Dear College of Education Community,
The holiday season will be here soon, and it’s a great time to practice gratitude. In addition to the benefits of expressing appreciation to our families and friends, the National Institute for Health (NIH) shared research showing that gratitude may improve your emotional well-being by helping you cope with stress and could lead to improvements in health as well. Here is a guide to practicing gratitude offered by NIH:
"The first step in any gratitude practice is to reflect on the good things that have happened in your life. These can be big or little things. It can be as simple as scoring a good parking space that day or enjoying a hot mug of coffee. Or perhaps you feel grateful for a close friend’s compassionate support.
Next, allow yourself a moment to enjoy that you had the positive experience, no matter what negatives may exist in your life. Let positive feelings of gratitude bubble up.
Finally, try to practice gratitude on a daily basis for the best benefits."
Dr. Judith T. Moskowitz, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has been studying the impact of keeping a daily gratitude journal on stress relief and health. "When you make gratitude a regular habit, it can help you learn to recognize good things in your life despite the bad things that might be happening. When you’re under stress, you might not notice all the moments of positive emotion that you experience." With her research program, Dr. Moskowitz is helping people become more aware of opportunities for positive feelings throughout the day.
To read more, please go to:
For a list of other self-care options, you can also go to our COE self-care website for resources for faculty, staff, students, and the community at
https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/self-care/articles-information-self-care
May we find time each day to be grateful. Thank you for all that you do!
With gratitude for you,
Shari