The Habit of Gratitude Brings Relative Freedom from Anxiety

Would you like to be calm—even serene—more of the time? Over the course of a month or so, you can come to develop the habit of thinking over how G-d has provided you with everything you actually need. (Think of the fruition of Nature if you do not—yet—believe that the Good L-rd cares for you.) 

I am not at all promising that you will never be worried. Just that you’ll find that it does not pervade your thoughts when you have a problem.

Obtain a notebook that you can dedicate to this purpose, or at least a section of one. The traditional instructions are to write daily five happenings or five facts about your life which make you happy. However, on subsequent days, you are not to repeat prior items.

I think that these instructions are too restrictive. First, upon some days you might have a different number than five items to note—sometimes, one happening overwhelms all. And on some days, such as if you visited an Arboretum, you might want to note separately a number of the gorgeous plants that you enjoyed—a zoo, the animals—and so forth. Then again, there may be days when it is too difficult to extract from the tangle of your unhappiness more than the datum that you still are alive and breathing!

Furthermore, why ever not state the same glory on two or more days? Each sunrise, each sunset, is unique. The antics and development of your child are never really the same.

One benefit of this Gratitude Journal is that when you are down, you can read it to see how much G-d or Nature gives to you daily. There is nothing that you really need that you do not have. Wants, yes, but not needs.

More to the point of this essay, by daily habit, you are activating new pathways in your brain and even your genetic alphabet, the DNA, that will in time cause you to become more and more even-tempered, after a while calm, and eventually serene.

As You Have Been Given So Much, Give Back!

You have received

• From the A-mighty, “who has sustained you through this day,” to quote Jewish prayer;
• From family—who have stood by you throughout your illness and your recovery to date;
• From friends and neighbors;
• From teachers and the educational opportunities they gave to you;
• From jobs that you have held, even part-time gigs like baby sitting or lawn mowing; and,
• From your country.

Give back!

Anybody can give a friendly smile and a greeting to each person met in the course of a day. It is a good way to give back when you are feeling unable to cope with undertaking volunteer work or just bringing a meal or snack to a neighbor in need, visiting someone who you know is sick, or other charity that involves more time, patience, and “feeling 100%” yourself. 

The Jewish tradition is that you should give to members of your family first, and then in concentric circles those further outside your home.

A Thank-You Can Overcome Past Abuses

You have a secret source of strength. No matter what you do or have done, your family is always available to forgive you, understanding that your psychiatric disability got control of your character.

Something like G-d Himself, as His ambassadors on Earth.

Many, perhaps most, people with severe psychiatric disabilities—like you, perhaps, and certainly like me—have established a history whereby their families have put up with more from you than you have done from them.

What can you do in your “together” or saner moments to make up for perhaps decades of abusive behaviors? All you need to do is to show appreciation for your family’s love! Gratitude, that is.

A Preface of Gratitude

Before beginning a major series of posts on the impact of psychiatric disabilities on one’s character, I should like to thank G-d for the many miracles that He has bestowed upon me.

·         I am able to start a new book, RESPONSIBILITY (my fouth book,) and have access to the web to be able to write short segments as blog posts.

·         He has given me a loving family.

·         My many good friends include a great number who come to see me for one-on-one tea parties.

·         G-d has graced me with being able to bake well, to cater those teas.

·         He has given me the ability to read:

o   Thereby, the cooking skills that were taught to me in seventh-grade Home Economics have been honed so that I can use up (in a delicious manner) whatever groceries I happen to have on hand—useful for a person who lives on a fixed income.

o   Furthermore, that ability to read has given me pleasures of world, British, and American literature as well as skills beyond cooking, derived from taking to heart reference materials of all sorts.

·         Where would I be without the eyesight to enjoy Nature and to read? Yes, if vision is diminished or taken from me, I shall adapt, but I am so grateful to the Good L-rd for this gift.

·         G-d has apparently given me the ability to write a phrase that I am told is not unpleasant to scan.

So, to paraphrase lyricist Mr Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, I say:

                L-rd of all, to Thee I raise, This my hymn of grateful praise!

Gratitude for Having Everything You Need

“I have everything I need.” You may think that you don’t, that you’ll only be happy if you obtain that latest doohickey or fad. Then why weren’t you happy the last time that you purchased something? Yes, you were quite pleased at first, but that feeling fizzled. Done gone to the trash heap.

Most people have:

• ·         Body parts:

o   Legs

o   Feet

o   Arms

o   Hands with opposable thumbs

o   Eyes that let you see this page to read

o   Eyes that let you see the sunset

o   Ears to hear your favorite music

o   Ears to hear your child’s or lover’s voice

o   A sexual/reproductive system

o   A brain, nervous system, heart and a circulatory system, lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, and glands and more to make all the above able to function for you

• ·         Electricity in their home, that wonder that brings the outside world into an illuminated room

• ·         A cooking system in their home

• ·         Running water in their home, and, because of the heating system they have that fires up the boiler, hot water is there for the taking

·        You can add to this list. I challenge you! (Or, change the list if some of it doesn’t apply to you….) Take up a pen and in your Planner’s Gratitude Journal section (or on any paper,) finish out this list with six more things which you have plenty of and are thrilled with, to bring it to an even ten items.

What is the entity to which you are grateful, if you don’t believe in G-d? Try the Universe or Nature. Try: your parents who brought you into the world as a human being gifted with anatomy and physiology!And try: your community which has cooperated to provide you with all of the material conveniences!

© Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.