In the USA, we recently celebrated Thanksgiving. To be honest, I have many mixed emotions when it comes to this celebratory traditional holiday. But we’ll save that for a different time and different place.
But you know those moments when you’re sad, depressed, angry, or annoyed and you just don’t want to be thankful? We’ve all been there at some point, right?
For me, it’s when I’m at a big group event and I feel trapped like I can’t go home or find a spot to be in silence with myself. #introvertproblems
First, let me say that there is nothing wrong with being in that headspace. If you want to feel a certain emotion when other people are telling you that you should be thankful, feel whatever you want.
But if you notice the negative emotion, acknowledge it, and have a desire to shift or transform it into gratitude or thankfulness, it’s totally an option. You don’t have to stay where you are currently at.
How to Start Shifting
Don’t Resist Negative Emotion
The trick to making the shift is not rejecting your current negative emotion. Sit with it. Allow it to just be there with you like another passenger on a bus. Get curious. Emotions are just vibrations in the body created because of a sentence in our mind. Emotions = Information.
If you try to thought-swap (swapping a negative thought and emotion with a positive one), the negative one will win. What we resist, persists. If you can’t learn to notice, acknowledge, and allow a negative emotion, you won’t get the results you want. You and your brain are too smart to make the jump from “I hate this” to “I love this”.
You don’t need to make a grand gesture or feel immense gratitude. Start small.
Actionable Items to Help You Make The Shift
- Find one thing (wherever you are) that you find pretty or appealing
- Give someone a compliment (but be genuine though)
- Answer this question about yourself: “What small thing are you proud of?” (it could even be as simple getting out of bed because you didn’t want to, or even asking yourself this question!)
- Do something you enjoy–listen to music, eat a treat and focus on how much you love the taste, etc.
Making Gratitude a Daily Practice
If you want to have an overall better quality of life, having some kind of daily gratitude practice is a fantastic starting point! The list above and the list below are only a few things you could do, so get creative and find what works for you.
- Start a gratitude journal–it doesn’t matter if you write a page or a few bullet points
- Get outside everyday and appreciate the nature that is around you
- Practice mindfulness–I love to do this in the shower, brushing my teeth, and even cooking
- Create the habit of waving to people and cars you passby in the neighborhood
- Give a genuine compliment a day
- Send a thank you card or text message to someone who’s made an impact in your life (whether recent or not)
The Hard Truth
Some days, practicing gratitude can be difficult. Some days are easier than others. Some feel like the world has gone to hell. This is how life is supposed to be. You can’t control everything and everyone around you, but you can control yourself.
Be okay with flowing between the good and the bad. Practice gratitude, and make it easy on yourself instead of a chore you have to do. If you miss a day, a week, a month…not a big deal! Just pick it up again. You didn’t fail. You didn’t do it wrong. You just went with the flow of life.
If it starts to get overwhelming, scale back. What would make practicing gratitude easier for you? What would make it a fun or enjoyable experience?
Take It To The Next Level
If you want to take this to the next level, come join me as I co-facilitate a new 6-week course called (Sub)conscious Confidence. We teach you how your subconscious and conscious mind interact and how you can hack it so they work for you instead of again you–like you’ve unconsciously programmed them to do!
We’ll give you the knowledge, tools, AND practical application so you walk away with transformation. We value this course at $3,000; but because it’s our second round and we want to teach as many people as possible, we’re giving it out for only $300!
Check out CoachWithCam.com/upcomingevents to get more details, watch some video testimonials, and register. We begin on December 7th, so don’t wait too long!
Coach With Cam 