12 min
An Attitude of Gratitude Living WOW Out Loud: Thriving With Autoimmune Diseases
-
- Alternative Health
As I record this podcast episode the house is brimming with the sounds and smells of Thanksgiving. The 3rd Thursday of November is celebrated in the United States as a national holiday of Thanksgiving. A traditional feast to celebrate harvest and friendship creates an opportunity for family and friends to gather around a table and reflect and give thanks.
Since Living WOW Out Loud airs on Thursday mornings, if you are listening in real time (maybe while the turkey is in the oven), then let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving. I pray you are surrounded by those you love this holiday and if the miles or circumstances separate may you be connected in your heart.
The topics of this month's podcasts have led us to this day. First, with the need for community and connection which is becoming more and more fragmented in our modern culture. Last week's topic was food for thought. No holiday centers around food quite like Thanksgiving. So today we bring it all together with gratitude, the heart of Thanksgiving.
It is no secret that a thankful heart is good for you. Like the power of connection and the power of food, the power of gratitude is often underestimated. Don’t believe me? What was your go to behavior when you couldn’t sleep the other night because your monkey mind was busy worrying about work, family, and finances. Common responses to sleepless nights are turning on the TV, scrolling social media, or taking a sleeping pill.
What about this alternative? A powerful antidote for a sleepless night could be to write a note of gratitude to someone you appreciate. The power of a paper thank you note has gotten lost in our modern society as emails and text correspondence have become the norm. There is something about a paper thank you that has permanence and uplifts. I personally cannot throw away a thank you note.
When was the last time you personally wrote a thank you note? Reflect for a minute about how you felt when you were writing it. Were you overcome with worry? Nope. You were overcome with gratitude and the process of writing, addressing, and giving consumed your attention squeezing out whatever monkey mind could have been busy worrying about.
This is a simple example of contrast, but the reality is that it takes awareness and intentional choice to change automatic habitual behaviors. This is a great opportunity to exercise the Living WOW philosophy of “filling it so full of the good stuff that there’s no room for the bad”. What I mean by that is that by creating a series of intentional choices the neural programming is actively reprogramming and crowding out the old habitual behaviors that are SAD.
Like connection and food, gratitude has been shown to have positive health effects including better sleep, less depression, and general well-being. Links between gratitude and brain structures were also tied to social bonding, reward and stress relief. Maybe that's why it is so easy for me to see the relationship between connection, food, and gratitude. They each feel inextricably linked.
So my invitation to you today is to take this annual ritual of Thanksgiving and extend it beyond today. What exercise of gratitude works for you? Can you make it a part of your daily routine? Is it part of power up in the morning as you set your intention for the day? Or is it a part of power down as you reflect on your day? What areas of your life can be a bit healthier by replacing overwhelm, stress, or burnout by implementing gratitude, thankfulness, or appreciation?
For more ideas come visit livingwowcenter.com or Supercharge!
As I record this podcast episode the house is brimming with the sounds and smells of Thanksgiving. The 3rd Thursday of November is celebrated in the United States as a national holiday of Thanksgiving. A traditional feast to celebrate harvest and friendship creates an opportunity for family and friends to gather around a table and reflect and give thanks.
Since Living WOW Out Loud airs on Thursday mornings, if you are listening in real time (maybe while the turkey is in the oven), then let me wish you a happy Thanksgiving. I pray you are surrounded by those you love this holiday and if the miles or circumstances separate may you be connected in your heart.
The topics of this month's podcasts have led us to this day. First, with the need for community and connection which is becoming more and more fragmented in our modern culture. Last week's topic was food for thought. No holiday centers around food quite like Thanksgiving. So today we bring it all together with gratitude, the heart of Thanksgiving.
It is no secret that a thankful heart is good for you. Like the power of connection and the power of food, the power of gratitude is often underestimated. Don’t believe me? What was your go to behavior when you couldn’t sleep the other night because your monkey mind was busy worrying about work, family, and finances. Common responses to sleepless nights are turning on the TV, scrolling social media, or taking a sleeping pill.
What about this alternative? A powerful antidote for a sleepless night could be to write a note of gratitude to someone you appreciate. The power of a paper thank you note has gotten lost in our modern society as emails and text correspondence have become the norm. There is something about a paper thank you that has permanence and uplifts. I personally cannot throw away a thank you note.
When was the last time you personally wrote a thank you note? Reflect for a minute about how you felt when you were writing it. Were you overcome with worry? Nope. You were overcome with gratitude and the process of writing, addressing, and giving consumed your attention squeezing out whatever monkey mind could have been busy worrying about.
This is a simple example of contrast, but the reality is that it takes awareness and intentional choice to change automatic habitual behaviors. This is a great opportunity to exercise the Living WOW philosophy of “filling it so full of the good stuff that there’s no room for the bad”. What I mean by that is that by creating a series of intentional choices the neural programming is actively reprogramming and crowding out the old habitual behaviors that are SAD.
Like connection and food, gratitude has been shown to have positive health effects including better sleep, less depression, and general well-being. Links between gratitude and brain structures were also tied to social bonding, reward and stress relief. Maybe that's why it is so easy for me to see the relationship between connection, food, and gratitude. They each feel inextricably linked.
So my invitation to you today is to take this annual ritual of Thanksgiving and extend it beyond today. What exercise of gratitude works for you? Can you make it a part of your daily routine? Is it part of power up in the morning as you set your intention for the day? Or is it a part of power down as you reflect on your day? What areas of your life can be a bit healthier by replacing overwhelm, stress, or burnout by implementing gratitude, thankfulness, or appreciation?
For more ideas come visit livingwowcenter.com or Supercharge!
12 min