I’m finishing up a month long challenge of posting every day on social media. Thanks to a friend whom I share a similar personality, I was in a high mood and thought yes!! This is the kind of thing that creates a ripple effect of good…Let’s Gooo!!!
The challenge was posting every day one thing that I am grateful for and asking others what they are grateful for…. for 30 days.
I found the experience disappointing. Gratitude is not new to me, I’ve built good muscle memory over the years and I’m surrounded by mostly grateful people these days so when I went looking outside my bubble for it, I was disappointed. The majority of social media is not full of gratitude. I guess that shouldn’t have been surprising since the majority of people are not where they want to be. **insert sad instrumentals.
I believe that my thoughts and feelings are the key to any and all of the success that I’ve had. I’ve been a reader of Dr. Joe Dispenza for some time, and in his seminars they actually measure the energy of the room when there is a session on gratitude… How cool is that… Scientifically changing matter with your thoughts… also not new to me (Thanks to my Mom who always chanted “mind over matter” to us as kids)
So how can one apply such a practice to their own life? I feel like it echoes for me the Thomas Jefferson quote:
The harder I work the luckier I get.
In other words, the more gratitude in my life, the better my life is.
Years ago in our team we implemented gratitude sharing as one of the bullet points we cover every morning in our stand up. If you run a team or have the ability to impact the team that you work with… by all means try out a gratitude morning huddle… or try it with your family or friends. I guarantee you will see some differences in the people that have the ability to recall the sensation of gratitude quickly and authentically vs those who struggle with it!
And of course, if you want to increase your own sense of appreciation, try travel… outside your comfort zone. If you don’t yet have the budget or the time to dip off into the far corners of the world, I would also suggest a short guided meditation on the topic. There are a lot of gratitude practices available in the world so I will spare you yet another top ten list but really.. give it a try. If your life isn’t quite where you want it to be, or if there is a person that is under your skin… throw a little gratitude around and see if you can change your energy and impact your whole day.
I had the great privilege of seeing Zig Ziglar in person before he passed away and one of my favorite stores he told was about a student of his telling him that whenever he gets down, he listens to one of Zig’s tapes (back then cassette recordings were all the rage). Zig goes on to ask why he ever stops listening long enough to get down in the first place… and if you know Zig, you should now be able to hear that sweet gentlemanly laugh that he so freely shared. You’re welcome.