I recently came across a nice blog post from a real estate newsletter which talked about how being grateful to things and showing gratitude can increase the level of a persons Optimism. This being the December month, a month which brings out holiday mood and as well spirit of giving would be best time to share the post to you all.

Former President Ronald Reagan used to tell a story about two little boys: one a pessimist and the other an optimist. The pessimist was placed in a room full of wonderful toys, and was quickly reduced to tears because he was convinced somebody would take them away. The optimist was placed in a room full of horse manure, and began happily digging away. His reasoning? “There’s got to be a pony in here somewhere.”

While the research suggests that there may be a gene for optimism, it’s also clear that anyone can improve their mood by increasing how often they express gratitude.

In fact, when you express gratitude, you make a powerful shift in terms of how the lens in your brain (i.e., reticular activating system) views the environment.

A great example occurs when you buy a new car. Before you made the decision, you probably never noticed how many people drove the vehicle you were about to purchase. Once you buy, however, it’s amazing how many people suddenly seem to be driving the same vehicle as yours.

The act of expressing gratitude raises your beta-endorphin levels, which, in turn, improves your mood as well as increasing your immunity. The more gratitude you express, the better you feel and the easier it becomes to find more things for which to be grateful.

In conclusion, Optimism and gratitude go hand in hand.

You can show your gratitude by just saying “Thank you” at home or work place more often. If you want go beyond, show gratitude by giving for the needy. You can sponsor an orphan kids education via non-profit organizations in developing nations. You don’t have to do a whole lot to show gratitude, just being you and thankful for things you got in your life would help a great deal as well.

Thank you for reading this post!

At the beginning of each year, people set resolutions to become better than the year before. The number of gym memberships rise each January. The phone calls to debt management companies sky rocket in the month of Jan. However, most resolutions are lucky to make it to March.

According to some statistics, 40 to 45% of American adult make one or more resolutions each year.  But I am not sure whether resolutions were famous or atleast slowly getting there too as many metropolitian cities are already in the path of westernization with Pizza’s and Burgers. Among the top new years resolutions are resolutions about weight loss, exercise, and stopping to smoke. Also popular are resolutions dealing with better money management / debt reduction.

The following shows how many of these resolutions are maintained as time goes on by these people:

- past the first week: 75%

- past 2 weeks: 71%

- after one month: 64%

- after 6 months: only 46%

It’s almost end of January, I bet many of you are scratching your head thinking “Why in the hell I made this resolution this year which I don’t think I can do it...” Are you one among those thousands of people made a resolution this year and thinking of giving up on them?

Don’t be embarssed on throwing them out. New year Resolutions never work and only works for 1 out of 1000. Whether the resolution is related to Health or Wealth, its is going to end up in trash after a month or two, maximum it will make till March.

Resolutions are made either to satisfy the inner feelings or to make you feel better on this year. It is impulse driven, short term and never yield results. Common reasons were no 100% committed, no self confidence, no proper plans, lack of time management, lack of support and fear. I like to call missing of 3C’s, Concentration, Commitment and Confidence.

But  don’t lose hope, there is help out there in a different avatar. It’s called GOAL setting. Many people think goal setting is a big commitment and Resolutions are not. Here you go again, its the very reason Resolutions don’t work. You have to commit yourself to bring change in you. No Pain, No Gain, you hear it all the time. If you aren’t commited, nothing will change. So don’t get scared of GOAL setting. It is simple and easily doable.  A small change and little bit of commitment to start with goes a long way.

Working towards goals with proper plan and action makes wonders and many people stand out as true examples. Instead of New year resolutions, try to set Goals and work towards smaller mile stones with a plan in place and taking proper action using those plan. You will be on your way to experiend the happy moments of reach your realistic goals.

I will show how Goals make magic in an easy and simple way and also guide you ”To be your own Financial Planner” in my next post. Just wait for few more days…

Do check my websites http://moneyreallymaters.com and  http://nrimoneyreallymatters.com for more interesting blogs.