Social Security Telephone Scams

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Beware of Social Security phone scams! Telephone scammers are pretending to be government employees.

People who know about scams are much less likely to fall victim to them.

Social Security Administration (SSA) continue to receive reports of scammers pretending to be government employees. Scammers may contact you by U.S. mail, telephone, text message, email, or message on social media to obtain your personal information or money.

Scammers frequently change their approach, trying new tactics and messaging to trick people. SSA encourage you to stay up to date on the latest news and advisories by following SSA OIG on Twitter and Facebook or subscribing to receive email alerts.

Social Security will never threaten, scare, or pressure you to take an immediate action.

Recognize the signs of a Social Security scam and report it.

When you report a scam, you are providing Social Security Administration (SSA) with powerful data that we can use to combat scams. The information you report helps SSA to identify trends, refine their strategies, and take legal action against the criminals behind these scam activities.

You can report scams here: http://ow.ly/QsKB50IuYVK

References:

  1. https://oig.ssa.gov/scam-awareness/scam-alert/
  2. https://oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads/NCPW-2022-GovtImp-Infographic-v2-508.pdf

Congressional Energy Piñata

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Politicians rarely let facts get in the way of a good sound bite and political theater.

Experience, economics and simple logic tell you that anything Congress does to “fix” a situation, like high consumer energy prices, will probably do more harm than good, writes Fisher Investment’s manager Elisabeth Dellinger, Senior Editor of MarketMinder. So it is a blessing for equity stocks and financial markets that gridlock on Capitol Hill will likely block any energy related legislation coming out of Washington.

Recently, Congress indulged in one of its favorite pastimes: a public flogging of large company chief executives…on this occasion the targets were major energy company chief executive officers. Politicians have accused the industry of price gouging, and a couple of Senators have proposed windfall profits taxes for energy companies.

The allegations at the Congressional hearings appear ‘more politics than substance’. For one, gas prices have ticked down slightly for three straight weeks. In reality, gas prices tend to follow oil at a lag, so gas’s failure to match oil’s rate of decline over the past four weeks isn’t a shock.

Moreover, the oil executives offered some simple, logical answers why gasoline prices haven’t matched the magnitude of oil’s retreat. Some cited rising costs and shortages of drilling equipment as well as transportation bottlenecks. Others pointed out that the industry is still dealing with the wild swings induced by lockdowns, which brought swift production cuts—and then a need for fast restarts when the companies didn’t have the labor or equipment to oblige.

And, there is a third reason, writes Dellinger: Oil isn’t the only major ingredient in gasoline. The ethanol mandate is still the law of the land. Gasoline sold in the US is required to have a certain amount of ethanol blended with refined petroleum—typically around 10% of every gallon. Ethanol is a “renewable” fuel derived from corn, which has jumped in price since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Corn is now up 42.2% over the past six months, and unlike crude oil, it hasn’t backed down from the post-invasion spike.[iii] Demand from all corners is keeping the price high, and that is feeding into prices at the pump.

But Congressional hearings are rarely about the truth and facts, especially when the facts put Congress’s past deeds in a bad light. True to form, politicians highlight a hot-button issue, press the blame button and advance a politically motivated policy solution, even though it isn’t likely to pass.

Senators’ have offered windfall tax proposals which are in response to claims that these taxes are necessary because energy firms are restraining supplies and production to keep prices up, tied to “financial discipline” demanded of oil firms by investors. Although these are strong emotional appeals intended for their loyal constituents, but the facts demonstrate that there isn’t much evidence of actual excessive windfall profits.

“Energy is a cyclical business, and companies won’t survive if they can’t bank on having good times to counterbalance the bad”, writes Dellinger. “If eventual profits can’t offset losses, there is no math there for shareholders or creditors. Essentially, a windfall tax implemented now would punish companies for surviving. Moreover, it would destroy the incentive to invest. What is the point in stomaching the high upfront costs it takes to drill and pump new wells if there is a risk the government will confiscate your profits retroactively? How can you plan? Retroactive taxes kill investment, and doing this in the oil and gas industry would probably whack US oil production, making prices even higher over time.”

On the bright side, the likelihood this windfall tax legislation goes anywhere stands about zero. The 50/50 Senate hasn’t managed to pass anything contentious and probably won’t start now—not with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who has effective veto power, representing a state with a big natural gas and coal industry.

Midterms currently look poised to deepen gridlock next year. Angry Congressional political tweets and sound bites might stoke fear and hit constituents’ sentiment during midterm campaigns, but financial markets should quickly view that these bills are likely to be ‘dead on arrival’.

Conversely, NYT foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman suggests that the U.S. needs to implement an ‘oil import tax’ that sets the price of oil in America at around $50 to $60 per barrel. This tax, he opines, would provide a stable, predictable price for oil companies, and eliminate the wild price swings and volatility in oil prices American have experienced over the past two decades.

“One of our learnings from past mistakes is to act promptly when we discover new information about an investment that is inconsistent with our original thesis.” Bill Ackman, Pershing Square

References:

  1. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/en-us/marketminder/dont-let-the-politicking-on-gas-prices-fool-you
  2. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, as of 4/6/2022. US regular all formulations gas prices, 3/14/2022 – 4/4/2022. Data are weekly.
  3. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2022/04/08/the-us-needs-an-oil-import-tax-says-nyts-thomas-friedman.html

An Inspirational Story of Kindness

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“It’s amazing, how one person’s act of kindness can change the course of your life. Today, follow their lead….Pay it forward.”

“I went to Kroger tonight wearing one of my husband’s sweatshirts. I got in line to check out and the man in front of me asked if the sweatshirt was mine.

I said ‘oh no, it’s my husband’s.’ It caught me pretty off guard, to say the least. He then asked if my husband was with me so he could say thank you and I just said ‘thank you, but unfortunately, he’s deployed right now.’

The man then, without hesitation started putting my groceries up on the belt with his and told me he was paying for my groceries tonight. I was speechless.

The only thing I could get out was, ‘oh my gosh, are you sure, thank you so much’ almost a dozen times. He said, ‘that place over there almost took me away from my wife and my four kids.

Promise you’ll stay true and honest to him while he’s gone and love him like you’ve never loved him before when he gets home.’ I’m still in shock over an hour later.

There’s still so much good in the world and we need to start focusing on that rather than focusing on all the bad.“

Credit: Casey Carpenter

Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey

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Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey Shows Black Americans Continue to Trail Their White Counterparts in Building Wealth
Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey Key Findings:

  • 58% of African Americans are invested in the stock market; and, in the cohort under forty years old, that percentage jumps up to 68%.
  • 25% of Black Americans own cryptocurrency; (only 15% of white Americans own cryptocurrency)
  • 401(k) are no longer the entry point for many first-time investors.
  • Risky investments very popular among younger Black investors
  • Instead entering via cryptocurrency, individual stocks and mutual funds
  • Black investors are more likely to trust and make investment decisions based on less credible information sources, such as social media

“The results of the 2020 Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey reveal that Black Americans are not benefitting from stock market growth at the same rate as white Americans at similar income levels”, according to the results from the Ariel Investment and Charles Schwab Black Investor Survey. “The deep-rooted gap in participation between the groups persists, with 55 percent of Black Americans and 71 percent of white Americans reporting stock market investments. This disparity, compounded over time, means that middle-class Black Americans will have less money saved for retirement and less wealth to pass onto the next generation than their white peers.”

In a year like no other, however, there is also evidence of growing engagement in the stock market by younger Black Americans, with 63 percent under the age of 40 now participating in the stock market, equal to their white counterparts, according to the Survey. The closing of this gap among younger investors is being driven by new investors: three times as many Black investors as white investors (15% vs. 5%) report having invested in the market for the first time in 2020. Twenty-nine percent of Black investors under the age of 40 were new to investing in 2020 compared to 16 percent of whites.

