This is so pertinent in today’s world of ‘instant’ everything – instant gratification (to say the least), instant communication, responses and more. We need to incorporate pauses in our lives, pauses in our headlong living.
“When parents organize their lives around their kids, those kids expect everyone else to as well, and that leads to entitlement … and when children are raised to feel entitled to everything, they are left feeling grateful for nothing …
… researchers are now turning their attention to how gratitude can better the lives of children, too. They’re finding that the experience of high levels of gratitude in the adolescent years can set a child up to thrive.
Gratitude initiates what researchers call an “upward spiral of positive emotions.” Adolescents who rate higher in gratitude tend to be happier and more engaged at school, as compared with their less grateful peers, and to give and receive more social support from family and friends. They also tend to experience fewer depressive symptoms and less anxiety, and they are less likely to exhibit antisocial behavior, such as aggression.”
By Jennifer Breheny Wallace for The Wall Street Journal
