My Cardiomyopathy: August 17

Friday, August 17, 2018

Inspiring Quotes That Will Make You Feel More Grateful

“It’s not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy.”

Between work, our social lives, and basic day-to-day responsibilities, it’s easy to lose sight of the wonderful people, places, and things right in front of us. We’ll say it—we’re not always as grateful as we should be.

That’s what Kristi Nelson, executive director at the nonprofit A Network for Grateful Living, thought when she helped create the organization’s new book Everyday Gratitude: Inspiration for Living Life as a Gift ($12; amazon.com), which was released earlier this year. Chock full of quotes from famous thinkers and historical figures, the book is intended to inspire people to reflect on the good in their life and what they have to be thankful for.

Excerpted from Everyday Gratitude © by A Network for Grateful Living. Used with permission from Storey Publishing. Watercolors © by Katie Eberts. Additional watercolors by Clikchic Designs.

“It’s not pursuing more that you get more,” Nelson says. “It’s actually loving more what you already have that ends up yielding us more in our lives to be grateful for.”

Although A Network for Grateful Living’s website has long served as a go-to hub for gratitude and inspiration, the book takes things a step further. In addition to beautiful lettering and watercolors, each quote is also paired with a question to inspire a deeper impact on the reader’s life.

“There’s a lot of contemplation behind the wisdom,” says Nelson. “The trick is to then allow that wisdom to catalyze our own contemplation.”

As a stage 4 cancer survivor herself, Nelson believes in the power of changing your outlook on life one day at a time for the better. More than anything, Nelson hopes the book has a ripple effect.

“I actually really like the idea of letting these questions and quotes be conversations at a dinner table, for instance. Questions you ask people at a party. Questions you ask a significant other or child every day,” she says.

Excerpted from Everyday Gratitude © by A Network for Grateful Living. Used with permission from Storey Publishing. Watercolors © by Katie Eberts. Additional watercolors by Clikchic Designs.

Excerpted from Everyday Gratitude © by A Network for Grateful Living. Used with permission from Storey Publishing. Watercolors © by Katie Eberts. Additional watercolors by Clikchic Designs

“I think it’s a beautiful gift we can give ourselves. I also think it’s an amazing gift we can give other people. And I don’t mean that just in giving the book away, but in sharing the insights and the transformations that come in our own life as a result of being inspired.”

Next time you’re feeling down or in over your head, you might consider reading a page from this book; it might just give you the little boost you need. One of the primary founders of the organization Brother David Steindl-Rast may put it best: “It’s not happiness that makes us grateful, it’s gratefulness that makes us happy.”

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Sense of Smell and Your Health

No one appreciates their sense of smell when they pass a trash heap or accidentally step in dog poop. But your ability to smell (or not) can tell you a lot about your health.

No one appreciates their sense of smell when they pass a trash heap or accidentally step in dog poop. But your nose knows a lot—not just when things stink. In fact, your ability to smell, or not, can tell you a lot about your health. Here, why you shouldn’t take your whiffing powers for granted.

Smelling something weird could predict a stroke

Some people pick up on more scents than others, but brief episodes of smelling something completely off-base—like fish when there isn’t any around—may be a sign of stroke or a seizure. The American Academy of Neurology says these “olfactory hallucinations” are usually unpleasant smells, but they can differ from person to person, according to the Mayo Clinic. According to a new study published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, around 6.5% of people 40 and older may experience these smells that aren’t really there, sometimes also called “phantom odors.”

Only 11% of people in the study had talked to a doctor about smell or taste concerns. Contact your doctor right away if your nose seems to be going haywire.

Imagining odors can precede a migraine

While it’s relatively uncommon, people may also hallucinate a smell as part of a pre-migraine aura, according to a review of research done by the Montefiore Headache Center. Again, the scents were mostly unpleasant: The most common were of things burning or decomposing.

A bad sense of smell can signal an early death

Feel like your sense of smell has gone south over the years? If it’s less than stellar, it could be a tip-off that you’re not in good health. A 2014 study from the University of Chicago Medical Center found that not being able to detect certain odors had an increased risk of dying within five years. A whopping 39% of older patients who couldn’t pick up on scents like orange, rose, and peppermint died within that time frame, compared to only 19% of so-so smellers and 10% of good smellers.

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Poor smell detection may be a sign of Alzheimer’s

Not being able to smell well could signal the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, according a Harvard Medical School study. Participants with elevated levels of amyloid plaques (telltale proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients) who performed worse on an odor identification test also had greater brain cell death. Why? When the disease starts to kill brain cells, this often includes cells crucial for your sense of smell.