6 Reasons to Celebrate
Celebrate? With all that's going on in our economy, our nation ? our world? You may be thinking that's the last thing you'll be doing now or any time soon. If so, let me encourage you to think again. Now, of all times, we need to celebrate wherever and whenever possible.
Very soon, we will have three natural reasons to celebrate: Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's. So pull out all the stops. Celebrate! But don't let your celebrations end there. Look for every reason imaginable to celebrate, e.g., the last day of autumn, the first day of winter, the first snowfall, the shortest day of the year, a child's progress report, the 100th day of the school year, birthdays, anniversaries, significant milestones, important events.
As you look at life through eyes of gratitude, you will discover many reasons to celebrate, no matter what's going on in the world. Never miss an opportunity to celebrate.
In their book, "Why Good Things Happen to Good People," authors Stephen Post and Jill Neimark tell us that celebration is one of the most important ways that we express gratitude.
Celebration is gratitude in action, and celebration - like rest, seat belts and green leafy vegetables - is good for us!
1 Celebration creates joy. Feeling down in the dumps? Celebrate something or someone. The gratitude you feel as a result of celebrating others - or creation in general - will help you to be less materialistic and therefore more easily satisfied with what life brings you. It's a fact that gratitude actually creates joy within our souls.
2 Celebration is good for your health. The gratitude that wells up from the act of celebration has been studied scientifically for its health benefits. The results prove that gratitude is strongly linked to emotional and physical health. Just five minutes of gratitude can shift the nervous system toward a calmer state.
3 Celebration creates a circle of love. When we rejoice in the presence and accomplishments of others, they feel uplifted. Research has shown that an act of gratitude encourages another person, and that creates a circle of reciprocal love.
4 Celebration moves us from fear to faith. Studies show that the most grateful people have often been through difficult and challenging experiences. Individuals who have overcome adversity are more optimistic and grateful than the average person.
5 Celebration shifts us from tired to inspired. Reminding ourselves of how good life really is cultivates gratitude. Recent research shows that emotions work at lightning speed and often bypass reasoning. By cultivating gratitude, we encourage positive feelings that are almost instantaneous - feelings that are more powerful in their own way than positive thoughts.
6 Celebration heals. According to a recent study on organ donations, the more gratitude a recipient of an organ feels the faster that person's recovery. There were 74 transplant recipients of a heart, liver, lung, kidney or pancreas who participated in the study. Those recipients who expressed gratitude, directly or indirectly in journals, felt physically better and functioned at a higher level than those who did not.
Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 18 books, including her best-selling classic "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723.