Gratitude Discussion Group

Posted by Debbra Williams, Alumna Mentor @debbraw, Nov 24, 2018

Hi everyone! Just before Thanksgiving @michellegraffradford posted a blog called Gratitude Changes Everything. She suggested three techniques to help incorporate gratitude into our daily lives:


  • Start the Day with Gratitude (before getting up think of three people you are grateful for)

  • Maintain a Gratitude Journal to record times when you are grateful

  • Count Blessings – not sheep! (Review the day and remember moments of gratitude)


Her blogpost was so inspiring that a lot of us decided we wanted to form a Gratitude Group to keep the attitude of gratitude going. The blogpost area is not an ideal space for a big discussion group so I am moving the discussion over here to the “Just Want to Talk” Group. Let’s use this space to share and discuss our Gratitude Journey. I’m going to suggest that we each try to take a minute from the day and post here what has made us feel thankful today. It can be as small as a stranger’s smile on the bus or as large as fulfilling a major life dream – or anywhere in between. We can also discuss how we are doing with the three techniques. Sometimes it is easier to form new habits with support from others.

Michelle's full blogpost is at the link below. You may want to review it or print it out to help get started!
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/living-with-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci/newsfeed/gratitude-changes-everything/

I look forward to hearing from others in the Gratitude Group and to having others join us here! Thanks to those who already shared great stories. If you haven't yet, what gratitude will you share today?!

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

@contentandwell

@jakedduck1 My mother loved dark chocolate so I was sort of brought up on it, which is not to say we never had milk chocolate. The woman next door used to visit her daughter who was in a sanitorium close to a wonderful candy store and she always brought white chocolate back to us. I really do love it. Taza has one that 95% cocoa and I love it. It's sort of pricey though.

My son's favorite cookie is an oatmeal bar with caramel and white chocolate layered in it. It is really, really good. For anyone who likes caramel it could be addictive so I only make it when he is around. I never had a snickerdoodle until a few years ago and loved them but I used nutmeg in them too because my daughter and I love nutmeg. Plus I put white chocolate chips in them.

Do I have you drooling? I have always been known as the dessert person in the family, I provided all of the desserts for big family occasions. I was also known as the Wine Diva but not anymore. ☹️ I never drank a lot but I really miss a glass of wine with dinner and I loved learning about wines.
JK

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@contentandwell
I’ll be glad to take over your title of Wine Diva. Wine and dark chocolate after dinner. I make a double chocolate cookie that is heavenly but only for the grandkids.

If I may be so bold I will sign off as

FL Mary, W.D. Sort of like MD but better.

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@contentandwell

I've heard of buckeyes but never made them.

@Erinmfs Those shoes sound interesting. I never heard of them before. Are they also a shoe made for comfort and therapeutic or do they just replace a pedometer?

It's frustrating when gifts are not acknowledged. I used to bring my PCP a very nice bottle of wine at Christmas and some home-baked goodies for the office. He never once mentioned them. I always wondered if one of the office workers just took the wine herself. I didn't expect a formal thank-you note but an acknowledgement would have been nice.
My step-daughter is the same too. I used to spend a great deal of time purchasing gifts for her and her family - multiple gifts for each of them - and they were never mentioned -- they were out of state, so the gifts were mailed. I would have to ask my husband the next time he spoke to her to ask if she had received the gifts. She always had of course.
JK

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@contentandwell
I don’t know what has happened to manners especially from family. No one in my family would dare to not acknowledge a gift and they passed that down to my grandkids.
I wouldn’t bother gifting your Doctor. They get inundated with Christmas baskets and wine from everywhere, especially from pharmaceutical reps. I used to work for a Orthopedic group and have seen doctors give their goodies to their assistants and nurses and they don’t even know who the gifts are from. They often put them in the break rooms for the staff . I think the wine was the only thing they kept and some did not drink. If you feel you have to acknowledge your Doctor , a note of thanks would be appropriate....and, of course, any referrals. Or just tell him in person you appreciate him. Don’t spend any money.

FL Mary, W.D.

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@imallerd How did you weather this hurricane ?I thought of our FLA friends Hope you and everyone there are fine

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Hi,
Well said. Doctors do not pay attention to birthday or holiday gifts from patients. Cookies, cakes ,etc. are left for their staff, and the wine is usually given to somebody else. Holiday cards are left for receptionist to open, and that is as far as it goes.
We all have spoiled rotten relatives who do not know how to say thank you for thoughtful gifts, it irkes me when I must call to see if a gift did arrive, especially if it was from a department store.
The days of gifts are over for me, why bother?

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@imallears

@contentandwell
I’ll be glad to take over your title of Wine Diva. Wine and dark chocolate after dinner. I make a double chocolate cookie that is heavenly but only for the grandkids.

If I may be so bold I will sign off as

FL Mary, W.D. Sort of like MD but better.

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@imallears You can't have my sign, it was a gift as was my hat that says "wine chic". On our yearly trips to CA wine country I really learned a lot and I enjoyed that very much.

That was a time when my doctor had really done a lot for me, when I was diagnosed with cirrhosis. He had gone above and beyond and I knew what he liked in wine. He is also a doctor who is fairly opposed to a lot of drugs so I doubt he gets much in the way of compensation from drug companies. The goodies were for the staff, but I am quite sure he kept the wine himself.

I think there is no way to make a blanket statement, our relationships with our doctors are very individual. He is the only one to whom I ever gave a gift, and I have a lot of doctors. Despite the fact that I recently changed doctors we had a very close relationship and he called recently to talk about it.

Our friend, the retired doctor whom I have mentioned before used to get all kinds of stuff, and a lot of home-baked goodies. Another friend, a periodontist, got extremely expensive gifts from patients!

