Express Your Gratitude This Thanksgiving

There’s no better time than the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving to open our hearts and minds to the gift of gratitude. Gratitude is consistently associated with greater happiness, improved health, stronger relationships, and the ability to deal with adversity.

Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether materially or emotionally. When grateful, we recognize the goodness we are receiving comes from outside ourselves. It may be from nature, a higher power, or other people.

Around Thanksgiving, let's pause to appreciate the people who touch our lives the most. During this season of giving, the process of appreciating others begins as a gift to ourselves. When we reflect on the goodness our family and friends bring into our lives, we feel blessed. Let's be real. How often do we stop and appreciate the difference someone makes in our lives? Not very often.  A grateful pause gets us to stop and savor the good ways others affect us that often go unnoticed and unacknowledged.

Moreover, when we express our appreciation to the people to whom we are grateful, the gift multiplies. You now get to be the conveyer of a gift more precious than jewelry or some new tech item. Appreciative words say to the receiver, you matter. Your life has value to me. Our words become a gift they can hold within their heart and repeat to themselves when they need a little pick-me-up. But there’s further benefits for you! As you express your appreciation to those to whom you are grateful, you re-experience the joy of the goodness they bring to you. Over time, continuing to express appreciation makes your relationships warmer and closer.

This Thanksgiving and all year long, Carmel Cosmetic & Plastic Surgeons hopes you give yourself the gift of being grateful and give others the gift of knowing how grateful you are to have them in your lives.