5 Easy and Effective Ways to Practice Gratitude

Grateful for Love in My Life

The Oxford Dictionary defines gratitude as the quality of being thankful, and readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness.

 

This post will show you 5 easy and effective ways to practice gratitude, and illustrates  "Top Reasons to Practice Gratitude with Tips to Help You Do It."

 1. Observe and Revise Words you Use to Communicate. Grateful people have a positive communication style. They freely express ideas and feelings to convey awareness of life’s gifts, givers, blessings, good fortune, abundance, and verbalize their thankfulness often.

2. Grateful people acknowledge inherently good things others have done on their behalf. Feeling grateful and accepting and appreciating help from others creates a more relaxed body state and allows the subsequent benefits of lowered stress to wash over them. 

Tip: Check in with your mind and body at least once a day to gauge whether practicing gratitude increases your sense of well-being.

3. Grateful people act grateful. When people follow through on grateful motions including smiling, saying thank you, and writing letters of gratitude or “going through grateful motions,” parts of their minds and bodies get conditioned to feel gratitude more often.

Grateful for Friends and Family

4. Grateful people live and delight in the current moment. When people savor the present moment and witness what it holds, they are less likely to project into the unknown (future) or dwell on the past.

5. Grateful people are those who find value in each experience, person, or thing (not take anyone or anything for granted). 

Finding a lesson or blessing in everything that happens, is a step in the right direction to feeling grateful and satisfied with daily living.

The regions associated with gratitude are part of the neural networks that light up when people socialize and experience pleasure. These regions are also heavily connected to the parts of the brain that control basic emotion regulation, such as heart rate and arousal levels.

One of my most treasured life goals is to have relationships that bring out the best in us. I seek friendships with people who are kind and respectful people. I have learned to practice healthy behaviors that are relaxed, encourage personal growth, and stimulates a sense of gratitude and joy.

What steps have you taken or want to take to live a more grateful life? Please share a comment or observation in the section below.

Have you made strides in improving your self-care practices and/or do you need motivation, encouragement, or support in this area? Please share that too.

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Grateful for the Bounty in Each Season

Wishing those who celebrate Thanksgiving or other holidays or special days this month a Happy and Healthy holiday. Good wishes and thanks to all who read this post. I'm grateful you visited and invite you to please come back again. My wish for everyone is to ...

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November Holidays, Fun Events, and Customs

November is a month packed full of holidays, enjoyable activities, and interesting traditions and customs. This post features those events, fun facts, and happenings that appeal to me. See how many resonate with you.

November is a unique month, in that it has two birthstones, topaz and citrine. These gemstones are admired for their colors and stunning beauty.

 

Topaz is usually made into jewelry that's yellow to amber color. However, it can be found in a variety of shades such as blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, and brown. 

Blue happens to be one of the most popular topaz colors, and many times, the desired shade is achieved by heat-treating colorless topaz.

The ancient Greeks believed that topaz could make a wearer invisible. A symbol of honor and strength, topaz was also believed to bring calm, longevity, and wisdom.

 

yellow and blue topaz

Citrine on the other hand, ranges from a transparent pale yellow to a bold brownish variety of quartz. 

yellow/0range/ to brown citrine

Citrine has been a popular gemstone since ancient times and has shared a history of mistaken identities with the other November birthstone, topaz. 

One result is people thought citrine had the same powers as topaz. They believed both birthstones could soothe tempers and calm the wearer.

Now on to those things I'd like to

 Highlight during November

November 1. World Vegan Day is a holiday that was created to raise awareness of the vegan lifestyle and its benefits for people, living creatures, and the planet.

It marks the beginning of World Vegan Month, a 30-day celebration of the vegan movement. It’s a luscious month for me, because World Vegan Month falls within the prime growing season for many fall veggies and fruits. Winter squash, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, leeks, broccoli, cranberries, and pears and apples are perfect additions to a vegan meal or feast.

To reap optimal health benefits, eat vegan food that is whole food plant-based (WFPB) and includes a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables alongside plant-based proteins. 

steamed greens, black-eyed peas, and grilled carrots

Be mindful about your prep and cooking methods and understand not all vegan foods are equal.

