@BODYAGEBUSTER Fitness After 50, Living Longer Better
  • Home
  • Test Yourself
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Blog
  • Fitness After 50 Free eBook

 Blog

SEARCH My Blog (Opens in new tab)

Gratitude Matters, If You Do It Properly It Will Extend Your Healthy Life— Research

9/6/2020

Comments

 
Picture
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

Contentedness doesn’t come from serving yourself, here's how

Feeling good about life when you are 60 translates into an extended healthy life expectancy, according to recent research.
Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relatives, Nirvana the highest happiness - ANCIENT FAITHS AND MODERN | THOMAS INMAN
You may think that contentedness comes from having everything that you want, or even just having everything that you need, and that includes good health.
​
That's incorrect. Just as you can't buy happiness, you cannot purchase contentedness. 

You can’t buy your subjective wellbeing

Perhaps you may think that with enough wealth you can buy health. That's also incorrect.

Science has found that higher contentedness is associated not only with longer life expectancy but also with a higher proportion of additional years in good health.

A study of 9761 adults, aged 50 years and older, over ten years, found that subjective enjoyment of life and contentedness was positively associated with up to 6 longer years free of disability and chronic illness.

It means that your own subjective sense of well-being is associated with healthier aging as well as greater longevity. You can't buy your "subjective sense of well being" because it is purely a reflection of your own beliefs and mindset. 
Think about it.
  • If you are still searching for happiness, then by definition, you are not at peace with yourself - you lack contentment. And if you are looking outside of yourself, then you'll remain uncontent.
  • If you are practising daily gratitude to serve yourself - to make yourself happier - then you'll remain uncontent and disappointed.
  • If you are locked on "why me" for the circumstances of your life, then you'll remain bound by your perceived problems and injustices.
  • If you are still blaming your parents for your miserable life, then you'll likely die earlier - made perennially discontent by the old movies that you choose to play repeatedly in your head.
  • If you are unforgiving, then you are allowing those you unforgive to shape how you allow the world to "make" you uncontent.
  • If you feel that your destiny has passed you by, then you'll remain uncontented. The truth is, that you chose not to accept your destiny, and you choose to hang on to discontentment.
Your Destiny Has Passed You By Because You Chose Not To Accept It — Grow Up

The more you search outside yourself the more you fail

The more you search for external cruxes to serve yourself, to serve your neuroticisms, the more you feed those neuroticisms, which is why the interventions ultimately eat themselves and fail. 

Contentedness is the state of being contented with your situation in life. It means having a heart that is content, and a mind which is your friend and not your enemy.
The Next Time You Encounter Fear Consider Yourself One Of The Lucky Ones

Gratitude is not a self-help tool

Contentedness is being acceptable and accepted. Not by others but by yourself.

To become more content with yourself give your gratitude away. Express gratitude to others. Not because you will benefit from it but because others might. The more appreciation you give away, the more you will have of yourself.

Don't think of gratitude as a self-help tool. It's not about comparisons. Thinking of how badly off someone else is compared to you won't help you, nor them. If you think with that mindset, you will soon stray to thinking of all those who are better off then you.
Gratitude is the most powerful emotion that you possess because it gives you the power to change your thinking and mood instantaneously — Ed Latimore.
Do not be grateful in comparison — because others are worse off. Be thankful for the opportunity it gives you to self-reflect.

For contentment, honour and acknowledge others

Gratitude is one of the most valuable ways of honouring and acknowledging someone else.

Self-reflection, and acknowledging others, helps you become more content. And the more content you are, the longer and healthier you are likely to live.

Indeed, researchers even found that expressions of gratitude lead to improved relationships for both the one expressing gratitude and the recipient. The lead researcher of a 2010 study – psychologist Sara Algoe – concluded that for romantic relationships, gratitude worked like a "booster shot". Perhaps this is the secret to long, happy marriages?

Be grateful to those who serve us

During this global pandemic, it is more important than ever to express gratitude to others in our lives. Not just loved ones or those who are fighting on the front lines, but your coffee shop staff, bus drivers, mail and parcel delivery folk, supermarket staff - the people who keep our community alive.

Expressing gratitude to others builds a greater sense of purpose in life, more forgiveness and better quality of relationships, and you may even seem to sleep better.

In short, grateful individuals seem to have more of the ingredients needed to thrive and flourish, including those required to increase the number of years you can expect to live in good health.

Good luck.
PS The research nominated “a healthier life” to mean living without disability. Disability was where the study participants reported difficulty performing activities of daily living (dressing, bathing, eating, getting in and out of bed, using the toilet, and walking across a room).

​We know, undoubtedly, that exercise supports the ongoing performance of these daily activities. Exercise, plus higher contentedness, may be the winning combination. See How To Stay In Your Own Home For Longer.
People With Problems Want To Give Them To You. Here’s How To Not Accept Them
> More posts to help you with EXERCISES
> More posts to help you with DIABETES
> If you are a @MEDIUM reader my publication Body Age Buster has hundreds of categorised posts which I have written especially for men and women over 50.
All Exercise Matters But Intense Matters More If You Want To Live Longer
Follow me on Quora for more health and fitness tips.
If you valued this article >> Follow me
​
​Leave a comment >> Share it >> Stay healthy
If you have any questions email me and I will get back to you.

RSS Feed


Latest: get your free customised fitness plan designed uniquely for you.
Let me match you to your personal choice of exercises,
equipment (or none), frequency, duration and your goals.
 ☞ CLICK HERE



Get More Like This To Help You ⭑Live ⭑Longer ⭑Better
Sign Up For My Free Weekly ⭑Newsletter



Not yet convinced? More details - click here
Read previous newsletters - click here



No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or another qualified clinician. Disclaimer.

Comments

    Choices

    Since I was diagnosed at 50 with Type 2 diabetes I've been learning how to do bone-building fitness training which lowers my age. You can too. It's your choice. Walter


    Instant Newsletter Subscription
    CLICK HERE


    Categories

    All
    Aging
    Back
    Balance
    Bodyweight Exercises
    Bones
    Brain
    Cancer
    Cardio
    Cardiovascular
    Covid19
    Dental Health
    Diabetes
    Diet
    Energy Systems
    Exercise Plan
    Fitness After 50
    Food Plan
    Functional Training
    Healthy Gut
    HIIT
    Inflammation
    Insulin
    Isometric
    Joints
    Keto
    Kettlebells
    Life
    Men
    Mental Health
    Newsletter
    New Year Resolutions
    Nutrition
    Pain
    Plant Based
    Quotes
    Running
    Sleep
    Stamina
    Strength Training
    Stretching
    Sugar
    Walking
    Women

    Archives

    May 2023
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    February 2022
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Picture
    My 300 Health And Fitness Answers On Quora
    Picture
    ⭑Medium Top Writer on Food⭑

Home  

About Walter
Blog
Disclaimer
​Privacy

Services

Consulting
Mentoring
Facilitation
Keynote Speaking
Ambassador
Content

Contact

[email protected]
+61 403 345 632
Message Me
Fitness After 50 FREE EBOOK
© COPYRIGHT 2018. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photos from jar [o], Alan Light
  • Home
  • Test Yourself
  • Speaking
  • About
  • Blog
  • Fitness After 50 Free eBook