Monday, October 6, 2008

Money & Business

The Inside Job by Liz Wolgemuth

Why You Should Be Grateful for $4 Gas

July 22, 2008 04:27 PM ET | Liz Wolgemuth | Permanent Link | Print

I recently interviewed Jon Gordon, author of The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal With Negativity at Work, while he was in the middle of a long drive with his family. Believe it or not, Gordon could actually bring himself to be grateful for the price he was paying at the pump. That kind of gratitude can pay off for us in the workplace, Gordon says. (Much more on this next week, especially on how older workers who can't afford to retire can avoid negativity and complaining.)

Gordon's thoughts on gratitude:

It's everything. I think it really is everything. And all the research on gratitude is so powerful. You see that you can't be stressed and thankful at the same time. It's the way our brains and bodies are wired. So you focus on gratitude and you won't be stressed. It's the best stress reducer....

OK, you're paying $4 a gallon for gas, and I'm as upset as anybody. But you can say: We're not paying $8 a gallon. And we live in a free country. We live with so many amenities. We live with so many free things that we can enjoy.... Instead of focusing on that complaint, you can now be grateful for what you have. And which emotion's going to uplift you? Gratitude. Which one's going to enhance your longevity? Gratitude. Which one will strengthen your immune system? Gratitude.

Tags: gas prices

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Reader Comments

Gratitude

I guess you could always tell your family the bright side of no job, no food and no transportation. Jeesh... The privileged talking down to the suffering, nice...

$4 gas and greatful!

Some people have rocks in their head and others have air!

Replace the dip sticks in Washinton who tell us that oil is bad, coal is bad, nuclear is bad, wind and solar are bad, oil shale is bad while we export American jobs resulting in a falling economy, 700 billion of oil imports from countries that don't like us, resulting in importing everything from energy to food.

We also get to pay twice for our policy. Once for high gasoline prices and 2nd to pay for the cost of fighting terrorism that are supported by the high price of gasoline and diesel. How dumb can we get? Thank congress! We put them there!

Good thought. Wrong subject.

I'm all for gratitude and a stronger immune system as a result.

But only the people (such as author above) who do not have to go into debt to drive to their working-class jobs can be so cavalier about applying the concpet to gas prices.

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You're taking a break from your job-hunting and job-hopping ways and have decided to stay put in your current position. Liz Wolgemuth’s careers blog will show you how to make the very best of your job, each day. You can send her your career questions: theinsidejob@usnews.com.

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