Intentionally Curious

83. A New Way to Practice Gratitude

October 08, 2022 Jason Ramsden Episode 83
Intentionally Curious
83. A New Way to Practice Gratitude
Show Notes Transcript

Traditionally, the fall tends to be a time for us to express the things we are grateful for in our lives especially as Thanksgiving arrives. My question to you is…is once a year enough to express the things we are grateful for in our lives? 

Practicing gratitude regularly is the key to a more fulfilling life and a daily gratitude practice is one way to open the door to living a life filled with thankfulness for all you have in your life.

Imagine if being grateful for what you do have actually opens a door to having more in your life. Crazy right?

In this episode, I share a new way to practice gratitude that will evoke emotion and get you feeling incredibly thankful for all that you have in your life.

Get after it my friends and we’ll see you next week!

For links to everything mentioned in this episode and more visit:

https://www.jasonramsden.com/episode83

Hey, hey, Hey, my curious friends.. Welcome to episode 83. In this episode, I'm going to share with you a brand new way to practice gratitude. I recently learned about this from my own. And because it's been so powerful for me in a short amount of time, I wanna share it with you as well. Now, before I get started though, just a reminder that you can head over to Jason ramston.com/episode and the number of that episode to drop a comment, a thought or suggestion. For instance, this episode would be jason ramston.com/episode 83. When you make a comment, I'll answer them personally, which makes me your accountability partner. A role I love to play for members of the intentionally. Podcast community, and I hope to see you there. All right, let's dive into today's topic. Traditionally, the fall tends to be a time for us to express the things we're grateful for in our lives, especially as Thanksgiving arrives. My question to you is, is once a year enough to express gratitude for the things you're grateful for in your life? Perhaps, maybe, right. But listen, I'm not here to shame anyone for not practicing gratitude more regularly because life is busy. I get that. And oftentimes you just don't stop to be thankful for what you have. And that's a hundred percent okay. There's no shame here at all, right? We spend a lot of our time just going through the motion, getting through life going through our task list, making sure the kids are good things, food on the table, grocer's done laundry, you know, like I get that a hundred percent And there are many people who share that. Practicing gratitude regularly is the key to a more fulfilling life. and a daily gratitude practice is one way to open that door. One way to open a door to living a life filled with thankfulness for all you have in your life. Sure. This is where as a human, you may want to jump into the compare and despair game, where you look at what others have and say, They have more than me, or I want what they have. And then you go into despair because your life isn't exactly like their life. But imagine if being grateful for. Do have actually opens a door to having more in your life. Crazy, right? That being grateful for what we do have could send a signal out into the universe that, listen, we actually can have more once we're grateful for what we have now. I get it. Trying to find time each day for a gratitude practice. Uh, it could be. Especially if you haven't done it before. For me, I've had a gratitude journal for a while now. I've tried doing it at night before bed. I've tried it first thing in the morning. I've tried it writing down as many things as I can think of that I'm grateful for, and I've tried just limit it to three things that I'm grateful for. Now when I do it in the morning, it's part of a bigger morning routine of setting goals, writing out beliefs, and doing a deeper thought download journal. And here's the thing, after a while, That all felt like homework to me. I don't know about you, but I freaking hate homework and I always have. And I started to see my morning routine as something to check off the list. And when being grateful, setting goals and journaling feels like homework and a checklist item on a task list. My friends, that comes from a negative place and what it does is it produces negative thoughts and results. Which is definitely like a hundred percent not what you want when you're doing the work for the express purpose of being more positive and having better results in your life. I know it's like a little counterproductive. The work of improving your life should be something you love, not something you check off a list because it is just too darn important to be anything less than an endeavor you love to do. So what changed for me? Well, it was a conversation with my own coach that changed how I approached my gratitude practice, and it truly has been a game changer. How? Well before I share, I want you to do one thing for yourself right now. Close your eyes, not if you're driving. If you're driving, don't close your eyes and imagine three of your favorite movies. Okay? You have them. You got them. What is it about movies that evoke emotions for you? Is it the plot? Is it the characters? Is it the chemistry the characters have between themselves? Is it the scenery, the special effects, or is it the soundtrack? Right. It's the soundtrack because music has a way of marking time for us for evoking motion. For evoking emotion, for generating memories. Now, recently my wife and I were driving, we were listening to a station that was playing hits for, I think from the seventies, eighties, and nineties, and the Song Highway to His Danger Zone came on, and we both said that song, Well Forever and always the memory of watching the movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise. It's just they're, they're linked in our memories that. Music, my friends. Music is such a powerful force in our lives and it's a powerful source in our lives for a reason. There is something about the auditory magic that happens in a movie soundtrack. So what changed in my gratitude practice based