Interdisciplinary Psychology:

Counting my blessings is something that I regularly do throughout the day, and especially when I say my prayers before going to bed.  I realize there is a therapeutic effect when writing down thoughts, so I thought this would be a different experience.  It was, in a good way and a bad way.

Writing down my blessings and why each happened, made me think more about my role in what happens in my life.  I already realize that the little everyday things in life are important, but actively pondering on the specifics help me to appreciate my friends even more.  It also helps me to track my progress in becoming the person I want to be.

The gratitude letter exercise was absolutely the best!  I realized that there were several people I could write to, and also know there’s nothing keeping me from doing so – no dilemma here.  The professors I work with are incredibly nice and supportive people.  I have also become close friends with many of the students in our program, and they have listened when I needed to be heard, and shared their stories with me.   Many amazing people that are friends from my church showed their care and concern when I was going through my divorce.

Gratitude Letter Activity

I wrote my gratitude letter to my new very close friend Saralynn.  This assignment came at a perfect time because it forced me to reflect on who I have been grateful for in my life and in doing it, it spontaneously clicked all at once that her presence has been an indespensible teaching.  For me, she is one of those rare BRIGHT individuals whose presence naturally lights the room, without any traces of contrived effort.  It’s all pretty much here in the letter which I will share for you now:

Lisa Wilson

            The Resilience Factor reminded me of a few years ago when I lost weight.  I had a lot of stress in my personal life and I began to run and I lost 30 pounds.  At 5’02” that was a lot of weight, but to get to my point; people commented on my achievement and how losing weight was something they also wanted to do but didn’t want to run or didn’t have time.  The excuses for not doing it were numerous.  It is the same with the book.  If a person truly wants to make a change in their life then this book will help them.  I believe this because as I read the book I had “aha” moments.  One such moment was in the section on page 66, You Are What You Think.  The very last paragraph on that page states, “In fact, it is not the events that happen to us that cause our feelings and behaviors – it is our thoughts or, as we’ll call them, Beliefs (B’s) about the events that drive how we feel and what we do.”  After reading that particular sentence a couple of times, I thought back to situations where I did exactly that…I let my thoughts about these particular situations take over.  The ticker-tape was the same in each of these situations which caused me great misery.  I can see that now. 

Three Blessings

Before I started this exercise, I recalled reading about it in Authentic Happiness in which Martin Seligman did this activity with his grandchildren. I thought I would have much the same results waking up feeling happy and ready for the day and I anticipated enjoying this activity.

Overall the exercise went well. I got the results I was expecting except for the first three days (which I will explain in more detail momentarily). I found myself experiencing an elevation in mood, and because I have a love of learning I was looking forward to sharing the experience with others.