In-season organic produce is vibrant and loaded with antioxidants and nutrients. To get details see "Benefits of Eating In-Season Fruit and Veggies." 

November 3. 🕑 Daylight savings time ends in many states of our nation. The practice of moving clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall to make better use of daylight hours has always struck me as quirky. 

Daylight Savings Time (DST) was formally adopted during World War I as a way to conserve energy. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 made DST a legal requirement in the United States.

DST is observed in most of the United States, but not in Hawaii, Arizona, or the U.S. territories. State governments can request to change their time zone, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) must approve the change.

DST is also known as "spring forward, fall back" because of the timing of the clock changes. In the United States, clocks are moved forward one hour at 2 AM on the second Sunday in March, and back one hour at 2 AM on the first Sunday in November.

November 5. U.S.A. Election Day  falls on Tuesday Nov. 5th this year. Originally, election days varied by state, but in 1845 a federal law set a single election day for the entire country. If you haven't voted already, get to the poles the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and be a pro-active citizen.

At first, Election Day applied only to presidential elections, but was later extended to congressional and state elections as well. 

Hopefully you are registered to vote, may have even voted early, or plan to get out and vote. EVERY vote matters.

November 11 . Veterans Day is a national holiday that falls on November 11^th each year. Veterans Day is set aside to thank and honor ALL those who served honorably in the military – in wartime or peacetime.

 

November 13. World Kindness Day is celebrated around the world on November 13^th. It was first introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement.

 

World Kindness Day gives us an opportunity to devote time and attention to the good deeds we do, notice kindness in the community, and remind us to share a common thread of kindness with others and ourselves all year long.

 #worldkindnessday

November 15. November’s Full Beaver Moon occurs on Friday, November 15. Read the Farmer's Almanac page about the November Moon for more information.

November 28. Celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving is a U.S. national holiday. 

How do you celebrate? My family and friends enjoy gathering round the dinner table, sharing food and conversation, and giving thanks and expressing gratitude for our lives, health, community and nation, friendships, love, and prosperity.

November is the last month of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. With me, it's a month primarily focused on celebrating my freedom, both in my country and myself. I don't take it lightly, and feel thankful for my blessings.  

No matter which holidays or special events you take part in, enjoy what you do (it's good for your health and sense of well-being). 

Please comment below to share about your favorite days in November and how you honor them.

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Wishing family, friends, and readers of Colors 4 Health a happy healthy November.

Sending special November wishes for love, peace, health, and abundance to you, your loved ones, and for our planet.

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Tempting and Easy Baked Apple Recipe

There's nothing I enjoy cooking and eating more than a freshly made baked apple. This fruit is at its peak in the fall in the northern hemisphere. Going apple picking or shopping at a farmer's market for in-season fruit is a fun way for us to stock up. 

For information about the most popular apple varieties in the U.S., and the states were they are grown, click the link.

This blog post offers healthy and simple food prep ideas and tips to make serving baked apples a cozy, delicious autumn treat. 

A warm, cinnamon-spiked baked apple tastes scrumptious. In my house, it's considered a special dessert. 

Another reason it's awesome is it's sweet, yet contains no added refined sugar. 

Eating foods that are high in added sugar increases heart disease risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, and inflammation. High-sugar diets have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Note: This post is intended for information and entertainment purposes only, and not meant as nutritional or health advice.

Baked apples vary in taste, depending on what type of apple is used, but no need to fret about selecting the right type of apple. Why not use a few different kinds and see which ones entice you?

When apples bake in the oven, they produce a comforting scent of cinnamon and apple pie, and time spent making it is an aromatic delight. 

Purchase locally grown apples or grow your own, whenever possible. I like to use in-season Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Gala, as those apples are delicious when they are fresh as well as retain crunchiness, even after they are cooked.

This time I used organic Swee Tango apples, organic Thompson raisins, and a splash of unsweetened organic grape juice. 

I serve baked apples, when I want to a simple, attractive, nutritious, and delicious dessert for a weekday or weekend meal. 

