Let’s Cultivate New Neural Pathways of Gratitude!
As colder, darker days and Thanksgiving approaches, with the holidays soon to follow, it helps to cultivate a state of gratitude to keep our energy uplifted.
What are you grateful for?
Just pause momentarily, close your eyes, bring your hands to your heart, and consider what you appreciate.
We spend so much time focusing on what’s wrong, rather than what’s right in our abundant lives. Author John Kabat-Zinn reminds us, “There is so much more right in our lives than wrong."
Focusing on what we appreciate lifts our spirits and brightens the mind. Especially the things that we take for granted - like our health, our warm, safe homes, and the feeling of security and peace in our lives.
To retrain our negative bias, ancient yogic teaching, Pratipaksha bhavana is a yogic practice from the Yoga Sutras through the discipline of “cultivating the opposite."
If I'm late to where I'm going, I'm stressed, and I notice the negativity running through me, I can observe it and steer my mind into gratitude for my comfortable car that's getting me where I need to go easily.
I'm continuously working on the practice of being grateful for something I take for granted. If I can catch myself and shift into gratitude, I can focus on what's abundant in my life, which brightens my mind.
Once we start becoming grateful for the little things, it becomes an endless list.
I did this when I was frustrated at my teenage daughter forgetting her lunch… again!
I turned my frustration around when I remembered to be grateful for having the food to bring to her, having a car that made it easy to get her lunch to her, and most of all grateful to have a daughter. Then I could deliver it with love rather than negativity.
I mention this in the Sacred Sunday class that we dedicate to the 10 women we support through Women for Women International who support women in war-torn countries.
During our weekly prayer of gratitude, we remember to be grateful for the hot water out of our tap, our food security, our education, the love we have in our lives, any support we have, our peaceful lives, and most of all our freedom that so many people in the world don't have.
Practicing gratitude is one of the best things we can do for our mental health.
When we start practicing gratitude, it starts to come naturally, and our energy is uplifted.
We can move from being in a bad mood to becoming so grateful and appreciative within just a few moments by remembering what’s working well in our lives. And it takes a remembering and conscious re-wiring to steer the mind to gratitude - not so easy, but a worthy pursuit for our well-being!
If it means writing post-it notes all over your house - over your kitchen sink, on your bathroom mirror, on your steering wheel ~what are you grateful for? ~ do it! This is creating new neural pathways that override the negative. Thank goodness for neuroplasticity ~ Rewiring the mind into a positive state.
This is especially helpful during the holidays when expectations are high.
When we’re surrounded by people or situations that are challenging, we can practice gratitude on the spot.
When around a co-worker or family member that’s difficult, see if you can find anything about them that you appreciate. And if nothing comes up, appreciate the teaching of kindness or patience, but most of all, see their goodness.
Remember that bad behavior is typically a result of internal suffering, and knowing this can shift our judgment to compassion. And when we shift, the entire dynamic shifts.
Easier said than done... I know, but what we practice gets stronger. If we practice stress, criticism, fear, and worry - that will get stronger. But if we remember to be thankful for all that we have, it will deepen the habit in a new way that literally brightens the mind.
If you'd like support to retrain the mind, we are here to help with the Emotional Endurance Program - your future self will thank you!
The Emotional Endurance Program
is now open for enrollment!
a three-week online course November 27- December 15
to get you through the holidays with grace and ease!
Included each week:
Weekly LIVE communal conversations addressing what's weighing on us, followed by meditations and breathwork to release grief and build emotional resiliency.
Weekly breathwork and Qigong classes are designed to open up and clear the lung’s energetic channels, which can become stagnant and weak with stress and grief.
Weekly yoga class to build emotional strength and cultivate endurance with mindful teachings and stories that help us feel less alone with our grief.
*The recordings will be yours to practice when you need to RESET!
Enroll by Friday, 11/17 by 10pm and save $50!
From my heart light to yours,
Maggie