Thank You For Making the Pledge

Thank You for Making the Pledge to CHOOSE LOVE!

By taking the pledge, you choose to be kind in every every interaction you have, and to yourselves! This means you choose to courageously tell the truth, always. You do the right thing, even when no one is looking. This means that you practice gratitude, even when things aren’t going your way. You choose to forgive, even when the person who hurt you isn’t sorry, and it means that you step outside of your own pain and busyness to help others.

Thank you for being part of the solution and Choosing Love. It is a choice. And even though we can’t always choose what happens to us, we can always choose how we respond. And we can always we respond with love!

Don’t forget to follow us on social media and share how you Choose Love in your life and how it has benefited you and those around you.

Choose Love and follow us on Social Media!

You can let your friends know too!

SHARE THE LOVE ON TWITTER

Tweet:

I just made the pledge to Choose Love, won’t you? https://legacy.chooselovemovement.org/take-the-choose-love-pledge/

Tweets by chooselovem

LIKE THE LOVE ON FACEBOOK

www.facebook.com/JLChooseLove

Choose Love Promoter on Facebook

Our Choose Love Promoter group on Facebook will provide you social media shareables — images, updates, anecdotes, and more — so you can share them with your social networks, friends and family to help move our mission forward. We are SO GRATEFUL to you for joining us in this important movement, thank you!!

I want to be a Choose Love Promoter

SEE THE LOVE ON YOUTUBE

It is a choice. And even though we can’t always choose what happens to us, we can always choose how we respond. And we can always we respond with love!

Every day we can get up and set the intention to choose love in every interaction. These choices are your greatest legacy and in making them you actively help create a safer, more peaceful and loving world.

So how does this benefit you?

Research shows that when you’re mindfully aware of the benefits of doing something, you experience those benefits on an exponential level (Langer, 2007). In a recent study on hotel maids, it was found that those who were made mindfully aware of the benefits of being a hotel maid (i.e. they have an active form of employment/lifestyle that can produce lowered blood pressure, elevated moods, weight loss, better heart health, etc.) experienced those benefits exponentially more than those who were not made mindfully aware.

Thus it is our intention to make you mindfully aware of the benefits of CHOOSING LOVE! Here are some benefits of practicing courage, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion in action (=CHOOSING LOVE) :

COURAGE is the willingness and ability to walk through obstacles despite feeling embarrassment, fear reluctance or uncertainty. Benefits of practicing courage are:

Courage = Confidence (Minarik, 2013)
Creates a sense of leadership (Minarik, 2013)
Enables students to be ‘upstanders’ (Gundersen Luteran Medical Center, 2013)
Makes us feel good (Hetter, 2011)
Assists in mastering emotions (Minarik, 2013)
Empowers us to accomplish things and make good choices (Hetter, 2011)
Helps us overcome fear (and overconfidence- taking unnecessary risks) (Minarik, 2013)
Supports us in finding balance (with thoughtful responses) (Minarik, 2013)
Helps to counter bullying (bullying stops in 10 seconds) (Hetter, 2011)

GRATITUDE is mindful thankfulness and the ability to be thankful even when things in life are challenging. Benefits of gratitude are:

Gratitude improves physical health
Gratitude makes us happier (a 5 minute journal makes us 10% happier)
Makes us friendlier
Gratitude makes people like us, helps you make friends
Makes us healthier
Boosts our career
Strengthens our emotions
Develops our personality
Makes us more optimistic
Reduces materialism
Makes us less self-centered
Increases self-esteem
Improves sleep
Less doctors appointment
Increases energy level
Makes you live longer
Makes us feel good
Helps us exercise more
Promotes resilience
Makes our memories happier
Reduces feelings of envy
Helps us relax
Helps your marriage
Deepens friendships
Increases goal achievement
Increases productivity

FORGIVENESS means choosing to let go of anger and resentment towards yourself or someone else, to surrender thoughts of revenge and to move forward with your personal power intact. Benefits of forgiving are:

Healthier relationships (Chiaramello, Mesnil, Sastre, & Mullet 2008)
Less Anger (Chiaramello, Mesnil, Sastre, & Mullet 2008)
Greater physical and psychological well-being. (G. Bono, 2007)
Less anxiety, stress and hostility (Scott, 2006)
Lower blood pressure (Shwartz, 2016)
Fewer symptoms of depression (Chiaramello, Mesnil, Sastre, & Mullet 2008)
Stronger immune system (Thompson & Waltz, 2008)
Improved heart health (Thompson & Waltz, 2008)
Higher self-esteem (Chiaramello, Mesnil, Sastre, & Mullet 2008)
Extends your life span! (Shwartz, 2016)

COMPASSION IN ACTION has two components: the first is empathy, which means putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and trying to feel what that person feels. The second is an action component, which means helping someone in need and performing acts of kindness without expecting anything in return. Benefits of practicing compassion in action:

Giving makes us feel happy, releases oxytocin and other feel good neurochemicals (Brooks-Gunn, et al., 1988)
Giving is good for our general health & well-being (Scott, 2006)
Promotes cooperation, social and relationship skills (Scott, 2006)
Cultivates social connection, is fulfilling-what you give, you get back… (Worthington, 2014)
Evokes Gratitude (Harbaugh & Vasey, 2014).
Giving is contagious, creates a ripple effect (Gottberg, 2014)
Counteracts depression, anger and anxiety (Scott, 2006)
Reduces and relieves stress and mentally stimulates (Brooks-Gunn, et al., 1988)
Increases self-confidence (Worthington, 2014)
Give us a sense of purpose (Worthington, 2014)
Better pain management and blood pressure (Brooks-Gunn, et al., 1988)
Adds years to your life (studies show 22% reduction in mortality?!) (Gottberg, 2014)