Expressing gratitude can change your life

Guest Column
By: 
Peter Bungum
Author, retired teacher

     My name is Peter Bungum, and I’m a 76-year-old retired teacher from Anamosa. I’ve been married to my wife, Ruth Ann, for 57 years. I’m 100 percent Norwegian, born and raised in southeast Minnesota. I graduated from Luther College, I’m a Christian, left-handed, used to have red hair, and am a Cubs fans and a Hawkeye fan. (And a Cyclone and UNI fan, except when they play the Hawks.) I like to write books and travel and go to Happy Hour, talk to people, do yoga, lift weights, walk 2 miles every morning, watch the news every night, and 80 percent of my TV viewing is tuned to the History Channel, the American Heroes Channel, and the American Military Channel. So why am I writing this column? Good question!

     The purpose of this is to spread the good news of expressing gratitude for the many blessings we have in life. And I want to share this good news because it completely changed my life. And just how did that happen? Here is my story…

     My wife and I retired from our jobs in 1999–she had been a Jones County Treasurer for 22 years and I had been a schoolteacher for 36 years. From 1999-2005, we had a wonderful retirement–then it became a nightmare. In 2005, Ruth Ann got restless leg syndrome, then colitis. In 2006, I had lung surgery. In 2007, I had prostate cancer surgery. In 2007, Ruth Ann fell and broke her hip and had hip replacement surgery. In 2008, she had an appendectomy, which resulted in a staph infection, which led to a total hysterectomy. Needless to say, I was depressed and thought we were the modern-day version of Job in the Old Testament.

     After that last surgery in October, I did some reflecting on my life. The thoughts going through my mind were we had been through four years of medical hell. But you know what? We really had been blessed and had a lot to be grateful for in 68 years of life–especially that we were fortunate to have lived our lives in 20th and 21st Century America–after all it was modern medicine that had saved our lives.

     My next thought was how could I express my gratitude for these many blessings we had been given in these 68 years? At this point I thought of an article I had read in AARP Magazine. That article was about keeping a gratitude journal and it explained the benefits of doing so on a daily basis. The article said that research showed that people who kept gratitude journals were happier, more optimistic, led less stress and could better deal with daily problems. It also said these people had more joy and pleasure in life and were more forgiving, helpful, generous, compassionate and felt less lonely and isolated. The article was written by Dr. Robert Emmons of UC Davis–he had done a lot of research on this idea of expressing gratitude.

     When I read that article, the light blub went on. I told myself that this is my answer to how to be grateful for all my blessings in life. So I made the decision on Nov. 20 (my 68th birthday) that I would try writing a gratitude journal. I would make it a yearlong project by expressing gratitude ever day in 2009 for a person, thing or experience that had enhanced my journey through life.

     On Jan. 1, 2009, I entered my first expression of gratitude: “I am grateful for Ruth Ann.” Then I wrote a 250-word paragraph explaining why. One of the things I explained is how we met in seventh grade in Chatfield, Minn., when she came in from country school–the principal brought her in the room and introduced her. I thought she was a giant. I was a 4’11” 79-pounder and she was a 5’6” 120-pounder. Now you know why I thought she was a giant.

     The month of January was pretty easy, but when I started expression #32 on Feb. 1, it struck me that I had 334 more expressions to go–this might be a little harder than I thought. But it got easier as the weeks and months flew by. I persevered and really did write 365 expressions of gratitude by Dec. 31, 2009.

     The year 2009 was the best year of my life because I had to think positive every day–it changed my life. As a result, I have become a more positive and optimistic person, more appreciative of other people and I no longer take so many things for granted. I’m less stressed and have more patience and, above all, I’ve learned that each day is a gift so enjoy it and do something positive to make that day count. Each morning when I take my walk, my mind is continuously thinking about being grateful for another day of life and another day of good health and another opportunity to live my life in a Christ-like manner.

     My hope and goal is that by sharing some of my 365 expressions of gratitude, some of you will follow suit and get into the world of being grateful. Maybe it will change your life like it did mine.

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