Beyond investing, the survey finds that Black Americans are less likely than white Americans to own almost every kind of financial vehicle, with the exception of whole life insurance, which is favored in the Black community. They are also less likely than white Americans to have written wills, financial plans, or retirement plans.

For Black Americans, disparities grow every month; while they save $393 overall per month, whites are saving 76 percent more, at $693 per month. Even Black Americans who earn more than $100,000 a year consistently save or invest considerably less than their white counterparts at the same income level.

“These differences are not new. Black Americans are disadvantaged from the outset when it comes to building wealth,” says Hobson. She notes that while 51 percent of white Americans say they have inherited wealth, just 23 percent of Black Americans have.

Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz points out that more white Americans (44%) than Black Americans (33%) are focused on preparing for retirement as their most important financial goal.

“African American investors are getting into the markets late and taking higher risk as the markets have exploded upwards over the last few years”, says John Rogers, Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Ariel Investments. “As cryptocurrency has gone up, [Black investors] have been joining that chase, the same way they did during when the internet bubble occurred..getting in late and chasing the higher risk investments.”

High risk investments are growing in popularity, especially among younger Black investors. “What I worry about is when you jump in [the markets] late and get crushed when the inevitable happens, then you’re going to be gun-shy about getting back into the markets.”

People are talking about cryptocurrency and they’ve heard the people have made a lot of money and got rich quickly, so they want to jump on the bandwagon. What’s happening is that they are hearing about it through word of mouth or on the social media front. Thus, more and more people are learning how crypto works or how they think it works, and are not understanding the risk.

Investor education is extremely important, states Rogers. “We must teach young people about the investing in stock market and the value of long term investing and not speculation.”

The most important thing is financial education. From the survey, “there is a lot of evidence that both black and white Americans don’t really understand what they’re investing in”, says Kelly Johnson, Portfolio Manager, Charles Schwab Asset Management. “For example, forty percent (40%) of both cohorts [Black and White investors] came in admitting that they do not really understand their investments.” Additionally, many new investors in the markets believe cryptocurrency and NFT are federally regulated and without risk.

References:

  1. https://www.aboutschwab.com/ariel-schwab-black-investor-survey-2021
  2. John Rogers and Kelly Johnson, (April 20, 2022), Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey segment, CNBC Squawk Box,

I Bonds

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The main benefit of I Bonds is that they protect your cash from inflation. I bonds currently earn 7.21% through April 2022.

U.S. Treasury issued Series I savings bonds are a low-risk savings product. They are a good hedge against inflation (the “I” in the name stands for “inflation”), because during their lifetime they earn interest and are protected from inflation.

Inflation can be a very destructive economic force that reduces the value and purchasing power of your money over time. With inflation at a 40-year high, many investors are looking for ways to protect the value of their cash, and Series I bonds could be a good solution.

These Series I bonds have two interest rates:

  • A fixed rate that never changes for as long as you hold the bond — currently 0%
  • A variable inflation adjusted rate that changes every six months based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — current annual rate is 7.12% through April 2022.

The Treasury will announce the new I bond annual interest rate based on CPI in May, which might be higher or lower than the current rate.

You may purchase:

  • Electronic I bonds via TreasuryDirect.gov
  • Paper I bonds with your IRS tax refund via IRS Form 8888

I bonds are sold at face value and earn interest from the first of the month in the issue date. Interest is earned monthly and is compounded semiannually:  the interest the bond earned in the previous six months is added to the bond’s principal value; then, interest for the next six months is calculated using this adjusted principal.

Interest accrues until the bond reaches 30 years maturity or you cash the bond. You can’t access the interest payments until you cash the bond.

I bonds do not incur state or local taxes (SALT), but the bond owner will owe federal tax on the interest earnings unless the money is used for qualified education expenses.

You can’t redeem the bond for at least 12 months, and if you redeem the bond within five years, you forfeit the last three months of interest.

There are dollar limits on the quantity of Series I bonds you can purchase each calendar year:

  • $10k maximum in electronic bonds per person (minimum $25)
  • $5k maximum in paper bonds (minimum $50)

You can also purchase bonds for children under the age of 18 and, in some instances, for trusts and estates.

