Saturday, January 03, 2009

BYBS: Benefits of BYBS

There is reason to believe that participating in BYBS may be, from a health standpoint, a good idea.

The results of a study by Emmons & McCullough seem to indicate that keeping a "Gratitude Journal," which bears a striking resemblance to writing entries for Blog Your Blessings Sunday, can have a positive benefit on ones outlook on life.

From the text of the abstract:

The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits.

This article also describes the study in a more reader-friendly manner.

Another reason to keep on blogging.

6 comments:

PERBS said...

It also helps you to make friends all over the blog world!

I also posted a comment on last weeks' blessing today because I was not participating because of problems with uploads.

Hope your New Year brings you many blessings

SandyCarlson said...

Exactly. We need to tell the authors, "Neo knew!" Thanks for lifting this up.

Tanis said...

It's nice when you can look at the good things in your life and appreciate them :)
BUT having said that, your rants are not only entertaining, it's good to vent about things once in a while...

Unknown said...

taking time off to simply count one's blessing is indeed one of the best ways to good health

i still do blessings posts quite so often but instead of every sunday (or abouts) as feels kinda forced tho :P

go BYB! =)

ps. "neo knew" lol.

Anonymous said...

I look forward to BYBS. I take care in picking out my blessing and my photograph.

I have toyed with the idea of putting them all in one place.

Anonymous said...

You make an excellent point! I believe that sharing our blessings helps ourselves and others. I always look forward to visiting others who participate too.
Hugs and blessings,