"Be Grateful! Walk with gratitude in your hearts. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have.Say thank you to your friends. Say thank you to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way." -President Gordon B. Hinckley, from The 6 Be's
The 6 Be's was originally a talk given to the youth by President Hinckley in 1996. The original 6 were: 1. Be grateful 2. Be smart 3. Be clean 4. Be true 5. Be humble 6. Be prayerful. The talk was so popular it evolved into a book. And the book added 3 more Be's: Be still, Be positive and Be involved.
But, I've always noticed that 1st on the list (in the talk and in the book) is Be Grateful! Or, as Cicero, the Roman philosopher, aptly said: "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."
There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday suggesting that research shows that gratitude can improve our psychological, our emotional, and our physical well-being. Grateful people have been found to have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not.
Studies also show that grateful people are less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. Furthermore, grateful people earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.
A landmark study at the University of Miami in 2003 showed that counting blessings can actually make people feel better. Counting blessings also forces people to overcome "the negativity bias" - the innate tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances and injustices rather than upbeat events.
"Count your many blessings; Name them one by one. Count your many blessings; See what God hath done." -Count Your Blessings, LDS Hymn #241
