Category Archives: health

The Emotion of Gratitude: Why It Is So Meaningful and Necessary In Our Lives

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Last weekend a family held the hands of their beloved mother as she passed. It was a sacred moment. Through tears, they gave gratitude for mom’s parenting, joy, and deep spiritual teachings. The colors of the cloth around her neck represented memories from her grandchildren, children, and spouses.

After the death of a loved one, family members/friends reflect on life, focusing with gratitude for the individual they lost. But, life gets busy and hectic so that soon people have to move on to “the living”, while tucking away fond memories of the person who just passed … These life moments are full of various emotions, including gratitude. Deaths link to deep reflection as evidenced by the words of ministers, priests, and rabbis during funerals. The moment a person “slips through” from life to death is profound.

The pathway of Gratitude leads one through the interesting walk of life. Gratitude is multi-dimensional. Gratitude is simple, yet complex. Gratitude causes one to appreciate what you have – now. Gratitude brings deep joy, happiness, and satisfaction. When one experiences gratitude, they are drawn to more positive outcomes in their personal life. Sometimes Gratitude has been described as the strongest of emotions!

Why is Gratitude so meaningful and necessary in our lives?

Is there any stronger emotion that Gratitude?

Gratitude is meaningfully linked with appreciation and gratefulness for what you already have in life. If you are not grateful for what you have, you most likely will not achieve what you desire in the future, because you do not value what you already have. Anthony Peluso on April 3, 2019. Another way one might explain this concept is what you put out into the universe determines what you receive as in expressions of positivity, love, or light. Also, through gratitude one receives joy, happiness and emotional rewards that were never anticipated.

There is one emotion stronger than Gratitude. That is the emotion of “Regret”. Sometimes “regret” is observed during the death and dying process between family members. Regret is sad to witness. When a person waits until death, it is too late. Regret is oppositional to gratitude.

There is no room for regret in anyone’s life. What you appreciate will always reward you in ways you can’t even imagine.

Peluso, 2019

So, during tough times in life, like death, for example, we must remember the necessity of gratitude. The emotion of gratitude helps us embrace grief as a tool, propelling us toward healing. Through gratitude we will find joy and happiness again, and identify the blessings we still have in spite of the pain of loss we feel. Lean towards gratitude and away from regret.

Be grateful, always. It is necessary and will give meaning to your life.

#gratitudeultra

So Grateful to my Vet: I Was As Sick as a Dog, but Better Now

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Hello again, Barley here. You may remember my April 20 message, DogGoneIt! I was so afraid to go to the Vet for surgery. But…..

I am pleased to tell you that after oral surgery, surgery to remove a growth on my tongue, dialyses, a new renal prescription diet, plus two weeks of drugs, I am much better, am at home, and looking forward to more time with my mom.

My sincere thanks to my Vet, and to all of you who wished me well.

A very Grateful dog to an excellent Vet, with love, Barley

#gratitudelite

DogGone It!

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Hi. I’m Barley and I am worried. My mommy took me to the Vet this week and they took blood, and now I have to go to the Animal Hospital for two days, with fasting, IV, extra fluids, some oral surgery, and maybe more. My labs revealed kidney problems. Can you believe it?

I want to thank my mommy and the Vet, on the one hand, for taking good care of me, but I am fearful on the other hand. So for the next couple of days I am sending up doggie prayers that I will be ok. I also will go to the beach to watch the waves, birds, and people playing in the ocean. Please God a few more years helping my mommy recover from her illness would be nice, as she still needs me. With gratitude for nearly 13 years of life, and hoping I wake up after surgery. Love you all, Barley.

#gratitudelite

Grateful for Clean Air

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Watching the Ohio residents still in fear after the toxic chemical spill when the train derailed with so many hazardous materials (vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol mono butyl ether, and isobutylene) reminds us that our air is typically clean and safe for us to breathe and never worry about each day. This train accident, the burning of the chemicals, and countless residents begging for help for their children breaks my heart daily.

Imagine a time when you don’t feel safe to open your windows, go outside for a walk or run, or let your children play on a playground or community park! Consider the fear of serious illnesses in the future when the trail accident is long forgotten. Remember many people have COPD and asthma, or are on oxygen.

Our air is taken for granted by most of us. With this train accident, we are reminded to be grateful for the clean air all around us. Don’t take air for granted! People in war, near toxic waste dumps, next to accidents with chemicals, those working in large companies dealing with a variety of types of chemical use, or who are near city dumps, can not afford to take air for granted, yet they do everyday, without choice. They are forced to live in the air around them. They constantly advocate for cleaner, safer air for their loved ones. Sometimes they are successful; sometimes not. Many suffer the consequences many years later with poor health, and serious illnesses.

Don’t take air for granted! Be grateful for clean air!

#gratitudelite

Gratitude For Life

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For the past week I have been watching the news regarding the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. The death toll has exceeded 35,000 people and growing. They estimate more than one million are displaced from their homes and that number is climbing. The threats from infected water, lack of food, and extremely cold temperatures continue to add to the misery, sadness, and pain felt by people in that region. Today, 178 hours after the earthquake, a young girl was pulled from the rubble alive!

No matter what the political persuasion, the economic pressures, the religious differences, and/or the history between countries, it is wonderful to watch the help pouring in from around the globe. I feel joy for each life saved, and sadness for each life lost. Overall, I want to express gratitude for all life. Every human being is a precious gift.

#gratitudeultra

Gratitude For Prayer

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Recently a stranger approached me at a bakery and asked if she might pray for me. I said “sure” and then she asked if she might put her hand on me while praying. Again I said “sure” as I listened to particular words in her prayer with her young daughter looking up at me. It was not a typical experience. Immediately after another stranger (on the other side of me while waiting in line for the order) told me about her personal story with health issues. I listened and wished her well. While these types of conversational exchanges are increasingly emerging throughout my everyday life, and I am deeply grateful for each and every human interaction, I wonder “why” persons are drawn to me to pray or engage within deeply meaningful exchanges.

I firmly believe that “healing” during any illness occurs as a result of medical science in part, but most importantly, occurs because of the power of prayer. I am learning that the “healing experience” is a collective one, shared mainly by those who have experienced the deepest valleys and highest mountaintops of fears and hopes. Prayer is at the center of most monumental human experience.

Personally, as I grow older I want to learn more about prayer. For example, do you know that there are many different types of prayer (from gotquestions.org)?

  • The prayer of faith
  • The prayer of agreement
  • The prayer of request or supplication
  • The prayer of thanksgiving
  • The prayer of worship
  • The prayer of intercession
  • The prayer of imprecation
  • Praying in the Spirit
  • An invocation prayer

There is great power in prayer and I am grateful for each and every prayer I hear, participate in, offer to God, and receive. I feel such gratitude each and every time someone or a group of individuals prays. How ’bout you?

#gratitudeultra

Grateful That Beauty Hunts The Beast

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Recently I spent nearly two hours in an MRI Tube at the City of Hope. Fortunately, I listened to music while in the large, tube-shaped magnet and tried to imagine the persons who created such technology. As I listened to the various tones and noises within the tube, I thought about movies I had watched where 3-D images were built using water molecules and radio waves, creating aligned atoms to form cross-sectional MRI images. With each noise, I tried to think what bodily organ was built as I was rolled a little bit in, then a little bit out repeatedly. When the frequencies sounded low, I believed my bones were being examined and the density of the bone required lower frequencies. Of course, I really have no idea what was happening in terms of the actual technology, but it gave my mind something to do, so I would not become afraid.

Somewhere during the midpoint of my experience, the song “Beauty and the Beast” began to play. I paused and felt extremely happy. I felt such joy that I had the opportunity to be in that tube – the BEAUTY of science. In the old days, doctors had to perform exploratory surgery to learn of hidden tumors, bleeding, and various health problems. My gratitude overflowed to have Medicare pay for me to have the opportunity to have an MRI. Around about that same moment – I visualized the BEAST that was the cancer cell that was sneaking and lurking within my organs, and vessels. Again, my gratitude overflowed that Medicare was helping me find these beastly cells so that we may remove them from my body.

It was such an interesting moment in life. I am grateful that Beauty Hunted The Beast on that particular December day. Find Gratitude each day in all that you do!

#gratitudeultra

Grateful For Faithfulness

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While I was receiving chemotherapy yesterday, I was listening to Carrie Underwood sing the old hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”, and I was looking out the window at the beautiful mountains, and sky, and fields. I started to cry when I focused on the word “Faithfulness”. It is really such a wonderful concept, isn’t it? My mind wondered to all that is faithful in our lives:

  • I believe that God is Faithful to me/us not only during tough times, but good times as well. I recall my father, a Baptist minister of more than 60 years, so faithful to his church members, as well as so faithful to God, never wavering from his beliefs.
  • My oncology doctor is faithful to my care. He and his PA stopped by to check on me yesterday during my 10 hours of infusions. His kind gesture made me happy. He knows I want to stop for a while to rest, but he is ever faithful to helping me live, as possible.
  • People, who are in serious relationships or marriages, are faithful to each other. Faithfulness is the foundation on which those communions of love are based.
  • More generally, we believe that our bosses, our jobs, our various work projects will faithfully pay us every two weeks, or once a month, etc. We trust in that faithfulness.
  • Regarding nature, we trust that the sun will rise each morning, and the moon will appear each evening, faithfully.
  • Furthermore, we trust in the faithfulness of our city transportation services like buses, trains, planes, and ships. During the recent pandemic disturbances in supply chains were impacted when we could no longer trust in such systems.
  • Finally, we generally have trust in the faithfulness of our personal health, our bodies… until they break down…

Faithfulness is such a necessary concept on which we depend daily, without even thinking. Faithfulness is great, until it is gone. Faithfulness feels good, until it is broken. Faithfulness is a promise from God; is a given. It should never be taken for granted. Therefore, GREAT is thy Faithfulness is such an important construct for us to value and cherish and appreciate. What do you think?

#gratitudeultra

Be Grateful for Vegetables – They are Fun!

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Recently, @BetteMidler posted this picture on Twitter – a BrocCollie and Collieflower!

This photo made me smile. In fact, I tried to re-create it…

Look for fun activities in your life with those you love!

Eat more veggies. Improve your diets. Have fun with vegetables!

#gratitudezero

Finding Gratitude in Belonging

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I am currently engaging in significant rounds of multiple chemotherapies in order to save my life. This is a new experience for me. BUT, what is most impressive right now are the various people who are stepping up to help me! I am so grateful for their kindnesses. They are driving me to appointments, bringing food, offering to clean my home. We are engaging in meaningful and deep conversations together by phone, text, email, and/or in person. People are serving on standby for whatever I might need. WOW! This outpouring of good will from so many different people is touching my heart daily. Of course my family and dear friends are near and always helpful, but people I do not know very well are genuinely assisting me regularly. Since I am an introvert this is a new experience for me.

I feel such gratitude to all these people and want to let them know how much they are helping me!

This concept/feeling of Belonging is wonderful! We all belong to many different groups of people during our lifetimes: family, friends, neighbors, professional associations, churches, community groups, social media groups, friends of family’s friends, post readers, artist groups, groups of persons with disabilities, sports groups, and strangers we meet at various medical appointments etc.

My sincere gratitude and peace of mind these days is emerging through belonging to these groups!

Belonging is the best medicine!

Belonging is causing me to heal, feel great joy, and deep gratefulness.

I know I am not alone on this journey. I belong!

Thanks everyone for going with me to the unknown. I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

#gratitudeultra