Celebrating for Real

July 5, 2022

I trust you had a great time celebrating the 4th of July. Here’s a question: Did you just party or did you truly at some point celebrate our national independence?

Many times we don’t truly celebrate. We just give the head nod and we don’t truly appreciate what we are “celebrating,” so we either take it for granted or feel entitled. Both will cause us to undervalue and fail to appreciate whatever we are “celebrating.”

So, Independence Day! It’s not too late to celebrate.

How often do you intentionally celebrate the good things of life? Most of us probably don’t do it enough. Our lack of celebration and awareness leads us to a sense of entitlement, depression, and cynicism.

You may not realize that celebrating has both physical and psychological benefits. When we celebrate and express gratitude, research says our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, which are the two neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions. As a result, we experience more happiness and less depression.

Celebrating is literally taking a moment to pause and acknowledge the good. It fosters an attitude of gratitude, which in itself produces fewer health issues such as headaches, respiratory infections, trouble sleeping, etc. Gratitude is quite literally known as the healthiest human emotion.

Regardless of what’s going on in our lives right now, we have so much to celebrate. There is so much for which to be grateful. We don’t have to wait until things are just the way we want them or until we declare them perfect or whatever else it is we feel is worthy of celebration.

Sometimes the best thing for us to celebrate is the mere fact that we’ve made it to this point in life, especially if things have been challenging. For many of us this has been the case over the last couple of years. Then there’s everything else that has happened throughout the course of life.

How much celebrating do you do?

When we stop to celebrate the good stuff, we buffer ourselves against the bad and build resilience. This feeds our positive emotions, which makes it easier to manage the daily challenges that cause major stress.

What can you celebrate in your life right now? How about starting with this? List and celebrate from the heart three things about America in honor of July 4th.

Celebrate joyfully in the Lord, all the time. I’ll say it again: celebrate! Philippians 4:4 NTE