S2: E55 Sunday Sip: Gratitude

Season Two
Episode 55
Sunday Sip: Gratitude

Hello friends and welcome to Sunday Sip on Afternoon Ti.  Each Sunday for the remainder of the year I plan to share a single idea, thought, or meaningful take-away in hopes that you’ll be encouraged and inspired as you prepare to enter the next new week of teaching. 

With Thanksgiving coming up in a few weeks, it seems only perfect to start the month considering gratitude.  Eckhart Tolle said that acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.  We all have so much to be grateful for and taking time to remember and reflect on what we are thankful for can make a difference in our daily lives.

I recently read an article from collective evolution about how gratitude literally changes our physical hearts and our brains.  According to the article, research coming out of UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center found that “having an attitude of gratitude changes the molecular structure of the brain, keeps the gray matter functioning and makes us healthier and happier.  When you feel happiness, the central nervous system is affected. You are more peaceful, less reactive, and less resistant.” When people wrote gratitude letters once a week for only three weeks to someone else, their mental health was significantly better up to 12 weeks later.

The Institute of HeartMath found that when our hearts speak to and influence the brain coherently allowing for stable sine-wavelike patterns in its rhythms, then the body and brain gain benefits including mental clarity and ability and better decision making.  There’s more in the article and it’s a fascinating read - I’ll link it in the show notes if you want to read it.  

Gratitude is so good for us and worth practicing.  I’m going to share three ideas for how we can incorporate gratitude into our daily lives.

1 - Consider the small things

We’re grateful for our family.  Our friends. Our home. Our community.  Our faith. These are overarching large themes and it’s fairly easy to mention these when someone asks what we’re thankful for.  We can quickly respond with these when asked what we’re grateful for. They’re easy and true. I believe that looking for gratefulness each day in the small things can bring about an even deeper appreciation inside us.

Beginning on October 1, I joined what is called the Last 90 Days Challenge.  Rachel Hollis, author of Girl Wash Your Face, started this challenge with her husband because she didn’t want to wait to start the new year off and eat all the things and mindlessly bide time until January first when the official things would begin.  She wanted to start now and end the year well. Part of this challenge is taking time each day to write down what you’re grateful for. I made it my goal to list three things each day. I actually set up a google sheet so that I can add to it each day and I love being able to see the month at a glance and remember all these great moments.  A few of my grateful moments from last month were:

• Being able to order a new fitted sheet for our bed
• Eating lunch on our music retreat with Erica and Melissa (time with them is always amazing)
• 60 degree weather
• Eighth graders singing in class in three part harmony and sounding beautiful
• Specific songs like Goodness of God sung by Bethel Church… I’ll link that as well because it gets me every time with the lyrics “All my life you have been faithful.  All my life you have been so so good. With every breath that I am able, I will sing of the goodness of God.” Oh man - I am so incredibly grateful.

I’d encourage you to begin writing down the small things that come your way each day.  Jot them in the side of your planner. Set aside five minutes after dinner or before you leave school in the afternoon.  Choose a journal for the purpose of writing down thoughts of gratitude. Choose one person to write a short message to about why you’re thankful for them.  Or text them.  

If you want to share your gratitude on social media, Tisha Richmond (@TishRich) and Tara Martin (@TaraMartinEDU) set up a challenge on Twitter where each day you can tweet one picture picture of something you’re grateful for and include #GratitudeSnaps.  Several of the teachers at my school began doing this yesterday. I’ve enjoyed seeing what other teachers are finding gratitude for and it’s a great way to share what you’re grateful for too.

2 - Look back

I’m not sure who first said this quote, but it’s always hit me when I’m frustrated about where I am either personally, financially, as a mom/wife/person/teacher.  It’s this:

Remember when you wanted what you currently have

Oh yes.  Looking back at the dreams I used to have and having now seen many of them come to fruition only to find that I’m asking for bigger dreams and forgetting to enjoy where I am now.  Each day. Each moment. It’s easy to take for granted what we have because we’re striving for more. We’ve adapted to where we are and it’s familiar. It’s the usual and it can feel like it’s always been this way.  It’s not wrong to continue to want to be better or continue to work towards dreams. Remembering to look back at what we’ve gone through and the successes, the hard work, the things we’ve overcome and the blessings God has given us over time can help us see gratitude for where we are now.

When Jeremy and I were first married, we were living in a very small two bedroom apartment.  We had a full size bed frame and mattress - no ‘bed’ itself. There was no linen closet in the bathroom so the pantry in the kitchen held all of our towels and bathroom items.  We were fortunate to have a washer and dryer in the apartment. To access it, we had to move the dining chairs and practically sit on the table to put clothes in and out. We had one tv that was about 14” and a dvd player - an all in one device.  We had hand-me-down flower couches that we purchased covers for. There was nothing spectacular about it, but it was where we started. Jeremy had lived in the Dallas area longer than I had and we would drive through this neighborhood that he had always liked and hope that one day we’d be able to afford something like it one day.  Almost 16 years later and we’re in a house similar to what we once dreamed of in an area that we really love. And there are goals and dreams we hope for the future of what things might look like - potentially in a home and in other areas of our lives too. It’s easy to take for granted that what we now have is what we dreamed of years ago.  And to be thankful for that.

If you need help finding and seeing gratefulness for where you are, look back.  Remember where you used to be. Remember how far you’ve come. There is gratitude to be found in all the hard work you’ve given over the years, all the choices you’ve made that have brought you to where you are now, all the difficult circumstances you’ve walked through and all the grace God has shown you through the years.  There’s bound to be at least one area where you can see the good in all that is happening in your life at this moment. Celebrate that. Frederick Keonig, the German inventor of the high-speed steam-powered printing press, said that “We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”  Wherever you find yourself today, find gratitude there and thankfulness for where you are.

3 - Sowing Gratitude

Sometimes the best way to feel gratitude is to give it.  Look at the people you are around every day and find ways to bless them.  I mentioned it earlier but sending a text. A short message. Leaving a note in their box at work.  When you take time out to share why you’re grateful for someone else, it builds gratitude inside of you and it also makes the day sweeter for someone else.  Bringing about a community of gratitude.  

Think about someone you work with that you’d like to show gratitude for.  Consider your custodian who day in and day out cleans the same floors, the same tables, the same areas of the school relentlessly and diligently.  Consider the new teacher who is in the midst of a hectic first holiday season with students. Consider the secretary who keeps us all sane. Consider your principal/head of school who is trying to juggle the demands of staff, parents, and students.  Consider your teammate whose needs you likely know and whose support you rely on too. Consider a family from your school who may need some extra support for whatever they are going through. Thanking them for investing in their child or taking time to send you that Starbucks drink one morning or for all the work they do on the PTA that makes a difference.  Consider the student that has really stood out positively or who has made great strides since school began. Write an email to their family sharing why you’re grateful for what you’re seeing and noticing. Consider your family - the ones who see your best and worst moments. Sharing with them what you love about them and what you’re grateful for about them. It only takes a little time and effort out of your day to say thank you… but it makes the biggest difference in the lives of others and yourself!

A short recap for practicing gratitude:

Consider the small things each day, look back over your life, and sow gratitude to others.