Well, it’s Thanksgiving again! Sadly we don’t actually celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia and I would love to make it a new tradition!
It has come to me over the last year that gratitude is the ‘joy switch’! As soon as we start focusing on gratitude, we start to switch the way our brain works and consequently our feelings.
As far as I know, it is the quickest way to change how you feel. The Institute of Heartmath (www.heartmath.org) is a wonderful organization that does research into the heart. They have for years been teaching that sincere appreciation is a transformative emotion. It changes every situation.
Many of you will know that I talk on stage about Gratitude glasses (GG)and putting them on first thing in the morning and not taking them off until you sleep leads to a more joyful life.
They are one of our most popular sale items so I am very grateful other people are trying out this theory! Many delegates have sent photos of their teams with GGs on
And told us lovely stories of the changes wearing them has made to the environment at work!
No one consciously teaches us optimism or gratitude. As parents, we often don’t even think about it as an option! We tell our children to ‘say ‘thank you’ to your brother.’ When they don’t, we say the same thing louder, until we angrily scream ‘SAY THANK YOU TO YOUR BROTHER!’.
My suggestion is to take as many pairs of GGs with you as you can to your family Thanksgiving celebration and put them on as you sit down to eat. After you say Grace if that is your habit, then everyone can take turns at saying things for which they are grateful about each person at the table. Or their lives. Or their childhood and growing up.
If you don’t have time to shop then just make a circle between your thumb and index finger and voila! You have an instant and free set of GGs!
You might be amazed at how the conversation changes and how laughter and joy dominate when may sometimes be a rather tense situation as old family issues emerge and buttons are pushed!
It’s so simple and yet how often, apart from Thansgiving, do we stop and reflect on our lives, family, friends and experiences consciously looking for the things for which we are grateful.
It’s a bit like all the corporate books that stress focusing on the strengths of people rather than their ‘weaknesses’. Why do they say that? Because focusing on the negative just reinforces it; highlights it and we know that what we focus on, we create.
Neuroscience teaches us that the environment we live in changes the neural pathways in our brains. If we live in a negative environment, we adopt the patterns of thinking of seeing the negative in everything. ‘Adopting the patterns’ means that a pathway is laid down in our brain and each time we think negatively or focus on the negative, we deepen that pathway.
When it’s deep enough, it becomes the default pathway! And we might physiologically become a pessimist! Although we would prefer it to be called skeptical or cautious!
Gratitude is a conscious choice. There is always something for which to be grateful. Even in the grief of someone dying. Our grief is mostly about us anyway. If we are really honest about grieving, it is about us and our loss. Does it help us or the one who has passed?
For a time, it is necessary for many of us but some hang onto the grief for too long. If you have lost someone you love, try this line of thinking. Rudolf Steiner suggests that when you think of them, they are actually thinking of you as well. And that grieving for them gives them tremendous pain because they don’t like to see you hurting. So he suggests that each time we feel grief, we replace it with love and gratitude for them.
It may not work for you, but I know it helped me a great deal with my mothers passing. Every time I teared up, I would consciously start sending her love and gratitude and soon I would feel more joyful peace.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful ritual to help us focus on gratitude. Here is your mission from this newsletter, should you choose to accept it!
Firstly, wear gratitude glasses every day, set up a reminder in your computer or stick a pair of them on your bathroom mirror or desk. Make it a new ritual, so that IT becomes the default pattern rather than anything else. After 30 consecutive days, you may be surprised at how your world has ‘changed’!
Certainly, your brain will have changed!
Secondly, take GG’s (real or your finger versions) with you to Thanksgiving and share this gift with everyone.
Thirdly, buy a pair for your home and every night, sit around the dinner table and everyone takes turns at putting them on and talking about things for which they are grateful on that day.
Fourthly, if you have had a fight with your partner and are angry before you go to bed, STOP! Find your gratitude glasses and put them on before you go to bed. If nothing changes, keep them on and lie there, staring at your partner until you find something for which to be grateful. If you are not laughing within a short space of time it will be very surprising!
THANK YOU all for your loyal readership and for continuing to encourage me by staying on the list and sending me emails commenting on these newsletters! I truly value and appreciate your support.
And I say all that BEFORE I have my GGs on! LOL
Zooties galore everyone and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
RIGHT HAND COLUMN MEL
A QUESTION FOR YOU:
I am currently thinking of creating something but need your comments or suggestions!
Would you be willing to read this and then comment on our FB page INSERT LINK HERE MEL
Giving us your ideas?
Here is the idea I have!
I have so many people asking me to hug them or give them some of my energy to take home with them that I was wondering how I could do that!
What do you think or feel about ‘The Amanda Gore School of Joy”? It would be a weekly video that comes into your email each Monday morning (to counteract Monday- it is!) and would be me giving you some fun and easy thing to do or think about for the week that would help you know yourself better and create more joy in your life.
It would cost the same as a cup of coffee basically, and instead of a caffeine hit you could have an Amanda hit! So for $5 a week, you receive this video clip and it sets you up for the week! You can watch it as often as you like.
Would you click on the FB link and tell us if you think it is a good idea? Would you be willing to pay $5 or what would you be willing to pay?
Feel free to make any comments, just let us know you are talking about this idea when you comment on FB!
THANK YOU!!
Second part mel
I don’t normally do this but it’s such a great deal I can’t help myself! When we lived in Vermont, we met some wonderful people who have become part of our family!
Frank, their wonderful father passed away this time last year and sadly they are selling his AMAZING house in a gorgeous spot in Vermont. It is in Barre on acreage and has spectacular views and they have brought the price down a lot so it represents a REALLY good deal!
I would love it to go to someone special, who would really appreciate it hence my mentioning it to you wonderful, loyal readers! Here is a picture of it and the view. It is 20 minutes from the ski resort area of Stowe. If you are interested or know anyone who might be please email us and we can connect you with Brenda!
Franks house, a gorgeous log mansion! Amazing views, very peaceful, spectacular fireplace, lots of rooms, fully heated and an internal elevator!
a sunset from The house and below
two views from the house!
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