The M.A.P. Maker

Irritation-b-gone ("I'm fortunate that____.")

Do you ever find yourself wasting energy getting irritated at small things that don't really matter. I sure do. I don't even want to think about the cumulative hours and hours I have spent over the course of my life being steamed about things that weren't important in the greater scheme of things.

That kind of irritation is a needless energy drain in our lives. It accomplishes little, and only serves to make us feel bad, angry, like victims, etc.

The good news is that it's something that is easily remedied (or at least drastically reduced). How? Shift your perspective with a simple observation..."I'm fortunate that_______."

Let's say your internet is down and you're on the phone with tech support trying to figure out what the problem is. It took the person "helping" you ten minutes to spell your name right so they could find you in their system to begin with. Now that they have, they seem more clueless than you are about what the problem is. You have the company's entire repertoire of on-hold music memorized. Worse yet, they interrupt the hold music every ten seconds with an ad trying to sell you more of their services. 

It's easy to get wrapped up in what's irritating about that, in how the experience you're having differs from your expectations, and how it's keeping you from doing what you'd rather be doing with your day.

But then you break out the magic perspective shifting question. "How am I fortunate?" Try to make the answer relate to your source of irritation if you can.

For example, "I'm fortunate that I have an internet connection to begin with. Many people don't. I'm fortunate that I have this computer. Many people don't. I'm fortunate that this is one of my big problems today. Many people are trying to figure out where their child's next meal is going to come from." Or my favorite, "I'm fortunate that I have all this time on hold to think about how I'm fortunate." ;-)

This approach won't magically make all the irritation in your life go away, but if you make it a habit, you might just be surprised at how much of an impact it can make.

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Get 25% happier with gratitude

What if there were a way to get 25% happier in your life. Would you want to try it out?

According to Alvaro Fernandez, author of Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, it's a simple matter of gratitude. In an interview over on  The Huffington Post, he shares three key points from his book...

First, the practice of gratitude can increase happiness levels by around 25%. Second, this is not hard to achieve - a few hours writing a gratitude journal over 3 weeks can create an effect that lasts 6 months if not more. Third, that cultivating gratitude brings other health effects, such as longer and better quality sleep time.

He offers some suggestions on how to cultivate gratitude...

The most common method we use in our research is to ask people to keep a "Gratitude Journal" where you write something you feel grateful for. Doing so 4 times a week, for as little as 3 weeks, is often enough to create a meaningful difference in one's level of happiness. Another exercise is to write a "Gratitude Letter" to a person who has exerted a positive influence on one's life but whom we have not properly thanked in the past, and then to meet that person and read the letter to them face to face.

And talks a little bit about the findings and where they come from...

The benefits seem to be very similar using both methods in terms of enhanced happiness, health and wellbeing. Most of the outcomes are self-reported, but there is an increasing emphasis on measuring objective data such as cortisol and stress levels, heart rate variability, and even brain activation patterns. The work of Richard Davidson is exemplary in that respect, showing how mindfulness practice can rewire some activation patterns in the frontal lobes.

All in all, it's a fascinating interview, and worth the read.

(Need more prompting for gratitude exploration? Zip on back to my post with 15 gratitude prompting questions.)

 

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

15 questions to prompt your gratitude

Here in the US, it's Thanksgiving day, and that's a great reminder to really stop and ask, "What am I thankful for?"

Studies on actively engaging in gratitude have shown that it has an enormously positive effect on our lives. Yet in the go-go bustle of our day-to-day activities, and the pressures and stress of modern life, it's easy to lose touch with it.

With that in mind, here are some questions to help prompt your thankful thoughts...

1. Who do I appreciate?

2. How am I fortunate?

3. What material possessions am I thankful for?

4. What abilities do I have that I'm grateful for?

5. What about my surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) am I thankful for?

6. What experiences have I had that I am grateful for?

7. What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that I am  grateful for?

8. What opportunities do I have that I am thankful for?

9. What have others in my life done that I am thankful for?

10. What have others done that I am benefiting from in my life (even if I don't know who those people are)?

11. What relationships am I thankful for?

12. What am I taking for granted that, if I stop to think about it, I am grateful for?

13. What is there about the challenges/difficulties I have experienced (or am currently experiencing) that I can be thankful for? (e.g., What have I learned? How have I grown?)

14. What is different today than it was a year ago that I'm thankful for?

15. What insights have I gained that I am grateful for?

These questions are a great start, but don't stop there. Come up with your own questions. Brainstorm as many gratitude-prompting questions as you can think of. Then, instead of sitting down with a gratitude journal and thinking, "OK, what am I grateful for," pick one of the questions and explore that.

By the time you finish all the questions, you'll have a really deep picture of the gratitude in your life. You'll also have a great resource to go back through on those days when you're feeling a bit bah humbug.

What other gratitude prompting questions come to mind? Post them here!

 

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM