In Everything, Give Thanks
by Dr. Don Colbert
Did you know that your attitude can create or relieve stress in your body? Negative attitudes can trigger a long-term stress response, while positive ones can actually help reliee physical stress.
What exactly is an attitude? It is a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that reveals a person’s disposition or opinion. Some of the attitudes that can cause a stress response in our body are criticism, pessimism, impatience, rudeness and self-centeredness. Attitudes that are able to turn off the stress response include contentment, forgiveness, joy, love and appreciation.
The first step toward maintaining healthy attitudes that help reduce stress is recognizing that your attitudes are a choice. We must refuse wrong attitudes and choose to practice right ones that bring healing not only to our emotions, but also to our bodies. I would like to go over two specific attitudes that affect our stress level: striving, which I believe is among the quickest to trigger stress, and thanksgiving, which I believe is the most powerful for relieving stress.
Give Up Striving!
Perhaps more than any other single attitude, an attitude of striving—to get more, get ahead, do more, have more, etc.—is one that triggers a stress reaction in our bodies. Striving is a very dangerous attitude because there is never a stopping point! The person who struggles with this attitude never feels they have enough or that they are enough—they always feel something is missing from their lives.
When I sense that one of my patients has a striving attitude, I often prescribe a simple exercise of taking an inventory of their home. I have them divide everything they own into two columns—needs and wants. In a vast majority of cases, they discover that their wants are controlling their life and adding stress to it. Conversely, a great deal of stress can be avoided when they choose to be content with what they have rather than to seek to do and have more.
If you are experiencing stress as a result of striving, I recommend that you try this exercise also. I believe you’ll find that the things on your “want list” don’t really satisfy you and that many of them are actually a source of stress. Try spending some time meditating on Matthew 6:19-21, and ask God to help you learn what it means to lay up your treasure in heaven.
Thanksgiving Is Good for Your Heart
I wholeheartedly believe that appreciation is one of the most powerful “stress busters” around. People who are thankful have far less stress in their lives, and the difference can actually be measured physically. One of the ways that physicians can measure the function of the nervous system is by what we term heart rate variability. This is the measure of beat-to-beat changes in the heart rate as the heart speeds up and slows down in different patterns. Heartbeat changes are especially influenced by a person’s emotions and attitudes, so that is a good measure of the impact that various emotions have on the body.
Negative attitudes create an unbalanced state in the nervous system, which results in stress on the body that drains us of energy. I believe the Bible confirms this connection between thanksgiving and our health in Isaiah 61:3, declaring that God gives us a spirit of praise for a garment of heaviness.
Attitudes like appreciation, joy and love enable a person to enter into a healthy state called entrainment, which can actually be measured by a heart rate variability test. When a person has entered into entrainment, the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system are balanced, or synchronized. This allows us to enjoy just the right amount of stimulation and relaxation. When we choose to focus on things that evoke a sense of appreciation or gratitude, the nervous system comes into balance and all the body’s systems, including the brain, function in better harmony.
In Everything Give Thanks
I would like to share with you a beautiful example of gratitude from my medical practice. Dr. Bill Bright, one of the greatest Christian leaders of this generation, was a patient of mine before he went home to be with the Lord. I visited him regularly when he was ill and bedridden. Every time I saw him, he voiced words of sincere appreciation. His wife told me that once she said to him, “Bill, I’m so sorry you have to suffer.”
He looked at her surprised and said, “Suffer? I’m not suffering. I’m in a beautiful home, lying on a comfortable bed and surrounded by people who love me, care for me and are willing to do anything to help me. Jesus is the One who suffered. He died alone. They beat Him unmercifully. They put a crown of thorns on His head, made Him carry the cross and nailed Him to it. This isn’t suffering. Jesus is the One who suffered.” Dr. Bright’s attitude of thanksgiving, even as he was dying, was a tremendous inspiration to my wife, Mary, and me. He showed us what it means to be a person who gives thanks in all things.1
I believe one of the most powerful things you can do to relieve stress is make an appreciation list. As you develop it, include things great and small for which you are genuinely thankful. Don’t forget to be grateful for things like your spouse, children and family members, your five senses, hot showers, working appliances and comfortable furniture. Update your list periodically so you are constantly giving thanks for the many blessings God is providing for you.
Regardless of your circumstances, don’t stop reviewing, reciting or adding to your appreciation list. Keep your mind and mouth filled with praise and thanksgiving flowing to God, especially when you are facing a difficult situation.2 Although there are other good attitudes that will help fight stress, an attitude of gratitude is one of the easiest to exercise in difficult times. It also sets the stage for developing other good stress-busting attitudes, such as love, joy and hopefulness.
So empower yourself in the battle against stress by simply voicing your thanks and praise to God on a regular basis. Begin making your appreciation list today and get started on relieving stress in your body and soul! 
(1) See Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:18. (2) Hebrews 13:15
