The Voice: Dan Palmere's Blog

Giving thanks helps your psychological outlook

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I thought I would share this topical piece: a collection of psychology research reports in this article point to the fact that by exhibiting gratitude in our everyday lives, we can experience a more heathly and positive outlook on life. You may begin to feel more alert, alive, interested, and enthusiastic.

Some ways to begin, as suggested by the article:

Gratitude journal/diary

• List weekly or nightly what you are thankful for.      
• Write down 3 things that went well on a particular day and why they went well. 

Letter of thanks

• You have one week to write and deliver in person a letter of gratitude to someone who has been especially kind to you, but you never thanked. 

 

The Mysteries of Water

A fascinating documentary about the effect of intention, thoughts, emotions and music on water. 

Gym

It's a love-hate relationship. 

There's always that discrepancy of being gung-ho about getting in shape and then forcing yourself most days to make it to the gym. A lot of decisions are like that for me too, at least. Become infatuated with an idea, follow through for a couple weeks, then burn out. Or fall into a much too rigid routine. 

I started going at the beginning of June and have found it tough to work into my schedule -- especially at the end of a mentally tiring school day. My goal for any given week is to work out every other day. I try to be flexible with times. 

The best thing I've found is to change the routine all together. In fact, get rid of the routine. Our bodies adjust too easily to the schedule and eventually we won't be gaining much from the time put in. The two main staples for a typical workout are: cardio and resistance/muscle training. Try mix and matching which you start with and the machines you use. 

A couple quick tips from a beginner to a beginner at the gym:

1. Try to keep going. 
2. Define your expectations.