The main benefit of Series I bonds is that they protect your cash from inflation. And, Series I bonds can be a good solution if you have a savings goal over the next 2 to 5 years and want to protect the value of your savings.

References:

  1. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/products/prod_ibonds_glance.htm
  2. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds.htm
  3. https://facetwealth.com/article/series-i-bonds/

Cyber Threats are Clear and Present

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Cybersecurity threats, malware and ransomware are clear and present danger threats to American businesses and way of life.

This week, Americans wake-up to dire warnings from the federal government in Washington to growing cyber threats and malware from Russia. The federal government warns American citizens, organizations and businesses to enhance their cyber vigilance and security in preparation of cyber attacks originating from Russia targeting critical information and infrastructure.

The latest cybersecurity threats are taking advantage of pandemic induced work-from-home environments, remote access tools, and new cloud services. According to CISA, these evolving cybersecurity threats include:

  • Malware — malicious software variants—such as worms, viruses, Trojans, and spyware—that provide unauthorized access or cause damage to a computer. Malware attacks are increasingly “fileless” and designed to get around familiar detection methods, such as antivirus tools, that scan for malicious file attachments.
  • Ransomware — a type of malware that locks down files, data or systems, and threatens to erase or destroy the data – or make private or sensitive data to the public – unless a ransom is paid to the cybercriminals who launched the attack. Recent ransomware attacks have targeted state and local governments, which are easier to breach than organizations and under pressure to pay ransoms in order to restore applications and web sites on which citizens rely.
  • Phishing / social engineering — a form of social engineering that tricks users into providing their own sensitive information. In phishing scams, emails or text messages appear to be from a known individual or legitimate company asking for sensitive information, such as credit card data or login information. The FBI has noted about a surge in pandemic-related phishing, tied to the growth of remote work.
  • Insider threats — Current or former employees, business partners, contractors, or anyone who has had access to systems or networks in the past can be considered an insider threat if they abuse their access permissions. Insider threats can be invisible to traditional security solutions like firewalls and intrusion detection systems, which focus on external threats.
  • Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks — attempts to crash a server, website or network by overloading it with traffic, usually from multiple coordinated systems. DDoS attacks overwhelm enterprise networks via the simple network management protocol (SNMP), used for modems, printers, switches, routers, and servers.
  • Advanced persistent threats (APTs) — an intruder or group of intruders infiltrate a system and remain undetected for an extended period. The intruder leaves networks and systems intact so that the intruder can spy on business activity and steal sensitive data while avoiding the activation of defensive countermeasures. The recent Solar Winds breach of United States government systems is an example of an APT.
  • Man-in-the-middle attacks — an eavesdropping attack, where a cybercriminal intercepts and relays messages between two parties in order to steal data. For example, on an unsecure Wi-Fi network, an attacker can intercept data being passed between guest’s device and the network.

A majority of Americans have moved their financial and daily lives online, and thus are more susceptible than ever to of cyber crime, malware and ransomware attacks.

As you might image, today’s world is more interconnected than ever before. Yet, for all its advantages, increased connectivity brings increased risk of theft, fraud, and abuse.

As Americans become more reliant on modern technology, we also become more vulnerable to cyberattacks and cybercrimes.

Every organization—large and small—must be prepared to respond to cybercrime and disruptive cyber incidents, explains the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to our cyber and physical infrastructure.

CISA recommends all individuals and organizations—regardless of size—adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting their most critical assets, like a “zero trust strategy”.

A zero trust strategy assumes compromise and sets up controls to validate every user, device and connection into the business for authenticity and purpose. To be successful executing a zero trust strategy, organizations need a way to combine security information in order to generate the context (device security, location, etc.) that informs and enforces validation controls.

