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Gratitude and Happiness is part 2 of a 3-part series on the holidays and self-care from our naturopathic physician, Dr. Lexi Lain. In addition to helping us silence our negative self-talk in Part 1 – Getting Our Energy Back, part 2 is about the science of gratitude and how it affects our health. Part 3 shares the light and love of Christmastime and the lessons we can learn! — EH Stafford, Managing Editor
When I was in high school, my mom and I were like olive oil and vinegar. We fought daily. If you’re a parent of a teenage girl, you know what I’m talking about. I’m pretty sure the word “hate” fluttered through my mind weekly.
One day I decided that every time I argued with my mom, I would go and work on a scrapbook of just the two of us. I glued in funny pictures of us, decorated it, and put loving words on the pages. This IMMEDIATELY diffused my anger and hate toward my mom. It was incredibly therapeutic.
You may become triggered emotionally by C and E people. C and E people? These are people you only want to see on Christmas and Easter. These are the people that can get under your skin faster than a subcutaneous injection.
Covid has caused a rift in even the closest families. The differences of opinions and viewpoints to perhaps the level of fears from one person to the next can be extremely taxing. How do you pull through another part of “The Great Emotional Endurance Test of 2020-2021”? By the way, this is what I’m calling the “pandemic” because this is exactly what this past year and half has been … an emotional test.
Part 1 of this series was to acknowledge negative self-talk.
A small study was done out of Berkley by Dr. Joshua Brown and Dr. Joel Wong, where they wondered how gratitude might impact the brains of those who were struggling with mental health issues.
They had about 300 adult participants, mainly in college, who were all actively seeking counseling. One group was instructed to write a gratitude letter to someone, but they didn’t have to send the letter. Another group was instructed to simply journal their negative throughs. The final group was to simply go to counseling.
Those who wrote the gratitude letters had better mental health outcomes 10- 12 weeks later, meaning the benefits were noticed over time. Also, within those letters, those who wrote fewer negative words had a more positive impact on mental health.
Thanks to those who are supporting me on this journey.
Dr. Lexi
Dr. Lexi Lain, ND, is a naturopathic physician who coaches professionals and entrepreneurs around the world on how to transform their health so they can reclaim their lives.
“Taking care of yourself is the success formula to reaching your full potential in business and in life, but it all starts with awareness. Most root causes of dis-ease stem from how we are living our daily lives. Without awareness, we can easily ignore the foundations to health which is a path that can lead us to burnout, exhaustion, and stress. I believe that if I can educate, inspire, and motivate busy professionals to take care of themselves, their new behaviors can impact the health of their teams, families, and community.” — Dr. Lexi Lain, CEO and Naturopathic Doctor
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