I'm incredibly grateful. Not only the part of the globe we live on—the Pacific Northwest in the United States—but for our specific town, Boise, Idaho. It's quite possibly one of the friendliest places on earth.
University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons' research revealed that grateful people tend to be more optimistic, a characteristic that literally boosts the immune system—a clear PHYSICAL benefit.
Dr. Alex Wood, a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, said that "Gratitude is an integral part of well-being"—a distinct benefit to our MENTAL and EMOTIONAL faculties.
Gratitude helps to open the heart, the seat of compassion. It helps us to see the good in our experience. It enhances trust and helps us to forgive—a benefit to our SPIRITUAL aspect.
How do you weave gratitude into the tapestry of your life?
I carry a well-equipped first aid kit with us whenever we bicycle. It's come in handy on a number of occasions—not only for us, but for other bikers on the trail as well.
We have a much larger first aid kit at home. It's in a big fishing tackle box near the front door so that when—not if—the neighborhood kids knock and say, "Mrs. B., so-and-so's hurt, come right away!" I can grab it on the fly.
It's the internal wounds—emotional, mental, and spiritual—that are much harder to address. Left unattended, they can fester and spread, wreaking havoc on our inner ecology.
What's inside your emotional first aid kit; how do you tend to your internal wounds?
Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT, is the psychological acupressure technique that optimizes emotional health. Although it's often overlooked, emotional health is absolutely essential to physical health and healing. Regardless of how devoted we are to a nutritional diet, exercise, and healthy lifestyle, our bodies can't achieve their ideal healing and preventive powers if emotional barriers stand in the way.
EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments, but without the needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest.
This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmation works to clear the emotional block(s) from our body's bio-energy system, thus restoring balance to mind and body—a vital component for optimal health and the healing of physical disease.
Just yesterday when I was teaching a Reiki Level 2 class, I sensed the student on the table had significant pent-up emotions. I requested permission from her to gently tap with my fingertips above her eyebrows, temples, beneath her eyes, under her nose, her chin, and the clavicle bones on either side of the divot in her throat. She agreed. In less than 3-minutes, the dam burst and the tears started to flow, and I hadn't even stated any affirmations.
EFT is something that a person learns and typically does for themselves. Here is a LINK that will take you to a YouTube video by Gary Craig – Founder of Emotional Freedom Techniques. At the end of the 7-minute video, you'll be given the website address to download a FREE manual on how to do EFT. It's an amazing universal healing aid that you simply have to try for yourself.
Ted Howard in New Zealand, invited me to write a guest blog, which I did. My topic is the Top 12 Anti-Cancer Foods. I hope you'll pop over there for a visit.