The Benefits of Gratitude

In a brief but interesting article in Fast Company a couple months ago, the authors tout the importance of giving employees the opportunity to receive positive feedback from the people who ultimately wind up using and benefiting from their work. They argue that it benefits not only the employee, but the customer who wants to express gratitude. I found the following excerpt particularly interesting:

In her book The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, describes a dozen scientifically proven strategies to make yourself happier. The first? Expressing gratitude.

In one study, researchers asked a group of people to make a list, once a week for 10 weeks, of five things they were thankful for. Other groups in the study wrote different kinds of weekly lists, such as "five major events" or "five hassles." The "thankful" group felt more happiness, excitement, and joy than the other groups. They even reported better physical health -- fewer headaches and coughs.

Another study found that making a "gratitude visit" -- writing and delivering a letter to someone who was kind to you but whom you had never thanked, such as the friend who suggested it was time to ditch the trucker hat -- caused people's happiness to spike for a full month afterward.

Here is yet another instance of a biblical principle that "works" in real life. Should we cultivate gratitude, then, because we'll feel better and thus benefit? Of course not. That would be something other than real gratitude, which is focused not on self but on another. Real gratitude certainly hangs out with its buddy humility in recognizing that one is not self-sufficient. But it's just interesting to find "proof" that it also engenders joy all around.

The Richt Family on Adoption

4 Ways to Save Money on Health Insurance

I don't tend to blog about work (I do that here), but thought I'd make an exception to that rule today. I'm an independent insurance broker serving individuals and small employers in Georgia and South Carolina specializing in health and term life insurance. In an uncertain economic climate, there's a good chance you can save some money in your family budget by taking a closer look at your health insurance situation. Here are three ways you could save money:

1. The most obvious way you can lower your insurance premium (and here we're talking about any kind of insurance, health, auto, etc.) is by raising your deductible. Depending on your age, the size of your family, and other variables, you could realize significant savings by taking this one step. If you're relatively healthy, it's something you really should consider.

2. Of course you can also compare your current plan with other insurance providers. You might find a similar plan at a more competitive price with another carrier.

3. You might also look to see if there are optional benefits or supplemental policies that you could do without, which would obviously result in a little breathing room in your budget.

4. If you're covered through your employer, you may be paying a pretty good chunk of change for coverage for your dependents. (You may not, but this is worth checking). If that's the case, and your family is fairly healthy, you might be able to realize significant savings by dropping them from the group plan and picking up separate individual coverage for them because it's typically cheaper.

Of course we'd be ready, willing, and able to help you explore these and other options to help you save money and maintain good health insurance coverage. See our website for more info.

BP Sports

I meant to link to it here earlier, but last month I wrote a little piece for Baptist Press Sports.