ManifestingWellBeing.com

Here in America we are celebrating Thanksgiving. Or iginally, back in 1789, President George Washington proclaimed this to be a public day of thanksgiving and prayer. Today, many people think of the holiday as a day to gather with friends and family, eat turkey, and give thanks for the blessings in their lives.

Giving thanks may seem like a “good” and “nice” thing to do. However, the benefits of giving thanks and expressing gratitude have profound ripple effects. Marci Shimoff, author of Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out www.happyfornoreason.com, interviewed 100 unconditionally happy people as a part of her research for this book. She found that unconditionally happy people have happiness habits that they practice. One of these happiness habits is to Focus on Gratitude. Marci explains that if you want to learn a new skill or habit, a great way to do this is to model someone who already practices this skill or habit. So, if happiness is something that you would like to attract more of into your life, cultivating gratitude is a good step toward doing this.

A fun exercise which utilizes giving thanks and may increase your happiness is the exercise of giving thanks in advance. To do this exercise, simply think about what you would like to attract into your life. Imagine and feel for a few moments what it would feel like if these events/circumstances were already in your life. After contemplating this for a few minutes, start to give thanks for these events/circumstances as if had manifested. Some example statements might be, “Thank you for my healthy body. . . I am so grateful for the fun job and clients that I have. . . I am so thankful for the safe and comfortable home that I live in.” It is a fun exercise and really can get the “gratitude juices” flowing through your body.

I am a big fan of expressing gratitude and I make it one of my daily practices. This year I am more appreciative of the Thanksgiving holiday than I have ever been before. For the coming year I’m going to focus on having the feeling of Thanksgiving present in my life all year long. . . . but I think I’ll skip eating turkey everyday.

Deborah Barnett, Ph.D.

www.ManifestingWellBeing.com

Manifesting Well-Being for Health and Success

I nearly jumped as she gently pressed into the arch of my foot. “Ouch, that’s so tender!” I exclaimed. This was my experience during a Jin Shin Jitsu bodywork session that I received from a friend this evening. My friend looked at me kindly and said, “That point on your foot that is about balance.” Jin Shin Jitsu is a Japanese form of acupressure. Different points on the body correspond to various physical and emotional aspects of ourselves.* I knew from past sessions that when a point is tender, it is an indication that more attention is needed to the area in one’s life that the particular point represents. I was aware that I had been doing a lot recently and not taking enough self-care time. Based on the extreme tenderness of that point on my foot, my body confirmed this!

I often ask my clients about how much self-care they are practicing in their lives. Often I am met with an eye-roll or blank look. I then explain that self-care is not selfish, it is essential. If you are a person who tends to give, and give and give to others, and you run around fulfilling a lot of responsibilities during your day, sometimes self-care can be put on the “back burner” or neglected all together. The analogy I use is one of a well. If you are a “well” and people around you are taking, taking, taking, all the time, and you do not replenish yourself and thus give yourself time and fill back up, eventually you will run dry. This is sometimes referred to as “care-giver burnout.”

The holidays can be an especially difficult time to remember to take time for self-care. It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget to take time to replenish oneself. When this happens the holidays are stressful and the fun and joy disappears. Why not make this holiday season different? Take some time to schedule in some self-care time. This might be taking time to get a bodywork session, or going for a peaceful walk, taking a bath, curling up with a good book, or going to lunch with a friend. A little bit of self-care can do wonders. It will refresh you and in doing so refill your “well.” Self-care is a gift that you can give to yourself this holiday season and it can help the holidays be more joyful instead of stressful.

*For more information about Jin Shin Jitsu, I recommend Pat Gallager’s blog. It is very informative: http://blog.patagallagher.com/

Deborah Barnett, Ph.D.

www.ManifestingWellBeing.com

Manifesting Well Being for Health and Success

I was inspired by comments from both senators McCain and Obama on election night last week. Mr. McCain urged all Americans to join him in an effort to find ways to come together and to bridge our differences. In his speech, President-Elect Obama presented the resounding message of “Yes we can.” He stated, “We have never been a collection of red states or blue states, we are and always will be the United States of America. . . . If our children should live to see the next century . . . what change will they see? What progress will we have made?”

Regardless of political differences, the underlying theme in both speeches was of unification. When we come together we can make a difference and bring about change. Moving from the national level to the individual level, this is where change can begin. One way to make changes within ourselves is to take Obama’s message and personalize it by saying, “Yes I can.”

If we look within ourselves, this is the place where we have the power to directly make a change. We can all do something to grow and develop ourselves, even in a small way. This might be making a committing to get out of bed and exercise in the morning. We can also make a difference by reaching out to touch another’s life. This may be choosing to smile at a stranger in the grocery store line, or bringing in the mail for a neighbor who is ill. Empowering oneself and then sending out good wishes or lending a helping hand to another person feels wonderful, and it does make a difference. So the next time the thought goes through, “I can’t” or “I don’t feel like it,” try turning it around and saying, “Yes I can.”