Yet, while it may seem normal to be verbally appreciative at certain times and with specific people, there's much more that you can get out of gratitude at other times.

Here's a look at how gratitude can affect your physical and psychological well-being.

Gratitude promotes positive mind-sets and reduces stress

A 2017 study published in Scientific Reports looked at the effects of gratitude meditation and resentment and mental well-being.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and heart rate at three intervals - before, during, and after interventions - researchers suggest that gratitude interventions modulate heart rhythms in a manner that enhances mental health.

Gratitude intervention, said researchers, improves both emotional regulation and self-motivation by modulating resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) in brain regions involving emotion and motivation.

Furthermore, researchers pointed to the potential use of gratitude interventions in treating those with mood disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Gratitude related to better sleep, mood, less fatigue and inflamation

Mills et al. (2015), in a study of patients with asymptomatic heart failure, found that an "attitude of gratitude" was related to better moods and sleep, less fatigue, reduced inflammation, and better cardiac-specific self-efficacy.

Authors said this is important because depressed mood and poor sleep are both associated with a worse prognosis in heart failure patients, as well as in other cardiac condition populations.

Thus, researchers said, the simple, low-cost efforts to help heart failure patients increase gratitude may have clinical value and be a potential target in treatment to improve patients' well-being.

Gratitude predicts lower depression rates in patients with chronic illness

Sirois and Wood (2017) examined longitudinal associations of gratitude to depression in two chronic illness samples, one with inflammatory bowel disease, and the other with arthritis.

The study included two time points: completion of online survey at start of study (T1), and completion of a follow-up study at 6 months (T2).

There were assessments of gratitude, depression, perceived stress, social support, illness cognitions, and disease-related variables at both time points.

Study results showed that T1 gratitude was a "unique" and "significant" predictor of T2 depression in both sample groups.

Authors noted that gratitude has relevance and potential benefits as an intervention for adjusting to chronic illness.

Various elements of well-being associated with gratitude

A white paper on the science of gratitude prepared for the John Templeton Foundation by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley highlights a number of studies showing possible connections between gratitude and various elements of well-being in those with self-reported higher dispositional gratitude.

These include life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, optimism, and subjective well-being.

Authors also mention studies of university students self-reporting higher-order gratitude also reporting increased life satisfaction and positive affect.

Examples of higher-order gratitude include thanking God, appreciating life's hardships, cherishing the present, thanking others, and cherishing blessings. Continue reading

It is demoralizing to know that thousands of women have endured shame and great pain in silence for years.

In no way do I want to downplay the impact of their experience, nor to minimize the importance of this ongoing conversation men and women now are having.

But it's Thanksgiving. And even a Catholic feminist has to take a breath, during this month of shocking news, to take stock and give thanks.

I'm thankful for Pope Francis. Nope, he's not the pope of my dreams.

He has demonstrated, more than once, that he does not truly understand women, and he's stuck on the "women as mother" role model. He also has closed the door on the ordination of women in the priesthood, really an unforgivable lapse in judgement and even common sense.

But at least this pope calls us to help the poor, relieve income inequality and care for the earth. It's nice to see social justice trump sexual mores, at least as far as the Vatican is concerned.

I'm also grateful that the pope recently reaffirmed the primacy of individual conscience in making moral decisions, something Vatican II proclaimed quite clearly more than half a century ago.

In recent remarks responding to ecclesiastical critiques of his encyclical on marriage and the family, the pope said there was an important difference between informing the faithful and dictating what they should do.

He reminded them that they should support couples as they strive to make the decisions for their families, but he made clear that priests' dicta cannot "substitute" for what their hearts tell them is the right thing to do.

And he's been good at taking the clergy down a peg or two. He's spoken out on the evils of clericalism.

He's chastised priests who "feel they are superior," who "are far from the people" and unable to respond to their needs. Continue reading

• Celia Wexler is a journalist, feminist and nonfiction author

The convergence of these two holidays won't happen again for another 77,798 years, according to some calculations.

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is celebrated for eight days beginning at sundown on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. On the Hebrew calendar, the dates are 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet in the year 5774.

An eight-day celebration, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.E. during the Maccabean revolt against oppressive Greek rulers.

It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays and is celebrated by lighting a nine-branch candelabrum, commonly called a menorah.

(Technically, the candelabrum for Hanukkah is called a hanukkiah to distinguish itself from the seven-branch menorah used in the Temple and described in Exodus 25.)

The story of Hanukkah is one of revolution and miracles: Greek influence over the Jews in the Land of Israel had become an affront to Jewish culture and ritual.

Antiochus, the Greek ruler, forbade Jewish religious practice, so a small group of Jews, the Maccabees, revolted. These Jews eventually prevailed and, as a first order of business, restored the Holy Temple, which had been desecrated.

The menorah in the Temple needed to be re-lit because, according to tradition, it should burn continuously. The Temple liberators found one vial of olive oil, enough for one day of light.

Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. Continue reading.

Source: Huffington Post

Image: npr.org

This year has been one of surprise for the Catholics of Samoa at events at the tip of the hierarchy of their church.

First there was the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and now, yesterday, the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as his replacement.

"We are all surprised," said Father Ioane Ono, who as Chancellor is head of the church's Chancery Office in Apia.

"For Cardinal Bergoglio's name was never mentioned in public speculations as a likely candidate for the Papacy," said Father Ono.

"It shows the difference between what is on the minds of humans and God's plans," he said.

"What direction Pope Francis 1 will take the church of 1.2 billion members is an intriguing question for Catholics here."

"For the time being we're happy we have a Pope," said Father Ono.

On Thursday afternoon Ono was at working on a draft statement of congratulations and thanksgivings on behalf of Samoan Catholics to be sent to Pope Francis.

Once Archbishop Alapati Mataelega approves the statement it will be read at the mass tomorrow and sent to the Papal Nuncio office in Wellington, New Zealand, for delivery to the pope.

Source

• Talamua
• Image: Talenei.com