Gifts Are All Around Us

The big day is over.  Phew!  All the rushing around, Christmas baking, shopping (unless you are boxing day shopping today) and gift wrapping is now behind us for another year. Yesterday was a day of abundance for most of us; abundant food, drink, family, friends and gifts.  Gifts in every shape and size and monetary value, but the intangible gifts are the most touching and valuable to me;  like the gifts of laughter, love, friendship and family.

Our lives are often so full of stuff; modern conveniences, material possessions and unnecessary luxuries that we tend to forget or miss the real gifts that surround us every day.  Of course I am grateful for all of the wrapped gifts I received this Christmas, but I would like to see the spirit of gratitude continue for us all each day of the year.  Sure, gratitude is a feeling of thankfulness in response to receiving something whether it’s a gift or an act of kindness, but I believe we can choose to feel gratitude everyday regardless of our situation or circumstances.  I read somewhere that the feeling of gratitude has the same vibrational energy as love and I believe it.  They feel the same don’t they?

To me it’s all about feeling good.  Look for things to feel good about and grateful for and you cannot help but find yourself in a wonderful frame of mind.  When you consciously choose to focus on life’s blessings, they will suddenly appear everywhere for you.  It is the law of attraction at it’s finest.

In the relatively new field of “positive psychology,” researchers are studying the science of thankfulness. In The Psychology of Gratitude, Dr. Michael McCullough of the University of Miami and Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, show how participating in regular, deliberate appreciation improves almost everything. By having their research participants keep weekly or daily gratitude journals and practicing self-guided exercises, the researchers discovered their participants slept better, exercised more, increased positive emotions, had more rhythmic heartbeats, progressed toward personal goals more quickly, and helped others more often.

Speaking of gratitude, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our regular readers who have been so supportive of our Tara Cronica since her inception this past year and to say welcome to our new readers.  We are so grateful to have you all join us here.

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

Svaha!