Expressing gratitude can make you feel happier.
If you’ve been following along, I started the WSJ Heathy Habit Challenge last month which is wrapping up this week with acts of kindness. Similar to a gratitude practice, regular acts of kindness can make you feel healthier and happier.
You might be thinking as I initially did, another thing for my to-do list. However, acts of kindness don’t have to be grand gestures to be effective. In fact, they can be really small.
It dawned on me while on a morning walk that the people who made the effort to say good morning made me smile and feel happier. It’s something that I routinely did but unfortunately, stopped. However, what I realized is that those little bids for human connection are acts of kindness that help build community.
Build some small acts of kindness into each day this week and let me know how it affects you and others at home, at work and in your community.
Bending Reality
I am reading the book Bending Reality by Victoria Song which draws on many of the popular frameworks developed by researchers for managing your mental state. What’s different is her use of two words, contraction which others refers to as scarcity mindset and expansion which others refer to as growth mindset.
Contraction is when your limiting beliefs, past events or desire for a specific outcome have such a grip on your mind that they limit your thinking, behaviors and actions. If anything good comes from a state of contraction, it happens from sheer will and random luck.
Conversely, a state of expansion opens you to the realm of possibilities to achieve your goals. Getting into a state of expansion takes work but once you’re there the effort needed to achieve your results is not as laborious. You’ll be in a state of flow and from a flow state, you’ll see all the possibilities available and achieve results with greater ease.
If you’re feeling stuck in any part of your, it’s a good resource for help working through contraction and learning how to live into expansion.
Living into Expansion
Because we’re talking about health and healthy habits in this newsletter, let’s use an example that many people struggle to achieve and/or maintain – a healthy weight.
In a state of contraction, you will likely try a lot of extreme measures to change your diet, restrict calories and implement an unsustainable workout routine. If you fail to stick with the regiment, you’ll beat yourself up for failing to do what others seem to be able to do.
Now what happens if you shift your mindset and live into expansion? You might cook at home more, cook the things that make your body feel good and that nourish you, do workouts that you enjoy doing and that become part of your lifestyle. If you fail to sick with it for a day or two, no big deal. You’ll simply pick up where you left off and keep going so that you have the strength and stamina to do everything you love to do for as long as you can do it.
Lead with Gratitude
My third quarter theme is to lead with gratitude. At the start of the quarter, I was feeling grateful for everything that I have, have done and achieved. It seemed fitting to start the quarter from a place of gratitude.
As I reflected on what’s working and what’s not this week, leading with gratitude is working which seems serendipitous. Gratitude makes me feel happier, supports a growth mindset and the notion of living into expansion. This quarter has not gone as planned but in some ways it’s turning out better than expected. Stay tuned for more details.
If you don’t have a gratitude practice, it’s easy to start with the resources from Shannon Smith Living..
