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The #1 Secret to Shifting Your Mindset
Like it or not, it’s about breaking through your resistance and establishing that f*cking gratitude practice
Cats, and us humans too, are resistant to change. We cling to existing patterns and behaviors, hoping that things can stay the same. Even when we know that things are good for us — exercise, eating well, taking rest breaks— it’s really hard for us to do them.
We often base our daily performance and happiness on our state of mind. The good news is that unlike our ability to control others, we can start by impacting our own mindset. A gratitude practice is the simplest, most straightforward way to shift our minds. There’s a ton of research that backs this up¹. Yet like many of us, I’ve personally started, paused, and fallen off the wagon with gratitude so many times that I mentally refer to it as that f*ucking gratitude practice. I’ve seen this resistance and embracing of the practice happen for many of my clients too.
These are four techniques to help build the muscle of a gratitude practice. And maybe, eventually, we can even be grateful about it.
1. Be hyper-specific
It’s easy to half-ass an answer by retreating to the safety of generalities and platitudes. Specifics give us a way to drill down to the kernel of what’s most important. It can help elicit emotions and really help us feel the thing that we’re grateful for. Notice the difference between saying:
I’m grateful for my cat.
vs.
I’m grateful when my cat Mochii sits on my lap during client calls. I can feel the mighty rumble of her purr. Stroking her soft fur helps center me and focus my listening.
Part of a gratitude practice is feeling and experiencing the object of your gratitude. The more specific you can get, the more impactful it will be.
2. Keep it interesting
Repeating a daily gratitude practice can get boring. There’s a litany of things we might be grateful for: our health, loved ones, friends, a team at work, a meal, or something we did today. It can start to feel tedious when we keep repeating the same things we’re grateful for. One…
