One current treatment for depression being explored in positive psychology right now is a thankfulness journal. Each day you are supposed to write down 3 things that you are thankful for or that made you smile. It works because it gets you spending your day thinking about all the good things rather than the bad. For some people it was just as effective as anti-depressants.
How true it is - at least in my humble opinion!
by AK - Jeff 12 Replies latest social current
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Brigid
Very interesting food for thought. I totally agree with being in in a state of gratitude. I am grateful to have been born in the United States. I am grateful to be a woman here vs. the Middle East. That is my perspective so can only be taken for that. It is all I have ever known. Had I been born in the middle east, I would have a totally different pair of glasses with which I view the world (I would be grateful probably to live in a society where my sexuality is protected/covered by the paternal system from cradle to grave--whatever).
However, as thankful as I am, I do not agree that one cannot be grateful and at the same time looking for ways to improve (i.e., I love my job, am I looking for ways to improve both myself and my situation? Always!). I love (LOVE) my country. And yes, I am what most would consider at least a social liberal (though I do not believe the pundits' view on both sides that all Americans can be neatly placed in one camp or the other). Conservatives have brilliantly co-opted patriotism to the point that to even question the administration, the war, the voting system is anti-american. Is this really in the spirit of our founding fathers? They were the among the biggest dissidents, bratty complainers, rabble rousers, etc. Also, I do not possess the hubris to believe that my country is the end all, be all of human evolution. The thing that makes the United States so great is that we are allowed to question, to vote, yes to even bitch and moan when things could be better. And they always can (be better)
It really upsets me that people equate my political/religious beliefs with being somehow unpatriotic. When it seems to me that were I to be able to sit down and chat with our founding fathers, I would find far more in common with them where I'm at right now than many a conservative who would probably have the attitude of just being grateful to Great Britain and King George for all the protection it afforded to the "bratty" colonies during the Indian wars. "Shut up and sit down---Keep paying your taxes without question, and STOP writing negatively about King and Country!"
Just my two cents.
Brigid, the Patriotic
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Illyrian
Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
that was funny, actually everything was funny. I think it was Gandhi who once exclaimed "It takes the whole planet to feed Britain, how many planets does it take to feed India?" lol.
It is very easy to fall into the thinking that our problems are the greatest in the world and fail to see how many decent people suffer in other places or live on about 1% a day of what we throw in a garbage bin.