Subscribe to the Learn Something New(sletter) and you'll receive actionable, practical tips right in your inbox to try on a new personal or professional development concept. It's going to be fun. A former design researcher/strategist/consultant turned executive leadership and career coach, now I partner with badass folks to reorient their relationship with work and hang out on the edge of growth while they sort out what they want, and what they need.
Gratitude - how it can help.
Hey All.
Your next newsletter wasn't supposed to come for another two weeks on The Burnout Epidemic by Jennifer Moss. That'll still happen - but for this week, I'm pulling out one learning from it.
We're going to talk about gratitude.
Gratitude. It feels weird to try to be grateful about anything, between the war in Ukraine, the war on Tigray, AAPI hate, a pandemic that isn't going anywhere... It is a lot to carry on as human beings.
So what can we do, when we feel overwhelmed, stuck, and frustrated?
Once you've donated, messaged your officials, checked in with family and friends - there's a restless energy that can't be expended through nonstop heads down work.
Taking deep breaths might not be enough.
Meditation can do wonders, so can a long slow yin practice, or a fast-paced HIIT class. Bingeing the latest Netflix series can bring temporary joy.
Writing down what you're grateful for is a "gateway drug to happiness."
A study by Robert Emmons at UC Davis found that 10 weeks of a Friday gratitude session could improve our immune systems, get better sleep, feel less lonely, become more compassionate, and enrich our relationships.
When the world feels heavy, creating time and space for gratitude allows you to reconnect with your inner self.
Taking a few moments to remind yourself of the good in your life is what can nourish you to dive back into fighting the fight.
How to introduce (or enhance) your gratitude practice.
Here are three tips to make it happen:
1) Be specific. The more specific you are about the thing you're grateful for - it helps you paint a picture that cements in your brain
2) Be consistent. Building a habit of gratitude is difficult. So yours might look like taking 3 minutes every Friday at the end of your workweek to capture what was great. Or it's every morning over your coffee. Every evening in your journal. Whatever it is, carve it out for yourself.
3) Be open. Consider sharing your gratitudes with someone else. It increases accountability and creates a beautiful dialogue with a person you care about.
Want to take it a step further and increase your own accountability?
| Join the 21 Day Gratitude Challenge |
You'll get daily gratitude prompts for 21 days. Curious about why it's 21 days? A study of school children showed that with just 21 days of gratitude practice, students were able to double the amount of things that they were grateful for. Essentially wiring cognitive gratitude into their developing brains.
Sending you well wishes to you, your family, and loved ones.
Rikki
Learn Something New(sletter)
by Rikki Goldenberg
Subscribe to the Learn Something New(sletter) and you'll receive actionable, practical tips right in your inbox to try on a new personal or professional development concept. It's going to be fun. A former design researcher/strategist/consultant turned executive leadership and career coach, now I partner with badass folks to reorient their relationship with work and hang out on the edge of growth while they sort out what they want, and what they need.
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