We’re thanking 13 people this week in the Americans of Conscience Checklist.
Why?
It’s more than politeness. Science tells us that the act of expressing gratitude benefits our nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system. Conveying sincere thanks lowers our stress and creates feelings of peaceful inter-connectedness. It makes us feel safer and helps us stay healthy. All from a simple thank you.
Best of all, both the giver and the receiver experience these benefits. All it takes is a little time to say thank you from the heart—for good deeds and courageous actions (no matter how small). Friends, not only is gratitude a way of encouraging elected officials to keep doing the right thing, it is a way to stay engaged in daunting times.
Gratitude is at the heart of my own activism, so I include it in every edition of the AoC Checklist. I’m grateful for our volunteer researchers who find those proverbial encouraging needles in the bad-news haystack. We love finding evidence of good people doing good things every day.
If you need a boost, I encourage you to bring gratitude to your activism this week. Say thank you to unlikely people. Let the words come from the heart. You’ll be surprised how good it feels.
Here’s the link to this week’s checklist.
Love everything you’re doing. I follow you every week. Keep up the good work. The Blue Wave is coming
And I’d like to thank YOU for this! Gratitude feels like a survival strategy to me – reminding me to focus on all of the good things there still are so that I don’t drown in despair over the hurtful, hateful stuff. And it reenergizes me to keep resisting the hurtful, hateful stuff.
Thank you so much. You give me hope.
Have you seen this article?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/reinventing-america/556856/
You continue to amaze me…. Just when I think that I cannot take one more step…..you give me hope. Thank you so much!