work on bettering ourselves rather than comparing and competing with others, our focus shifts from one of separation to one of inclusion and cooperation.

“If you’re always in a hurry, always trying to get ahead of the other guy, or someone else’s performance is what motivates you, then that person is in control of you.” ~ Wayne Dyer

  1. Don’t try to change those you love

We should love people for who they are not what we want them to be. Love means not imposing our expectations, will and beliefs to mold others into someone else.

“Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they satisfy you.” ~ Wayne Dyer  Read more

Living In Gratitude: 11 Steps To A Purposeful Morning

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How we begin each day can set us up for success or can set us forth on a path of feeling frustrated, anxious and stressed.

How many of us wake to an alarm to only hit the snooze button again and again? Then when we final rise, we are already behind and feeling rushed.

Others of us make a point of checking social media, again discovering that our latest post didn’t get acknowledged with likes or comments. Now, not only are we feeling rushed but unappreciated and a touch insecure. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 6 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress

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Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought above the other. ~Williams James

These days, we are all busy. Our days are filled with endless to do lists, both at work and at home. Being so busy, we tend to fall into the mindset that undertaking the next thing on our to-do list takes precedence over relaxing.

But it’s harder to take care of all the things we HAVE to do or for connecting with important people in our lives — if we don’t first take care of ourselves. When we take time out to relax and unwind, we will have more energy, patience and a better outlook to tackle everything we need to do.

Below are a few relaxation techniques that can help reduce stress, increase focus and calm our bodies and minds.

1.Deep Breathing

Focusing our awareness on our breath is an exceptional way in which to calm our minds and emotions, allowing us to relax. Our breathing frequently reflects our emotions. When we are stressed, angry or anxious, we tend to do shallow breathing, which perpetuates these emotional states. By bringing awareness to and altering our breathing, we can shift both our attention and mood. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Every Problem Has A Purpose

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Problems are only opportunities in work clothes. ~ Henry J. Kaiser

When faced with any sort of challenge, we have the choice to approach that obstacle as an opportunity to make us better people or to adopt the attitude that ‘the world’ or ‘someone’ is conspiring against us.

When we look at all of the curve balls life throws us, be the big, small or in between, we realize that each and every problem has a purpose:

One to make you stronger, one to make you more patient, one to teach tolerance and forgiveness, another to help us communicate more clearly, and yet another to instill creativity. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Neuroscience Shows These 4 Things Boost Happiness

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We’ve talked about neuroscience before. Neuroscience is the study of nervous system, including the brain. This research looks closely at behavior and learning.

Alex Korb, a neuroscientist at UCLA, offered four key insights that will boost happiness, all based on his scientific research.

1. Ask, “What am I grateful for?”

Gratitude has been shown to increase our brain’s dopamine and serotonin levels, affecting it at a biological level. Dopamine is commonly associated with pleasure while serotonin affects mood and social behavior. The more we have coursing through our bodies, the better our appetite, memory, gregariousness and sleep.

The most important thing is to ask the question and consider possibilities, even if we don’t arrive at an answer. This helps our brain produce these two positive chemicals, making us feel happier. By searching for things to appreciate, we also enhance our emotional intelligence, enabling us to discover things to appreciate over time. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 3 Life Lessons About Relationships

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Since 1938, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked the lives of 724 men over 75 years. This rare and enlightening study has gathered information about these men’s work, health, home life and more from the time their were teenagers to now, when many are well into their 80s.

After three-quarters of a century and tens of thousands of pages of collected data, one main insight rises to the top.

Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.

Three primary lessons about relationships came from this incredible study:

  1. Social connections are really good for us

People who are more socially connected to family, friends and community are emotionally happier, psychically healthier and live longer than those without deep social connections. People who are lonely and isolated are not as happy, suffer from declining health as they age, their brain function decreases and they live shorter lives. Read more