GRATITUDE AS A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Gratitude not only makes us glow inside and out, but it is a fountain of youth, a magnet for happiness,
more effective than any anti-wrinkle cream 😅 - 100% organic and extremely sustainable.

While we often look for fulfilment on the outside, gratitude is in itself a state that makes us feel fulfilled from within.
When we are grateful, we also act - according to the principle of resonance - like a magnet that draws more of what we are grateful for into our lives.
If you wish for more loving relationships in your life, practice being grateful for the loving moments you have had in your life.
If you wish for more health, send gratitude to your body for the healthy parts of your body.

Gratitude as support for your immune system? How does that work?

During an interview with Deborah Rozman from the HeartMath Institute I learned that
our HEART is the main rhythm generator for all bodily functions.
When we activate heart qualities such as gratitude or compassion, forgiveness, joy, then our heart comes into a gentle "coherent" vibration with our body systems. We recover faster, sleep better, stay healthier, this healing vibration harmonises our heart and brain, our immune and hormone systems are strengthened. And as a result, we also age more slowly.

What is actually going on inside us?

To better understand what is happening behind the scenes, let's take a short trip into our autonomic nervous system: This consists of two main players: the sympathetic branch, and the parasympathetic branch, the nerve network of rest. The sympathetic branch is activated especially under stress - it releases adrenaline and leads to a faster heartbeat. The metabolism changes fundamentally, breathing becomes faster and the body falls into the so-called "fight-flight mode", in which both our immune system and digestion are put on "pause".

John Gray formulated this in an interview for my second film "Awake2Paradise" with regard to the survival-critical origin of these "fight or flight" mechanisms,
in which we had to protect ourselves from real dangers, such as the attack of a lion, in primeval times:

"Your body's literally saying, "Hey, forget about digesting lunch, we're about to BE digested."

So stress, if it lasts for a long time, makes us sick. The parasympathetic branch slows down the heart rate and has a relaxing, protective function. The balance and equilibrium of the two branches is essential for our mental and physical health. A single negative experience can weaken the immune system for up to six hours. In comparison, just five minutes of sincere positive feeling causes an increase in antibodies for up to six hours. People who practice loving care have a significantly higher life expectancy. With gratitude and compassion in the heart, life is not only more fulfilling and upbeat, but also much healthier and longer.

Below you will find a few exercises that can inspire you to integrate gratitude into your life:

Three gratitude exercises that you can easily practise. Just choose the one that feels best for you:

1. The "gratitude diary"

This exercise works especially well before going to sleep:
Review the past day in your mind's eye and write down at least 5 things or situations for which you are grateful.
These can be simple things, such as gratitude for the glimpse of a sunbeam playing with the branches or the laughter of a child that distracted you from your mental carousel for a moment, the conversation with a friend who listened to you compassionately or a walk with your dog. Now write next to this situation what YOU contributed to experiencing this moment. In this way you simultaneously train your awareness that you yourself can contribute to manifesting joyful encounters with life. Over time, this will lead you to feel more and more gratitude towards yourself. This exercise will also help you to break out of the nightly "brooding loops" and fall asleep calmly.

2. "Bring your relationships into a new vibration".

Calm down by taking a few deep, slow breaths. Now let a person appear on the screen of your perception who has lovingly supported you at some point in your life by taking time for you, helping you move, just being there for you when you needed someone to talk to, encouraging you.
Go back to this situation and feel the heart connection that exists between you. Feel the love that flows in and out of you. Feel the gratitude that spreads warmly in your heart and flows into every cell of your body - and from there radiates into the world.
Perhaps you now feel the impulse to share your gratitude with this person personally. Trust this impulse. Call this person of yours, write an e-mail or maybe even a handwritten letter - and let this vibration fill the life of the other person.
Maybe you feel inspired to look the waiter who brings you your food, the supermarket cashier or the taxi driver who brings you home safely at night in the eye and say a heartfelt "thank you".
Let yourself be surprised how this little exercise will affect all your relationships.

3. "Start to appreciate the treasures in your live"

Especially in our consumerist society, a deceptive happiness formula has crept into our everyday lives:
What I have + a certain thing = happiness.
So we believe that we need more and more things, status or power to finally be truly happy. But honestly: Have you ever had the experience that this happiness really lasts and fulfils you in the long run?
With the following exercise, you can playfully turn this formula around and ask yourself:
What would my life be like if I no longer had the following - e.g. a roof over my head, my family, my friends, my health, the seasons, the sun, the trees, drinking water, music, my bicycle, etc.?
How often do we only realise the value of something when we no longer have it - so why not start now ;-)?
If you practise this little exercise regularly, you will notice more and more realities in your life for which you can be grateful. You will realise that the inner fulfilment you long for comes from your perspective and not from the things themselves.

So the new formula could be:

   That which is + gratitude = happiness