Posts Tagged: gratitude

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Featured image for Why I’m Grateful for the 2016 Election - Image Source at https://i0.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/People.jpg?fit=300%2C286&ssl=1
On this night of the 2018 election, with results trickling in, I’m focused on finding gratitude for the 2016 election. Hang in there; I’m making lemonade.     So much has changed for me in the past two years.  Perhaps you can identify. I learned the extent to which racism still exists in this country… more »
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Featured image for What’s The Most Important Question To Ask When You Feel Blue? - Image Source at https://i2.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0465.jpg?fit=300%2C207&ssl=1
What’s the most important question to ask when you feel blue?  The answer, from neuroscientist and UCLA researcher Alex Korb, (also the author of The Upward Spiral) is simple: What am I grateful for? What am I grateful for? Gratitude, it turns out, boosts the neurotransmitter dopamine, the same thing that Wellbutrin does. It also boosts the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is… more »
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Featured image for November 22, our day that will live in infamy - Image Source at https://i0.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/gratitude.jpg?fit=225%2C225&ssl=1
Today is the day before Thanksgiving (always the fourth Thursday in November), the most quintessentially American holiday I can name, right up there with July 4th (our Independence Day).  This day before Thanksgiving is traditionally a very busy day for those celebrating — whether traveling from afar or preparing the food — so I thank… more »
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Featured image for When “Overwhelmed” Shows Up in Our Vocabulary Too Often - Image Source at https://i1.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/FullSizeRender.jpg?fit=266%2C300&ssl=1
Aware of my nearly daily use of the word “overwhelmed” lately, as in “I’m feeling overwhelmed,” I decided to take a look at what the word means to me: when I use it and how I get through it. Politics, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes aside, my own little world in northeastern Vermont went spinning out… more »
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Featured image for Getting Back to Center - Image Source at https://i2.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/85604-peace-and-serenity-quotes.jpg?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1
I’ve changed my mind. I can do that, you know. I can say “no; sorry; something has changed” even after I’ve said, “Sure; I’ll do it.”  I don’t do that very often, of course, for each time I run the risk of eroding trust. But, sometimes, to care for myself, or because of new information, I must… more »
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Featured image for Finding Thanksgiving - Image Source at https://i2.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Gratitude.jpg?fit=259%2C194&ssl=1
  In keeping with my practice of showcasing American holidays as often as possible, I write today of Thanksgiving, the quintessential American holiday.  Here’s a classic Thanksgiving picture.     There’s much going on in this picture. There’s also much missing, heavy winter coats for one thing. But this is not a post about deconstructing this image. It’s a post… more »
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Featured image for Acknowledging My Villagers - Image Source at https://i0.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/BLOG.jpg?fit=275%2C183&ssl=1
  On that trip it was my good fortune to be wrong; being mistaken is the essence of the traveler’s tale. Paul Theroux (1941- ) Riding the Iron Rooster. Isn’t that a great quote?  It’s going in my book.  In fact, it’s the first of seven that made it into the book.  This one (Paul… more »
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Featured image for Finding Joy Again: A Post on Gratitude - Image Source at https://i0.wp.com/janetgivens.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/puzzle.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1
  At the end of last week’s post on the JFK assassination, I promised we’d talk this week about finding joy again.   I expected it would be a post about the importance of grieving, the difficulty of moving into the pain and fully feeling it, so we can move into acceptance of the loss.… more »
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