The Change Agent Blog:

What Are You Thankful For?

Thank you for being part of my life! I am so grateful for the privilege to serve such a wide range of organizations to impact change in people personally and in their workplaces. With Thanksgiving (in the USA) next week, I like to focus on what I am personally thankful for. As a family, I enjoy the tradition we have during our Thanksgiving meal for each person to share 3 things that they are thankful for in the past year.

If you Google gratitude you will find thousands of articles and studies touting the benefits that people experience if they incorporate thankfulness in their life. Here are some of the top research-based reasons for practicing gratitude:

Gratitude brings happineteach-me-to-be-thankfulss. Practicing gratitude is one of the most reliable methods for increasing happiness and life satisfaction;
Being thankful reduces anxiety depression (reports indicated 1 of 10 adults report depression);
It’s great for your body as it: strengthens your immune system, reduces symptoms of sickness, lowers blood pressure, and makes you less bothered by aches and pains;
Being thankful makes you more resilient and strengthens your relationships;
Grateful people are more empathetic and helpful.
I was really captivated by this study on the science of happiness which is powered by gratitude. I think it may be worth your time to watch it. Personally, my action plan is to write a letter of gratitude to a person who has profoundly impacted me and mail it with a Thanksgiving card next week. I have said these things to her directly so I think writing it out in a card which she can re-read will be a blessing to her.

Action Plan: What will you do in the next week to increase your gratitude?

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a grateful week!

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My company recently merged with another large financial institution...As I reviewed the many programs on managing change, I found that most took a “change is good” and “get on board or get out” approach. With an eye toward a tight workforce and wanting to minimize turnover and maximize the strengths of the existing employee base, I knew that this approach would not work with our organization. Patti Hathaway is refreshingly direct and supportive of the human side of the merger and challenged people to handle the change because of the benefit it would bring to them. She tailored the program to our company and was both direct and insightful with her presentation. Patti is an excellent speaker and clearly enjoys working with a challenging audience.

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