65-Falling Out Of Gratitude

During the unstructured summer months, kids are off school and my routine is different.  This led to falling out of my daily gratitude practice.  Has this ever happened to you?>

 

Transcript:

 

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and in my membership community the monthly focus is on gratitude.  If I’m being really honest, I know the science and yet, I’ve fallen out of the habit in the unstructured summer months, of my daily gratitude practice.  And during some reflection in late July, I think it was having an effect on my own mental state.  I had been feeling more, well - blah.  So it got me thinking, could we all use a boost, like a pep talk to be more mindful of our own gratitude. 

 

If I was going to give myself a pep talk - which I needed, I might as well share this with you too.  I mean, we’re in this together - right?  

 

So gratitude is thankful appreciation for what we have, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, we are intentionally acknowledging the good.  We’re telling our brain, focus on this.  We’re telling the Universe, thank you and I like this and bring me more of this, please.  

 

It’s so easy to get caught up in the drama of the day, the news, the social media, all the things… so I found that gratitude has really been a centering force for me and the research agrees.  Gratitude is not only strongly associated with greater happiness - 10 weeks of a consistent gratitude practice can boost your optimism. It helps you deal with adversity and let’s face it, there is a lot of that right now.   

 

Gratitude is a way for us to slow down, be intentional and appreciate what we have instead of always reaching for something new in the hopes it will make us happier.   As entrepreneurs, we can often get caught up in the feeling of not being satisfied until we achieve the next thing, check the next box, crush the next goal, and gratitude helps us refocus on what we have instead of looking to something in the future.  And, although it may feel contrived and insignificant at first, a consistent gratitude practice changes the neurons in the brain and boosts happiness and satisfaction (a key component of happiness).  

 

So, what are you waiting for?  Take a few minutes and think about what you are grateful for, right now. 

 

Inspiration for this episode and the research mentioned comes from a 2011 article from Harvard Health.  

 

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