Hello,
I'm Annie Moussou,
A certified EFT tapping master practitioner.
I help women build confidence,
Set boundaries,
And enjoy healthy relationships.
Welcome to my podcast,
Hush Your Mind,
Building a better relationship with yourself.
On this show,
I offer practical wisdom to help you clear fears,
Limiting beliefs,
And trauma so that you can gracefully create a life you love.
Thank you for joining me in episode 42 of my podcast,
Hush Your Mind,
Building a better relationship with yourself.
Have you tried keeping a gratitude journal?
I used to write down 10 things I'm grateful for every day.
In the beginning,
I felt humbled that the universe took care of me day after day.
It really was a miracle.
But after a while,
My lists began to look the same.
I'm grateful for my home,
Food,
Water,
Friends,
And family.
So I tried getting creative.
I'm grateful for my bed,
Autosave,
Chocolate,
And Netflix.
It felt good to practice gratitude,
Yet the fuzzy sensation often wore off,
Especially when life felt tough.
I'd force myself to be grateful even when I wasn't.
Guilt would sneak up behind me,
And I'd wonder what was wrong with me.
Eventually,
I learned that practicing gratitude doesn't have to be so hard,
And it doesn't even require a gratitude journal.
So why is it so hard to practice gratitude?
All spiritual teachers encourage us to give thanks.
Fans of the law of attraction understand its key role in manifesting.
What's more,
Studies show many benefits of practicing gratitude,
Including a stronger immune system,
Better sleep,
Lower blood pressure,
Greater sense of well-being,
Increased compassion and generosity,
Improved relationships,
And more joy and pleasure.
Simply asking,
What am I grateful for,
Activates neural circuits,
Increases dopamine and serotonin,
And gives us a feeling of contentment.
The more we practice gratitude,
The easier it becomes.
So why is it so easy to not do it?
Stress is an undeniable factor.
If our family,
Relationships,
Or work overwhelm us,
Our practice probably falls by the wayside.
We feel disconnected to ourselves and lose our center.
One could argue that it's just a question of habit.
If we put in enough effort,
We'll manifest our desires.
To my great surprise,
Studies suggest that some of us may be more genetically predisposed to gratitude than others.
This means that some people may naturally feel less sensitive to positive life events,
But also super sensitive to negative life events.
Ooh,
That resonated with me.
Growing up with a scarcity mindset certainly didn't help me feel grateful.
As much as I tried,
My mind kept latching onto the fear of not enough.
It sucked my appreciation dry for what I had.
Then I beat myself up about taking things for granted,
But that just weighed down my shoulders even more.
So I put away my gratitude journal.
I asked myself,
What's keeping me from feeling grateful?
Instead of resisting my work situation,
Body aches,
Relationship issues,
Or past trauma,
I opened wide the shutters in my mind.
I felt the tension simmer in my body and accepted all of it wholeheartedly.
Gratitude is about living in the moment.
It's not a task to cross off the to-do list.
It's not a way to manipulate life to give us what we want.
Gratitude naturally arises when we fully experience the present moment.
I realized with amazement that once I embraced life's hard knocks and understood their role in my spiritual journey,
It was much easier to feel grateful.
Opening up to my most difficult emotions let me access positive ones like joy,
Peace,
And gratitude.
We have to learn how to slow down and appreciate the warmth of a chamomile tea,
The pleasant aroma of roasted vegetables,
Or a stranger's humble thank you.
Gratitude becomes an embodied experience instead of a mental exercise.
You could certainly keep gratitude journaling though.
One of my readers writes down just one thing she's grateful for each day.
It's best to keep it simple.
Others prefer contemplating the absence of something in their lives,
Bad times,
And even death.
This may sound awful,
But for some people it helps shift their perspective.
Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh used gathas to bring awareness to simple activities that we often take for granted.
For example,
In the morning we can breathe in and think,
Waking up this morning,
I smile.
Then we breathe out,
24 brand new hours are before me.
Inhale again,
I vow to live fully in each moment.
Exhale again,
And to look at beings with eyes of compassion.
We can create our own gathas to infuse presence into our daily lives.
Even a couple phrases will do.
Or if you're a minimalist like myself,
You can simply acknowledge that this morning you woke up.
You're alive.
Just savor all those small pleasures.
The last cherry tomatoes dangling from their stems,
A cozy blanket,
This simple meal with loved ones.
In conclusion,
Connecting with yourself is enough.
If our true selves are naturally grateful,
Then we must examine what's blocking us.
I've learned that trauma can severely hamper our efforts to feel good for any extended amount of time.
In that case,
Our priority should be to reconnect with ourselves.
For some people,
Practicing gratitude may look like journaling,
Contemplation,
And mental exercises.
For others,
Gratitude doesn't come as easily.
But if we're curious and courageous,
We can deepen our understanding of our true nature and thus gain greater clarity about our place in the world.
Thank you so much for joining me in this episode of Hush Your Mind.
If you enjoyed it,
Please feel free to visit my about page on my InsightTimer profile for my website,
And follow me for new content and live EFT tapping sessions.
May you have the courage to love and accept yourself,
Be well,
And take care.
