Can Gratitude Change Your Work Life?
July 2013
Filmmaker Doug Vermeeren likes to quote author Robert M. Pirsig when introducing the idea of positive psychology: “The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I'm looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.” Positive psychology entails a call for science and psychological practice to be as concerned with strength as with weakness; as interested in building the best things in life as in repairing the worst; and as concerned with making the lives of normal people fulfilling as with healing pathology, Vermeeren says.
“People can become suspicious when you tell them that they can change their lives with a simple shift in perspective; it can seem too good to be true because it’s an uncomplicated answer to many of life’s challenges. But I’m just one of many who have experienced a measurable life change with gratitude,” says Vermeeren, creator of the new film, “The Gratitude Experiment,” (www.thegratitudeexperiment.com), which demonstrates through individual stories the powerful effects of gratitude on people’s lives.
“I feel that everyone deserves that opportunity.”He describes three areas in life that can be positively transformed with the power of gratitude:
• Attitude: Gratitude can help us overcome any problem or hardship. It gives us perspective on what’s important, what we truly value and what we have right in front of us. In our small corner of this vast universe, we find the most miraculous thing of all: life. No matter what situation we are in or worries we face, we can always be grateful that we are alive on this beautiful planet. There is a world of possibilities open to whatever attitude we bring to it. Today we can appreciate this opportunity, giving thanks for everything we have and sharing with one another what we are grateful for.
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“People can become suspicious when you tell them that they can change their lives with a simple shift in perspective; it can seem too good to be true because it’s an uncomplicated answer to many of life’s challenges. But I’m just one of many who have experienced a measurable life change with gratitude,” says Vermeeren, creator of the new film, “The Gratitude Experiment,” (www.thegratitudeexperiment.com), which demonstrates through individual stories the powerful effects of gratitude on people’s lives.
“I feel that everyone deserves that opportunity.”He describes three areas in life that can be positively transformed with the power of gratitude:
• Attitude: Gratitude can help us overcome any problem or hardship. It gives us perspective on what’s important, what we truly value and what we have right in front of us. In our small corner of this vast universe, we find the most miraculous thing of all: life. No matter what situation we are in or worries we face, we can always be grateful that we are alive on this beautiful planet. There is a world of possibilities open to whatever attitude we bring to it. Today we can appreciate this opportunity, giving thanks for everything we have and sharing with one another what we are grateful for.
READ MORE
Ready to Make the Jump?
Mother of Re-Invention Shares Tips for Finding
Work
that Feeds the Soul
July 2013
They’re called second acts, encore careers or reinventing yourself – they’re the completely new and different jobs people take in midlife or later. Today, making that jump is more likely to be a matter of following the heart than it was during the throes of the economic recession, when professionals caught up in corporate layoffs discovered they were too old to find jobs in a poor market and too young to retire. They started second careers not to follow a vocation but to pay the bills.
“I’m glad to see the tide turning again – especially for all the baby boomers who don’t want to retire but do want to do something gratifying,” says Betty Hechtman (http://BettyHechtman.com), who was on the eve of her 60th birthday when her first mystery series prompted a bidding war between St. Martin’s Press and Berkley Books. She has since published eight “cozy mysteries,” including her newest, “Yarn to Go” – the first in her Berkley Prime Crime Yarn Mystery series.
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They’re called second acts, encore careers or reinventing yourself – they’re the completely new and different jobs people take in midlife or later. Today, making that jump is more likely to be a matter of following the heart than it was during the throes of the economic recession, when professionals caught up in corporate layoffs discovered they were too old to find jobs in a poor market and too young to retire. They started second careers not to follow a vocation but to pay the bills.
“I’m glad to see the tide turning again – especially for all the baby boomers who don’t want to retire but do want to do something gratifying,” says Betty Hechtman (http://BettyHechtman.com), who was on the eve of her 60th birthday when her first mystery series prompted a bidding war between St. Martin’s Press and Berkley Books. She has since published eight “cozy mysteries,” including her newest, “Yarn to Go” – the first in her Berkley Prime Crime Yarn Mystery series.
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July 2013 Archives
HEALTH
Healthy Aging with Movement Therapy
Two major areas connected to overall health that are too frequently overlooked, particularly for those aged 65 and older, are visual capability and social connectedness, says therapist and charity innovator Karen Peterson.
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We're No Longer No. 1, But We're Still Too Fat
We’re not No. 1 anymore. Mexico, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization, has surpassed the United States as the fattest nation in the world. An estimated 70 percent of the population is overweight, and about one-third of Mexicans are obese. Just one fat-related disease, diabetes, accounts for nearly 70,000 Mexican deaths per year.
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Why Not To Put Your Child on a Diet
Before Karen Kataline knew what a calorie was, she was restricted to 500 of them a day. At dinner, she was not served the same foods as her parents and brother. She remembers being hungry all the time. Kataline was a toddler beauty queen and performer.
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LIFE
How ‘Thinspiration’ is Killing the Self-Esteem of Young Girls: 3 Ways to Fight Negative Reinforcement
Conventional thinking has flown out the window for advertisers who want to attract women to their product, according to a new report from the University of Manitoba and University of Michigan. The report is based off of three studies that conclude blatant, in-your-face content featuring thin, young models actually turn off a woman’s desire for the product; subjects saw the pitch as too transparent.
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Father Hunger: How His Absence Affects His Daughters
In America’s families, much has been made about the effect on boys whose fathers are not around to help raise them, but Dee Louis-Scott, co-chair for the Black Family Technology Awareness Association’s Youth STEM Fair, says the consequences are very tangible in the lives of girls, too.
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WORK
How Top Companies Elevate Loyalty, Productivity and Innovation
When a successful formula is discovered in the business world, it’s copied and becomes part of standard operating procedure throughout entire industries. The newest SOP trend among leading businesses? – Focusing on employee and family well-being, says Gary Kunath, who was honored nationally as Businessman of the Year and recognized with a dinner hosted by the President of the United States.
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What's Holding Back the Fairer Sex?
It’s safe to say that women are on the rise on many accounts:
• Throughout the next decade, women will be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in the history of the United
States and control two thirds of consumer wealth in the country.
• Women are now the majority of the workforce in the U.S. and fill the majority of managerial positions.
• For every two men who earn a college degree, three women will get theirs.
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• Throughout the next decade, women will be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in the history of the United
States and control two thirds of consumer wealth in the country.
• Women are now the majority of the workforce in the U.S. and fill the majority of managerial positions.
• For every two men who earn a college degree, three women will get theirs.
READ MORE