Humans are weird.
We have a tendency to see the negative in a situation first. We’re highly sensitized to be on the outlook for perceived threats or things that can go wrong in our life.
We wake up worrying about what we need to do that day and all the ways it can go wrong. We worry about things that might be weeks, months or even years into the future that we have no present power to effect. We might perceive an aside comment by an acquaintance as a harmful slight, even though we don’t know the person that well or fully understand what they said.
Worse yet, these thoughts can be consuming and completely take over all our mental bandwidth.
We rarely stop to think about what’s going right for us, or even marvel at the beauty of life.
On one level, it makes sense. Our early ancestors had to always be on guard lest they get eaten by a lion. They had to worry about having enough food lest they starve. They had to keep close ties with all their relationships lest they be ostracised from their group.
We don’t have the same challenges today but our body doesn't know the difference. Physiologically, it all feels just as dire.
Part of how we can counteract this basic human tendency to worry and see the worst in a situation is to cultivate a practice of gratitude. All it takes is a couple moments out of our day to actively see the best in a situation too.
To have gratitude doesn’t mean to ignore the challenges in our lives, or even the injustice in the world. It means to simply also give credence to what’s going right or is beautiful in the world.
If we don’t practice gratitude, our minds--as is their nature--will completely disregard the positive and focus more and more on the negative. We can get stuck in our cycles and never allow ourselves a moment of happiness.
Having a gratitude practice can literally rewire your brain away from seeing challenges, negativity, and failure, to seeing opportunity, positivity, and success.
If you’re curious to learn more about gratitude, I’m hosting a mini workshop this Thursday, Dec. 2, at 1 p.m. PST on the challenges, practices, and benefits of cultivating gratitude in our lives. I’d love for you to join! A link to sign up is right here.
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Storytelling is a fascinating aspect of how we perceive the world and exist as humans. If you’d like to learn more, download the Storytelling Primer below and start learning more about storytelling today.
For a long time I knew there was a different version of me that I wanted to be. That person would be more open, expressive, curious, and excited for life… but I didn’t know how to get there.