I use organic apples and other fruits and veggies, because it's important to me that the foods I eat and serve to others are as pesticide free as possible. 

Organic apples have great flavor. Organic farming doesn't pollute soil, water, or air, and is a healthy dish my whole family raves about. 

Baked apples can be portioned out individually, and are an inviting dish to eat for regular meals or special occasions. Look at photo below to see items I used to core and bake an individual baked apple portion.

Note: I am mindful of my energy usage, and do not turn on the oven to bake just one apple. I fill my oven with other dishes and cook them all at the same time.

Tempting and Easy Baked Apples

Ingredients:

4-6 whole organic apples of your choosing. Clean well, but do not remove apple skins. Apple peel contains nutrients, antioxidants, and fiber that's lost, if the outer skin is removed. See details at Healthline.)

½ teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon  per apple(some may want to add an optional warm spice like ginger or nutmeg). I keep it simple and just use Ceylon cinnamon 

1/4 cup organic grape or other 100 percent all fruit juice or apple cider per apple

1/2 inch fresh water to cover bottom of casserole or a baking or roasting pan

1/4 cup of organic Thompson seedless raisins per apple, ones that have been plumped

Additional ingredients are up to you

Note: Bring on the creativity by adding one or two of these: unsalted nuts, raw seeds, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, ground nutmeg, or juice sweetened dried cherries, or juice sweetened dried cranberries. Relax to customize the apple variety and fillings that suit you best.

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Find a casserole or baking dish that has a cover. 

2. Make sure baking dish with lid is big enough for apples to fit inside in an upright position.

3. Wash and prep apples. Slice off tops of apples by cutting across horizontally. Then core each one. 

foreground left then counterclockwise: small long handed spoon, apple coring tool, paring knife, plumped raisins, top of apple, grape juice, ramekin with cover, Ceylon cinnamon, apple and pieces of the core of a Sweet Tango apple

Tip: Remove the core of the apple with a sharp paring knife or apple corer by carefully cutting off the top of the apple horizontally. Slice around the top core of the apple, making sure not to go all the way through to the bottom. Then pull out what you cut. Use a spoon to scoop out the rest, and check that all seeds are out. Use any small sharp spoon or even a melon baller to do it.

4. Place water into the bottom of a casserole or baking dish. Remove apple tops and fill the center scooped out part of the apple with cinnamon, fruit juice, raisins, and optional ingredients of you choosing. Place all apples and their tops in the dish or pan and cover.

5. Bake for at least 30-40 minutes. Test apple doneness after 20-25 minutes and baste if apple or casserole seems to be getting dry. Use water or extra juice for the liquid; if you're counting calories remember the juice adds calories and extra natural sugar.

6. After apples are done, take them out of oven. Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to serve. 

You may enjoy complementing the recipe by topping each apple with cashew cream or vegan ice cream. Perhaps you'd like to sprinkle on shredded coconut or even trail mix. This recipe is so flexible. It's suitable to serve to a solo eater, small family, or multiplied for a larger gathering.

My family loves this dessert so much, we usually eat it all the first time I serve it. If you're lucky enough to have leftovers, refrigerate in an airtight container and serve within a day or two.

Extra baked apples may be stored in the freezer in airtight freezer containers for up to three months. When you're ready to eat the baked apples, thaw in refrigerator, and heat and serve.

Baked apples are bursting with the flavors of autumn, and this easy to make vegan dish is a pleasure to cook and serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Do you think you'd like to try my baked apple recipe and/or do you have one of your own?

Please comment below.

What kind of apples are your favorite variety and how often do you include apples in your weekly eating plan? 

Did you know:

According to recent data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about 10 percent of the U.S. adult population eats their minimum daily nutritional requirement of fruits and vegetables.

Do you eat at least 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit and 2-3 cups of vegetables daily? Please share below.

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I post on the 1st and 15th of each month. See the post archives for recipes, food tips, self-care subjects, and color and healing energy information. Please come back again to get a fresh perspective at the place where colors and a healthy lifestyle intersect.

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