The Fastest and Easiest Path to Prosperity

“The Fastest and Easiest Path to Prosperity”

 

This post is an excerpt from my first book, The Little Book of Prosperity:

 

The fastest and easiest way to tune into prosperity is to get into an emotional state of GRATITUDE.

Gratitude is an extremely powerful emotion. Robert A. Emmons from the University of California Davis and Micheal E. McCullogh from the University of Miami conducted a long-term research project designed to study the effects of gratitude. Here are some of their findings:

• In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events.

• Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals over a two-month period compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.

• In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.

• Grateful people report higher levels of positive emotions, life satisfaction, vitality, optimism and lower levels of depression and stress. The disposition toward gratitude appears to enhance pleasant feeling states more than it diminishes unpleasant emotions. Grateful people do not deny or ignore the negative aspects of life.

• People with a strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and to take the perspective of others.  They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks.

The simplest and fastest way to tap into your feelings of gratitude is a process to make a list of people, pets, places, things, and experiences that you are grateful for. You can do this mentally or out loud. I’ve found that it’s most effective for me when I write it down.

A highly beneficial practice is to keep a gratitude journal and every night before you go to bed, write down 5 things that you’re grateful for.

In fact, I invite you to leave a comment here and let me know 5 things that you’re grateful for.   Thanks!