Giving Thanks

 Hello Natural Health Family! We are diving into more of the holiday festivities.  This week obviously is Thanksgiving week. A time when we gather with family and friends whether for the first time this year or to enjoy more time with others. Although it is a time to give thanks, it can also be a reminder that we can do this more throughout the year. Thanksgiving and gratitude are important aspects of our health and well-being so let's talk about how they can impact our own lives. 

When was the last time you received a gift. It might have been your birthday, Christmas, or just a special event. Whatever the case may be you probably felt a sense of gratitude for receiving the gift. When receiving a gift we change our state. Even if life seems to be going fast, feels overwhelming, or we were upset with something that happened, receiving a gift can change the way we feel about the day. It may not be so much the present itself, but more that someone else took the time to send you something. The feeling can help us shift our state and we feel more uplifted. 

So how can this affect our health or life in general? Studies have shown that gratitude has a positive impact on how our body functions. When we feel gratitude our brain send different signals to our body that allows our body to produce different chemicals that start to trigger responses that move our body to more of a healthy state. Gratitude has been shown to affect many of our bodily functions. It can even help our bodies to become more relaxed. Just think about the act of receiving a gift. You tend to focus your attention on the moment and the person who has given you the gift. This can help shift our focus and energy from all the other things going on in our lives to the moment at hand. This is helpful in allowing our brain and body to be more in harmony. 

Thanksgiving is a reminder to give thanks and be grateful for what we have. That we don’t need so many things, but rather can appreciate our lives and what we are able to do. Although it is nice to receive gifts, we can practice gratitude in other ways. It used to be the staple before and after meals until we got caught in the fast paced marathon of life. Nevertheless, we can bring the practice back and know importance of it. We never know when today or the next could be our last on this earth but that doesn’t have to stop us for being grateful for the time spent here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, I encourage you to slow down and appreciate what life has to offer.

Thanks for reading. 

Dr. Chip