References:

  1. https://www.ibm.com/topics/cybersecurity
  2. https://www.cisa.gov/shields-up

Living the Life of Your Dreams

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“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” Steve Jobs

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life or one devoid of purpose. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking, writes Excellence Reporter in a 2019 article. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

“Life is to be lived and enjoyed in the moment,” says life coach Lamisha Serf-Walls. “Life is too short not to do what you love and when you are living the life your soul intended, you will experience freedom and bliss you never thought possible.”

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same or settle again.

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.” Fyodor Dostoevsky

You should never have a life’s purpose or live a life with the primary goal of getting rich and building wealth. Money can only be a tool used to achieve a goal or life’s purpose. It should never be your primary goal or purpose.

Instead, your goal and puri should be to value or serve others, to work towards something you believe in and to live a life that matters. You should be building wealth to serve others, to make the world better in some small way or to solve a problem. “Never work just for money or for power. They won’t save your soul or help you sleep at night”, states Marian Wright Edelman.

Additionally, let your passion lead you to your purpose. “If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose. says Bishop T.D. Jakes  Be candid and honest with yourself about what your passions are. What really lights you up and makes you happy? What would you do if money weren’t a concern and you weren’t afraid? Let your passion lead you to your purpose.

Whether you start writing for fun, volunteer at a shelter, or start a new business, take some action today. Your passion will catapult you forward to more of the same and in no time you will find yourself living the life of your dreams!

According to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German poet, playwright, novelist, and scientist, there are nine requisites for contented and purposeful living:

  1. Health enough to make work and life a pleasure.
  2. Wealth enough to support your needs.
  3. Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
  4. Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
  5. Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
  6. Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
  7. Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
  8. Faith enough to make real the things of God.
  9. Hope enough to remove all anxious fears concerning the future.

“Everyone has a purpose in life…a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the exctasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of goals.” Deepak Chopra

References:

  1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/live-your-life_b_6631456
  2. https://www.thegrowthreactor.com/quotes-about-purpose-in-life/
  3. https://excellencereporter.com/2019/06/11/steve-jobs-on-the-wisdom-and-the-purpose-of-life/
  4. https://excellencereporter.com/2021/11/29/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe-on-the-wisdom-and-the-purpose-of-life/

Keep Yourself Cyber Safe

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Every American can take simple steps to improve their cybersecurity and protect themselves while online.

As the nation’s cyber defense agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) stands ready to help individuals and organizations prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of cyberattacks and cybercrime.

Currently, CISA recommends all individuals, organizations and businesses —regardless of size—adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting their most critical information and assets.

Every American can take several simple steps to improve their cybersecurity and protect themselves while online. In fact there are 5 things you can do to keep yourself cyber safe. CISA urges everyone to practice the following: 

  • Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your accounts. A password isn’t enough to keep you safe online. By implementing a second layer of identification, like a confirmation text message or email, a code from an authentication app, a fingerprint or Face ID, or best yet, a FIDO key,  you’re giving your bank, email provider, or any other site you’re logging into the confidence that it really is you. Multi-factor authentication can make you 99% less likely to get hacked. So enable multi-factor authentication on your email, social media, online shopping, financial services accounts. And don’t forget your gaming and streaming entertainment services!   
  • Update your software. In fact, turn on automatic updates.   Bad actors will exploit flaws in the system. Update the operating system on your mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.  And update your applications – especially the web browsers – on all your devices too.   Leverage automatic updates for all devices, applications, and operating systems. 
  • Think before you click. More than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.  A phishing scheme is when a link or webpage looks legitimate, but it’s a trick designed by bad actors to have you reveal your passwords, social security number, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information. Once they have that information, they can use it on legitimate sites. And they may try to get you to run malicious software, also known as malware.  If it’s a link you don’t recognize, trust your instincts, and think before you click. 
  • Use strong passwords, and ideally a password manager to generate and store unique passwords.  Our world is increasingly digital and increasingly interconnected. So, while we must protect ourselves, it’s going to take all of us to really protect the systems we all rely on. 
  • Halt bad practices. Take immediate steps to: (1) replace end-of-life software products that no longer receive software updates; (2) replace any system or products that rely on known/default/unchangeable passwords; and (3) adopt MFA for remote or administrative access to important systems, resources, or databases.