@funcountess My husband has given up on his grandchildren. He nows sends them personal checks because then he least knows if it was received and cashed.
JK

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@jakedduck1

@contentandwell
I live in California too and love cookies and white chocolate. Just in case you get in a cooking mood and don’t know what to do with them feel free to send them my way. My favorites are white chocolate macadamia nut, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip or chocolate chip with M&M’s and molasses cookies are great but I’ll eat any kind of cookies.
Jake

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@jakedduck1 One of my dad's favorite sayings was, "I never met a cookie I didn't like." When my mother was alive and before the dementia/Alzheimer stole her mind away, he would fix the both of them a cup of coffee and two cookies, each night about 10PM, as a nightly ritual. Then off to bed. A nice memory.
Ginger

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@contentandwell

@imallears You can't have my sign, it was a gift as was my hat that says "wine chic". On our yearly trips to CA wine country I really learned a lot and I enjoyed that very much.

That was a time when my doctor had really done a lot for me, when I was diagnosed with cirrhosis. He had gone above and beyond and I knew what he liked in wine. He is also a doctor who is fairly opposed to a lot of drugs so I doubt he gets much in the way of compensation from drug companies. The goodies were for the staff, but I am quite sure he kept the wine himself.

I think there is no way to make a blanket statement, our relationships with our doctors are very individual. He is the only one to whom I ever gave a gift, and I have a lot of doctors. Despite the fact that I recently changed doctors we had a very close relationship and he called recently to talk about it.

Our friend, the retired doctor whom I have mentioned before used to get all kinds of stuff, and a lot of home-baked goodies. Another friend, a periodontist, got extremely expensive gifts from patients!

@funcountess My husband has given up on his grandchildren. He nows sends them personal checks because then he least knows if it was received and cashed.
JK

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@contentandwell

I didn't know you had a sign. I have wine aprons and a wine door mat and even a wine bell outside my front door and a sign that says "Money can't buy you love but it can buy you wine." I will gladly give you your title back and try to find a new one. Once a Diva always a Diva.
Your doctor sounds like a gem and from the old school of really caring about their patients. Having a special relationship is rare. Most of us don't have that kind of relationship with doctors who are generally overburdened and in a hurry. I don't believe in giving doctors really expensive presents.

FL Mary....looking for another title

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@lioness

@imallerd How did you weather this hurricane ?I thought of our FLA friends Hope you and everyone there are fine

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@lioness
There was a lot of hype about this Cat 1 hurricane. The East Coast got some high winds and high surf and probably power outages along with rain. They are still getting that. That’s why you saw testing sites being dismantled. It is making its way up the outer edge of Florida. I am on the West Coast. Got a nice rain today and we generally get daily rains at this time of year. However we take nothing for granted. Nice and sunny right now.

But I watched several big networks that had the path right up the middle of our state when our local channels had it where it is going now. Makes you wonder what else is blown out of proportion.

I will let you know when we have to hunker down and thank you for asking. Believe me, if we are going to get one, I would have been at Costco to fill up my wine fridge lol. We have a generator so our refrigerators and some lights and outlets will work. It is hardwired into the house and we have 2 portable AC units that can be connected to the generator. One would go into my bedroom and the other into the kids bedroom (they live across the breezeway from me.)

We do live near water but have never had to evacuate in 25 years and recently had some trees trimmed...as has everyone else lately.

Thanks again Linda and I know what’s going on in Ca. So continue to do what you do.

FL Mary

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@imallears

@contentandwell

I didn't know you had a sign. I have wine aprons and a wine door mat and even a wine bell outside my front door and a sign that says "Money can't buy you love but it can buy you wine." I will gladly give you your title back and try to find a new one. Once a Diva always a Diva.
Your doctor sounds like a gem and from the old school of really caring about their patients. Having a special relationship is rare. Most of us don't have that kind of relationship with doctors who are generally overburdened and in a hurry. I don't believe in giving doctors really expensive presents.

FL Mary....looking for another title

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@imallears My ex-doctor is very good in many ways but first he did not diagnose my cirrhosis in almost a year and a half, it was finally diagnosed by a neurologist, and more recently he dropped the ball for over 5 years on my osteoporosis despite my having osteopenia in January 2014 and being on prednisone. So, I have switched doctors. He was so darned nice and actually apologetic about the osteoporosis that if I hadn't just had an appointment with the new doctor he may have won me back. We had an excellent rapport. He admitted he was concentrating on other things and thought that with all of my exercise, etc., I would be fine. Wrong.
JK

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@imallears

@lioness
There was a lot of hype about this Cat 1 hurricane. The East Coast got some high winds and high surf and probably power outages along with rain. They are still getting that. That’s why you saw testing sites being dismantled. It is making its way up the outer edge of Florida. I am on the West Coast. Got a nice rain today and we generally get daily rains at this time of year. However we take nothing for granted. Nice and sunny right now.

But I watched several big networks that had the path right up the middle of our state when our local channels had it where it is going now. Makes you wonder what else is blown out of proportion.

I will let you know when we have to hunker down and thank you for asking. Believe me, if we are going to get one, I would have been at Costco to fill up my wine fridge lol. We have a generator so our refrigerators and some lights and outlets will work. It is hardwired into the house and we have 2 portable AC units that can be connected to the generator. One would go into my bedroom and the other into the kids bedroom (they live across the breezeway from me.)

We do live near water but have never had to evacuate in 25 years and recently had some trees trimmed...as has everyone else lately.

Thanks again Linda and I know what’s going on in Ca. So continue to do what you do.

FL Mary

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@imallers Glad to know your on the west coast I've been to Ft Myers just made cinnamon buns smell good just out of oven

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