Gratitude Archives - everywomanover29

0 skye

I was recently visiting family in South Africa and promised to share pictures from our incredible trip to the Kwa Cheetah Breeding Project. My sister Woo and I decided to do the early morning 50 minute bush walk with Skye, one of the male cheetahs. All I can say is wow! What an experience!

I’ve written about how nature and exercise can help to boost mood and reduce stress and this certainly did this and more. I hope you get to enjoy some of it via my photos.

1_meeting skye

Here I am getting to meet Skye before we head out. And what a meeting it was – he purrs just like a kitty cat only louder and deeper! Incredible first encounter!

2_skyes sister comes over to say hi

Skye’s sister comes over to say hi and can I come for a walk too.

3_walking with woo

We took Skye for a 50 minute walk through the bush around Kwa Cheetah – or maybe he took us for a walk! At one stage he spotted his sister and bolted to say hello and I got kind of dragged behind him. Here is with the ranger and my sister Woo.

4 woo and skye

Woo getting to know Skye

4 trudy and skye

Skye has spotted a warthog in the far distance

6_woo and I with skye

Woo and I with Skye

niece and cheetah-1

After the early morning bushwalk we all got to spend the next two hours watching cheetahs being trained to run and hunt, and various other fun activities. This is my 7-year old niece in one enclosure – fearless!

7 kwa cheetch breeding

Of course we both highly recommend Kwa Cheetah Breeding Project: “The main goal behind the project is not to sell cheetahs to zoos or any other likewise place, but to release our cats back into the African wilderness.”

Here are some stats on why they do what they do: “The reason we are trying to do this is because there are only between seven and ten thousand cheetahs left worldwide. About two thousand cheetahs are dying every four years due to three main factors: natural predators (like lions and hyenas), humans (poaching is a big one, so is farming) and poor genetics. You can read all the stats here.

Next time you’re in South Africa, go and visit – you’ll be giving back and making a difference, and you’ll find you’ll get back so much more: joy, awe and an amazing sense of calmness!

Here is a great description of gratitude from Psychology Today:

“Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has—as opposed to a consumer-oriented emphasis on what one wants or needs. Gratitude is getting a great deal of attention as a facet of positive psychology: Studies show that we can deliberately cultivate gratitude, and can increase our well-being and happiness by doing so. In addition, grateful thinking—and especially expression of it to others—is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.”

Gratitude also helps reduce anxiety. A 2014 paper in Aging and Mental Health discusses a program which consists of training based on autobiographical memory, forgiveness and gratitude.

“The results revealed that participants who followed the program (experimental group) showed a significant decrease in state anxiety and depression as well as an increase in specific memories, life satisfaction and subjective happiness, compared with the placebo group.”

I’m in South Africa visiting my family and feel so much gratitude despite a few setbacks that almost prevented me from being here. I was in Palm Springs the weekend before my departure and missed my connecting flight back to Sacramento but I am grateful for:

having the Phoenix hotel night paid for and for not paying two bag fees
meeting a lovely woman from Oakland, CA who gave up her seat on the flight so someone could get home to the funeral of a loved one
“meeting” a beautiful huskie Service dog in the hotel elevator and finding out from his owner that his job was to be petted by veterans – to help lower blood pressure and to calm them down and make them happy. A 2012 paper discusses how a Service dog training program benefits the treatment of posttraumatic stress in service members and how it “enhances the sense of wellness.”
having travel food with me so I could stay nourished until I got home. I tucked in to apples, sardines, oysters, pemmican, a boiled egg and yummy coconut wraps

travel-food

making it back in time on Tuesday morning in order to catch my New York flight that very same evening!
getting to South Africa and spending quality time with my wonderful family, enjoying good food with them (one night we had roast lamb, steamed Brussel’s sprouts and baby marrow/zucchini and a delicious creamy cauliflower dish; and last night we had a yummy Paleo-type pasta-free lasagna from the new Tim Noake’s book “The Real Meal Revolution”), reminiscing, laughing, and getting and giving lots of hugs!

trudy-and-family