Americans should prepared themselves to respond to cybercrime and to disruptive cyber activity. CISA encourages everyone to put their “Shields Up” and take proactive steps to protect against active and future cyber threats. 

References:

  1. https://www.cisa.gov/shields-up
  2. https://www.cisa.gov/free-cybersecurity-services-and-tools

Tips to Feel Better – Mindfulness

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“Mindfulness gives you time. Time gives you choices. Choices, skillfully made, lead to freedom.” – Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Feeling good means that your body and mind are working at their peak level, and you have a general sense of well-being, says David Rakel, MD, founder and the director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Wisconsin (UW). The vision of the UW’s program is “Inspiring health and wellness in patients, communities, and ourselves”.

Life is short and a precious gift. Thus, it’s critical to enjoy and live fully each day To feel good day after day, Rakel suggests:

Stay focused on the present moment.

“If we can learn to recognize the clutter that our mind is in and learn to be more mindful of the present moment, that can be a tremendous asset to our overall sense of well-being,” Rakel says. The “clutter” that can make you feel bad includes regret about the past and worry that bad things might happen to you.

A practice called mindfulness can help you reduce the clutter by keeping your focus on the present moment. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.

To be more mindful, try to:

  • Take in the colors, sounds, and smells that surround you at any given time.
  • Pay attention to your breath moving in and out of your body for a few moments.
  • Let worrisome thoughts flow out of your mind when they pop up, rather than giving them attention and dwelling on them.

Studies have shown that practicing mindfulness, even for just a few weeks, can bring a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits. Here are some of these benefits according to The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which extend across many different settings.

  • Mindfulness is good for your bodies: A seminal study found that, after just eight weeks of training, practicing mindfulness meditation boosts your immune system’s ability to fight off illness. Practicing mindfulness may also improve sleep quality.
  • Mindfulness is good for your minds: Several studies have found that mindfulness increases positive emotions while reducing negative emotions and stress. Indeed, at least one study suggests it may be as good as antidepressants in fighting depression and preventing relapse.
  • Mindfulness changes our brains: Research has found that it increases density of gray matter in brain regions linked to learning, memory, emotion regulation, and empathy.
  • Mindfulness helps you focus: Studies suggest that mindfulness helps you tune out distractions and improves your memory, attention skills, and decision-making.

In addition to mindfulness, it’s important to try to stay positive and focus on the positive.

The same event can happen to two people, and one views it as a positive and one views it as a negative. So try to see the good side of the things and people around you; it can help you stay free of anxiety and depression, Rakel says.

And, there is a strong connection between psychological health and longevity. In fact, optimism, purpose, and happiness have all been tied to living longer, suggesting you may want to cultivate these attributes in your life.

“How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience, and therefore, the quality of our lives.” – Sam Harris

Make a spiritual connection.

Rakel defines this as spending time on “that which gives your life meaning and purpose.”This could be your religious beliefs, enjoying nature, or sharing moments with loved ones. “If we get up in the morning excited about something that gives us meaning and self-purpose, our bodies do all they can to heal,” he says.

Be around people.

Having a good support network of family, friends, coworkers, and other people who care about you can help you stay healthier, feel less stressed, and even live a longer life. Spend time with these people regularly, and work to keep your relationships with them strong.

Bottomline, by being mindful, you can train yourself to live in the present moment to handle life’s challenges with a clear mind to help you feel better and live your best life.

Focus on good health and emotional well-being.

“Mindfulness is deliberately paying full attention to what is happening around you– in your body, heart, and mind. Mindfulness is awareness without criticism or judgment.” – Jan Chozen Bays

Healthy aging

If you want to live a long, healthy life as you age, it’s important to keep physically healthy by eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep.

People with significantly higher than average life satisfaction, positive feelings, purpose in life, or optimism at age 50 lived an average of five to eight additional years. “Achieving high levels of these aspects of well-being have really important impacts on people living longer and healthier lives,” says researcher Jennifer Boylan, University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study. “Their presence is worth focusing on more than it has been.”

References:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/more-energy
  2. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/mindfulness/definition#why-practice-mindfulness
  3. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_keys_to_wellbeing_that_may_help_you_live_longer

An Attitude of Gratitude

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“Be in a state of gratitude for everything that shows up in your life. Be thankful for the storms as well as the smooth sailing. What is the lesson or gift in what you are experiencing right now? Find your joy not in what’s missing in your life but in how you can serve.” Wayne Dyer

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. It’s a readiness to show appreciation

Gratitude is a foundational element to building wealth. Gratitude allows you to find joy in and focus on what you already have because envy is the stealer of wealth and comparison is the thief of joy.  If you are constantly comparing yourself to others you will never have enough. You will feel empty and inadequate. You will not find happiness.

As media mogul Oprah Winfrey explains, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

“Gratitude turns what you have into enough.” Unknown

“Mother Theresa talked about how grateful she was to the people she was helping, the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta, because they enabled her to grow and deepen her spirituality,” explains Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude and professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

Like Mother Theresa’s spiritual growth, there are several important reasons that gratitude can have transformative effects on your own life, according to Dr. Emmons. Additionally, there are four effects he sites:

1. Gratitude allows you to appreciate and celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions.

Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional system likes newness and novelty. It likes change. You adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house—they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore.

But gratitude makes you focus on and appreciate the value of something, and when you appreciate the value of something, you extract more benefits from it; you’re less likely to take it for granted, states Dr. Emmons.

In effect, gratitude allows you to participate more in life. You notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life. Instead of adapting to goodness, you celebrate goodness. You spend more time watching and doing things with gratitude. Effectively, you become a greater participant in your life as opposed to being a spectator.

2. Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness. A 2008 study by psychologist Alex Wood in the Journal of Research in Personality, showed that gratitude can reduce the frequency and duration of episodes of depression.

You cannot feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings. If you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for having something that you don’t.

3. Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering, if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. In short, gratitude gives people a perspective from which they can interpret negative life events and help them guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.

4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. When you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.

Once you start to recognize the contributions that other people have made to your life—once you realize that other people have seen the value in you—you can transform the way you see yourself.

Thus, it’s imperative for you to cultivate gratitude and to overcome the challenges to gratitude. You must put conscious and deliberate effort into practicing gratitude.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” Zig Ziglar

First is to keep a gratitude journal as a way to cultivate gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. This can mean listing just five things for which you’re grateful every week. This practice works because it consciously, intentionally focuses your attention on developing more grateful thinking and on eliminating ungrateful thoughts. It helps guard against taking things for granted; instead, you will see gifts in life as new and exciting. People who live a life of pervasive thankfulness really do experience life differently than people who cheat themselves out of life by not feeling grateful.

Another gratitude exercise is to practice counting your blessings on a regular basis, maybe first thing in the morning, maybe in the evening. What are you grateful for today? You don’t have to write them down on paper.

Additionally, you can use concrete reminders to practice gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. For example, a Vancouver family developed a practice of putting money in “gratitude jars.” At the end of the day, they put spare change into those gratitude jars. They had a regular reminder, a habit, to get them to focus on gratitude. When the jar became full, they gave away the money to a good cause within their community.

Gratitude journals and other gratitude practices seem simple and basic, but studies have shown that people who keep gratitude journals for just three weeks realize results that have been overwhelmingly beneficial in their lives, according to Dr. Emmons.

The bottomline is that having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is the key ingredient to living your best and most rewarding life. It’s a practice and habit that we must all embrace.

“The ultimate path to enlightment is the cultivation of gratitude. When you’re grateful, fear disappears. When you’re grateful lack disapears. You feel a sense that life is uniquely blessed, but at the same time, you feel like you’re a part of everything that exists and you know that you are not the source of it.” Tony Robbins

References:

  1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
  2. https://thestrive.co/gratitude-quotes/
  3. https://blog.gratefulness.me/gratitude-quotes/

Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is the author of the books Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity and Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.