3 Gratitude Exercises to go From a Zero to a Hero
Gratitude is a powerful way to exercise the mind.
Not only do you exercise the mind…
You also change the way that you communicate.
Imagine a guy who is constantly entertaining negative deflating thoughts.
Then put him against a guy who is entertaining powerful thoughts.
Who will communicate better?
The answer is obvious.
By the way… Let me be clear.
I’m not an advocate of only positive thinking.
I’m an advocate of acceptance thinking.
My hierarchy goes like this:
- Positive thinking beats negative thinking.
- Acceptance thinking beats positive thinking.
Acceptance thinking is conditioning the mind to thrive under whatever is thrown our way.
We use a wide range of experiences as data to extract lessons and continue to power up.
The 3 gratitude exercises in this blog are meant to unlock acceptance mode thinking.
Thrive & speak with power.
It starts with changing the thought waves.
1. Count Tiny Wins
It’s easy to go to our biggest wins when doing gratitude exercises.
‘Are you saying that is wrong?’
Not quite. But it is suboptimal.
Acknowledging only the big wins will build blindness to the small wins.
Heck, it may build a resentment towards small wins!
You’re conditioning the mind to be like, ‘who needs small wins anyways?’
Another danger in only counting big wins is that it makes you a parrot.
Let me guess… every morning, you are reciting the same 5-8 things you’re grateful for. Am I right?
‘How did you know??’
You ain’t that special homie.
Focus on the micro.
This automatically forces you to think & engage your memory banks.
The smaller that you get, the more you FEEL changes in your body over time.
Acknowledging the small wins easily allows you to acknowledge the big wins.
Being grateful for making 1 dollar online will make you ecstatic when you make 100 dollars.
If you struggle to acknowledge the micro, check out Opulence: A Daily Gratitude List Journal
This journal FORCES you to write at least 10 things that you are grateful for each day.
Being consistent in your practice will have you going smaller and smaller….opening up a greater appreciation for life.
2. Tree Method: Acknowledging the Roots
What do you see when you see a tree?
‘I see the tree.’
What don’t you see?
‘The roots.’
What is holding the tree up?
‘The roots.’
Would it be comical to say that the roots are just as powerful as the tree?
‘No, that makes all the sense in the world….’
The roots of your life are the losses you took to get to the win.
Without the losses, you will not have a tree.
Be grateful for losses as well.
This is what acceptance thinking is all about.
Losses of the past make more sense in the present.
If I gave you 10 minutes to think of a moment that you hated going through in the past, but are now grateful for.
You’ll be like, ‘keep your 10 minutes. I already got 3 things that came to mind.’
Make your mind acknowledge the losses that led to the win.
Connect the 2.
Don’t just acknowledge the loss and leave it at that.
CONNECT the loss to the win.
Talk about how the roots and the tree are connected.
Talk about how it required you to get fired from your dream job to start the business which led you to become financially free.
Get it?
‘Got it.’
3. Find the Practical Aspects of Gratitude
I’m not going to lie, but I used to think gratitude was bs.
Thought it was another trick to get me thinking in a certain way to ignore the truths of life.
However, I came to realize that I was doing it incorrectly.
The reason I was doing it incorrectly was that I was not doing gratitude with a purpose.
It’s like reading.
Reading for the sake of reading is better than not reading at all.
However, when you read to complement a life vision, then it’s a different ball game.
Now, each book serves as a puzzle piece pulling you forward in your path.
Same with gratitude.
My perspective regarding gratitude changed when I saw a noticeable difference in my communication.
Because speaking is the byproduct of thinking.
This line above is EXTREMELY important.
This means that thinking is the orange.
While speaking is the orange juice.
You can’t have orange juice without the orange.
When trying to improve speaking skills, the naive mind goes straight to speaking.
While the wise mind addresses the root of the issue:
Thinking.
Gratitude gets the mind to think empowering thoughts.
It alters the narrative.
If you did exercise 2, you’ll see how present-day losses can lead to a future tree.
Making connections like that alters the speaking game entirely.
Leading to a powerful voice, clear thoughts, and passion for the topic.
To do gratitude with intent, work on creating a list of 50 PRACTICAL benefits that gratitude will have for your life.
No need to create the list at once (unless you are able to).
You can also build it over time as more ideas come to you.
The more practical benefits you see for gratitude exercises in relation to your life, the more likely you are to stick with the practice long-term.
Bonus Tip: Write Down Grateful Thoughts
As a beginner, write your gratitude down.
‘Can I speak it?’
Sure.
But something about writing makes it more real & frozen in reality.
The reason I consider this an exercise is because it physically feels a certain way.
‘What can be so hard about typing?’
Who said I told you to type?
HANDWRITE.
You may be the person who hasn’t written by hand in a long time.
So, when you start writing by hand, there will be tension in your forearms and fingers.
GOOD.
Get gel point pens to ease the feeling.
Now the mind & body are being worked together.
This creates a stronger mind-body connection which leads to clear and concise communication skills in the future.
Make Gratitude Exercises a Lifestyle
I’ll give you another mini bonus tip since you made it this far.
Exercise gratitude like an athlete rather than an artist.
An artist is great.
But in this field, we want to be an athlete.
Grit, determination, and consistency.
You’ll need all of that.
If you decide to do my micro gratitude method, then you’ll have days where you can’t think of anything.
If you’re using the Opulence Gratitude list journal, you definitely cannot see 10 things worth being grateful for.
A part of you may want to quit.
Don’t.
Be an athlete.
Push that extra rep.
Then another.
And another…
Over time, you will be done with your 10 reps for the day.
These 10 reps continue to add up & begin to change the way that you think.
It will eventually have you thinking grand thoughts on autopilot.
That’s the acceptance mode being unlocked.
For more practical tips to change the way that you think & build a life purpose, check out the Level Up Mentality.
Cultivate grand thoughts so you can go from unconfident to confident in no time.
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