The one thing we can all be good at

The one thing we can all be good at

Have you ever had that strange experience where you seem to hear the same message everywhere you turn, even from the most unlikely sources?

In last week’s piece, we shared thoughts and practical advice on what some people we know are doing to enhance their mental health and overall sense of well-being. We asked the community to share what they have been doing to take care of themselves; the feedback we got was very specific. Then on Saturday evening, sitting around with some friends after a padel match, one person shared what he had been focusing on: the same topic. And as I sat down this morning to write this piece, the first thing I saw on LinkedIn was the same topic again…

Gratitude!

In all three examples mentioned above, the people in question shared the context and the dramatic positive impact adopting a perspective of gratitude has had on them over the last couple of months. We’ve shared our thoughts on the topic before, but maybe this is a good time to remind ourselves why gratitude is such an important and impactful perspective.

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift.” John Ortberg (Zito, 2022).

Gratitude, simply put, is the ability to regularly focus on the positive parts of your life. It is the capability to genuinely take the perspective of finding something good in your life to be thankful for, irrespective of the circumstances you might be living through. It does not require you to ignore your challenges and difficulties but to notice and appreciate the silver linings around the dark clouds you might be sitting under. Not that becoming more grateful is only for those of us who are struggling! Everyone, irrespective of where you currently find yourself on the well-being scale, will benefit from becoming better at noticing the good things in our lives.

Not buying it yet? Here are some benefits of adopting a regular gratitude practice that has been well-documented in scientific studies:

• It reduces the symptoms of depression, resulting in higher life satisfaction and self-esteem in people who practice it
• It lessens anxiety and helps to break out of negative thinking spirals
• It enhances your physical health by supporting heart health and lowers the risk of heart disease
• Lowers stress levels by activating your parasympathetic nervous system to bring down your blood pressure, heart rate and breathing to help with overall relaxation
• It improves your sleep quality, especially if you make gratitude part of your night-time routine
• Enhances the quality of your social connections and relationships

All of these combine to contribute towards higher levels of life satisfaction, mental health and well-being. And you know what the best part is (there are two actually)? You already know how to be grateful – it is built into you as a living human being. You just need to remind yourself and sharpen up through practice – because it takes practice! Secondly, it’s absolutely free. You don’t have to subscribe, buy a membership, go anywhere or buy special shoes. You can just start, exactly where you are!

Where to start?

Let’s keep it simple:

• Every morning or evening or both, write down at least one thing you are grateful for. You can also think it, but the physical act of writing something down seems to bolster the experience. If you are grateful for 25 things on a given day, write all of them down BUT find at least one thing every day. Big or small, it doesn’t matter, just make sure you get into the rhythm of noticing and doing it.
• Say thank you to people you are grateful for. You can do this in person or in writing, but as often as you can, find someone to thank sincerely. It can be for big or small things but try to be as specific as you can in what you are thanking them for.

Start today. Stick with it for two weeks and then see how you feel. It might feel weird at first, but it comes more naturally when you get into the swing of things (we know from personal experience). Let us know what impact it has on you or how you go about practicing gratitude if you have been doing it for a while.

As always we would love to hear your thoughts, get in touch. You can reach us at info@purposeworks.co.za.

At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.