on my conversation with my coach? Good question. I now set my gratitude practice to movie soundtrack. No brainer, right? Like, how did I not think of this myself? Well, for me, the ones that that work out the best are the ones that don't have words in it. And the ones I like for me are soundtracks that have meaning. They come from move, come from the movies, Gladiator, Brave Heart, and Last to the Mohican, and among others. There's others. But those are the three that I, that I chose the most. And the reason was these songs typically come from movies that have a leading man that's doing what? Best like doing for his leading lady, for the love of his leading lady, for his family, for his friends, for his country. Think of Brave Heart if you've seen it right. The theme there and the love William Wallace had for Meran. Wow. Or in Gladiator where Maximus reunites with his wife and child in heaven after battling, to get back to them. Or in the last of the mohegans when Daniel Day Lewis is running through the forest to save Madeline Stowe's character, right? All of those soundtracks evoke a deep emotion in me. And when I pair that with practicing gratitude, it literally brings me to tears. Now, I'm not sobbing right, but I do, I have a tier or two that drops from my eyes when I pair my gratitude with powerful movie soundtracks. Now I, I get it. It sounds a little woohoo ish okay. And. The one thing we know is that the power of motions and the music that it can evoke in us is a powerful combination. The combination of a movie soundtrack and gratitude practice has literally been a game changer for me because my gratitude practice now evokes emotion in me. It doesn't feel like a task list item anymore. It doesn't feel like homework to me anymore. My mornings literally feel like I'm in a movie doing what I do for the people in my life that I love. Everything that I do is based outta love for them and I'm grateful for it. I don't, I don't write down what I'm grateful for. No, I do it all in my mind, right? It, I can almost see the movie soundtrack. With images of my life going through it. Okay. When I fire up my gratitude playlist, I just say to myself what I'm grateful for. I start with myself and then, and all the things that I'm grateful for about myself, and that's important, right? You have to acknowledge what you're grateful for for yourself. It may take some time for you to get comfortable with that, but it's pretty powerful. Then I moved to my family, and then I moved to my friends. I covered lots of ground and I keep going outward, spinning outward to what I am grateful for in this world and in my c. And when I have exhausted that list, then I move into being grateful for the things that are coming in my life. It's almost like a vision for the goals I am setting, and I'm grateful for the things that I'm going to reach in the future, but I see it as my current self. I imagine my future self as my current self. I see what I have in my life. I see the trips that I'm on. I see the places I'm exploring, the houses that we have, the clothes that, that I'm wearing, the car that I'm driving, the family and friends. I have and the things we get to do together. When I have exhausted that list, I move straight into future me talking to current me and I say, Listen Jay, here's where it's at. Right? My future self gives me such great advice. Future J shares his wisdom with current J. It's weird to be talking to the third person. I get it. He talks about how where I am now is nowhere near where I'm going to end. And it's in this conversation where the current version of myself sees what I have accomplished, what I will accomplish, and what it means for myself and my family when I reach my goals. You wanna talk about fricking powerful. It's amazing. Yes. Woohoo. Hush. It is. I know. And yet it has been so powerful. It's been a powerful switch in how I practice gratitude because it evokes the emotions that get me going. It gives me the fuel to go after my goals now to achieve more and to be the best version of yourself. Not just for you, but for the people in your life, for the people around you, for your future self. This simple yet powerful change in your gratitude practice can make all the difference. I'm excited to see where it takes me. I'm also excited to see where it can take you. I really hope, I really hope that you'll give this a try. Don't be afraid to go find those soundtracks in your life that makes sense to you. The soundtracks that will evoke emotion for you. Do it right now. Start searching for the soundtrack of your own life. Figure out what's important to you. What are you grateful for? How does being grateful for what you have pushed you to achieve your goals? To achieve your dreams? To find nuggets every day that provide you with this unique look and to what it means to be grateful for what you have. I have found this to be so powerful. I want to share it with everyone. I want you to share it with people you know. Spread the word, Find the soundtrack that works for you, encourage others in your life to do the same thing, and begin being grateful for your current life. Be grateful for everything you have in your life. Don't get down the track of compare and despair. You have amazing things in your life, and when you recognize that, when you're grateful for it, it starts to change how you view your life. You have internal wisdom. You just need to harness it. Whew. I'm super passionate today, and I hope you felt that because practicing gratitude on any level is the key to taking your life to the next level. To the next level. All right, before I close out, if you're a fan of Intentionally Curious, please go ahead and click that five star rating on iTunes now and then write a review. Intentionally Curious only grows to each other. Listeners, when awesome humans like you, take the time to rate and review the show, and when you invite others to become a part of our community, you know, we're stronger together than a part. All right, my friends, that's a wrap on this week's episode. And always remember, be willing, be curious, and be intentional. And until next week, keep doing the work. You've got this.