Positive outlook improves happiness, health

 It is another New Year and like always, many people have made New Year’s resolutions.

For many, these resolutions are made and never kept, often because the goals are not reasonable or support for success is not available. We have great intentions, but life gets in the way.

There is one resolution that should be on everyone’s list — not just for others to enjoy you, but for you to enjoy others. Happiness can only come from within, and by your choice. It has nothing to do with costing too much or taking time out of your schedule, it is about making each and everything you do and say pleasurable.

We all have a choice, regardless of the situation. If someone gives you a reason to get mad, you control whether you do or not. But how do you do this? Well, gratitude is where we start. From a spiritual standpoint, being grateful and thankful for all good and bad is essential.

Yes, even with the bad and ugly, you need to find a positive and be grateful (now that can be difficult at times).

If you don’t believe in a creator, or have faith, then science has also supported this theory. Researchers at the Universities of Miami and California have looked at how gratitude supports health and happiness. Researchers have shown, those who journal what they are grateful for on a weekly basis, and who exercised more frequently, were ill less often, and felt better about life and upcoming events, as compared to those who journal troubles or negative issues.
What is even more impressive, those who made gratitude lists over two months were more likely to show success in their personal goals, including health, academic and interpersonal relationships. For those who journal weekly, focusing on what they are thankful for, showed increased enthusiasm, energy, determination and attentiveness. Being grateful supports personal goals and health — and that, my friend, is all about choice.

Like any habit, changing how you react will take practice. Looking at all situations in a positive light will support being grateful.

Dr. S. Post, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, commented on five things gratitude does.

n Spending 15 minutes per day focusing on the positive aspects of one’s life, actually increases the body’s natural antibodies (our defense mechanism). 

- Positive individuals are more mentally-focused and less likely to experience depression. 

- Being grateful supports physiological calmness, known as resonance that supports healthy vital signs (blood pressure and heart rate). 

- Grateful people are more capable (more strength) for caring for others than non-grateful (negative) people. 

- Healing ability is greater for those who are grateful. For example, heart transplant patients most grateful for life and their donor healed faster.

Have you ever thought of acknowledging and being thankful for all you have in your life?

Even when times are tough, if you can find something positive and focus on it daily, keeping negative thoughts away will support long-term health and wellness.

Stay away from those who have nothing nice to say about you and others, because negativism can be contagious, but so can positivism. Misery loves company, so if you are always around negative people, you are probably negative as well.

Make the best out of what your life has given you, even when you cannot see through the deep forest of darkness. Like the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Stay positive in 2010. Be grateful for both the positives and negatives that have come your way and watch the changes that are about to come. Happy 2010.

Karen Hourtovenko, RN(EC), is a health and wellness consultant from Sudbury who writes columns about healthy living for Northern Life.