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21Sep

4 Ways to Sneak More Gratitude into Your Day

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Self Care Stress Management
2 Comments

sneak more gratitude into your day

Stress is, unfortunately, inevitable. Deep down, stress is a good thing. It keeps you alive, keeps you safe, and helps prevent unnecessary things from happening, or heightens your senses and reflexes when a life-threatening event occurs. The unfortunate part is that it can also happen routinely, regularly, and chronically. This is when you need something to help you work out of the stress. 

Infusing your day with gratitude is a great place to start, and to help prevent future stress from growing. 

The way gratitude works for managing and reducing stress is by helping shift you out of “stress mode”. Your brain is wired, for all the reasons above, to look out for things that are stressful, or threatening, to you, and that could harm your safety. Once it finds something, it starts to look out for more and more things – no matter how big or small they might be. In today’s world, there is a LOT that can be picked up on as stressful, and this is why you are easily worn down by stress. Your brain becomes fixated on all the things that are stressful/bad/wrong/threatening/negative, and does not notice the things that are joyful/good/easy/working/positive, no matter how big or small. 

This means you could have a day that is full of small (or some big) moments of kindness, joy, thoughtfulness, success, care and more, but your brain has been trained (by itself and nature) to only see and recall the things that didn’t work out and could be threatening to you. 

When I am stressed, I can tell that my thoughts are focusing on the things that are not going the way I wanted them to, the things I am not able to change, and all the things that continue to be difficult. No matter how hard I try, at times, to push myself out of these thoughts and tell myself “you are spiraling into negativity”, it never just pulls me out of the stress. It brings more awareness, but there is still usually more stress to come. Instead, I need something to help bring joy, light, and balance back into my thoughts and outlook. 

Regularly practicing gratitude helps to shift your brain into better balance, training it to also see the things that are good from your day, that otherwise might go unnoticed, but can make a huge difference in your outlook, resilience to stress, stress management, and overall well-being. The hard part is to actually take a step and do the practice, both when you are feeling stressed and when you are feeling less overwhelmed. 

You can set up some set ways to practice gratitude, with journals, meditations, routines, etc. These are wonderful, but, at times, can also seem stressful or “one more thing”. You can also infuse your day with some gratitude practices that help to not only give you the practice, but create a life built around this gratitude, without feeling the pressure.

Here are 4 ways to sneak more gratitude into your day:

  • Dinner Table
    • When you sit down for dinner with yourself, your partner, your roommate, or your family and kids, try using this as an opportunity for gratitude. Take a moment to share 1 thing from your day that you’re grateful for or that went well or that is “working” for you. 
    • This gives some accountability and also creates a conversation that sparks from a place of gratitude. Plus, you might get to share an inspiring story, or learn and listen to one, that might have been forgotten or left out otherwise. 
  • Bedtime (for kids and grown-ups)
    • If you want to end the day with gratitude (something that studies show helps to create a more positive memory when reflecting) , try practicing gratitude when you go to bed, or when you get your kids to bed.
    • As you get into bedtime routine with your kids, have them share one thing that went well or that they are grateful for from their day.
    • You can also share your with your kid, or you can share your when you go to bed, or just make a mental note or jot it down or say it out loud when you go to bed alone. 
  • Morning/Evening Intention
    • You can also use gratitude, in journal or meditation form, as a way to start or end your day with intention. It can become part of your morning or evening routine. It kind of adds this into your usual morning and evening routines, so you are more tuned in and intentional. 
    • Take a few minutes to start your day with gratitude, setting the intention to live your day with gratitude, focusing on what is going well. 
    • You can also end your day, reflecting on what went well, in order to feel more calm and grounded when you end your day, and to let go of stress from the day. 
  • Sticky Note Reminders (when something “good” happens)
    • Another way to keep noticing gratitude is to have reminders near you of the good pieces of your day and life, so you are able to see them and be reminded, even when you forget to have a specific gratitude practice.
    • You can try keeping some sticky notes out, on your desk, dresser, counter, etc, that you can use to write down moments of gratitude or positivity when they happen. You have a really good coffee – write it down. You get great feedback – write it down. Dream job – write it down. Student reaches goal – write it down. You get 5 minutes to yourself – write it down. 
    • Then leave the sticky notes where you will see them and be reminded of all that is going well, especially in those times when all seems against you. Try leaving them on your bathroom mirror, your desk or computer monitor, a dry erase board in your office or classroom, or even in your car (if you use it to get to work). 

Now that you have a few ways to sneak some gratitude into your day, it’s time for you to put it into action. How can you add more gratitude into your day?  Share your favorite gratitude strategy (or the one you plan to start using!) in the comments. 

For more ways to practice gratitude, check out the Gratitude Planner in the SLP Stress Management Shop.

Or sign up below to access the free SLP Toolbox resource library.

Much Love, 

Jessi

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9Aug

5 Myths About Gratitude and Positivity

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Stress Management Uncategorized
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myths about gratitude

Gratitude is not for the faint of heart, overly bubbly, or ignorers of the reality of life. Positivity, especially when there is a pandemic and a lot of resistance to cultural diversity and a ton of changes going on, can seem like a bit of a fluffy, syrupy, overly sweet and sentimental way to not validate someone, dismiss feelings, and ignore what is really going on. It can seem toxic, but it isn’t always so.

Gratitude, true gratitude and positivity, do not ignore the feelings and reality of the situation at hand. They accept it, without trying to change it. They also look at the bigger picture and pull in the pieces of the day, and your life, that are working, that are good and thriving (or simply surviving), and that shine a little brighter. They validate some of the good and positive feelings you are also experiencing, or may be missing from your day.

Here are some common myths and misconceptions that you might have, or may have heard, about gratitude and positivity.

5 Myths About Gratitude:

  • It is weak
    • Heck no. Having gratitude is hard. When your brain is reminding you of how much everything sucks, and you feel that there is nothing good or noteworthy from your day, and that the world is unfair and against you, it can be really, really difficult to shift into a mindset of gratitude. 
    • It is also not just some generational nonsense. Studies have shown that gratitude helps to build resiliency and strengthen your brain, which is tough stuff. So if anything, gratitude is strong and empowering, not weak. 
  • It is toxic
    • Not actual gratitude. Toxic Positivity (and Gratitude) is when you start to ignore or pretend that everything is ok, when it is absolutely not. This kind of thinking is when you turn everything into a good thing, even if , deep down, you are upset and it is a really bad thing. It is a dismissal, rather than an acceptance “AND” gratitude for other pieces. 
    • Actual gratitude is not ignoring the hard things or turning them into something good (again, there is a difference here between toxic and seeing what you learned from something). It is saying that both things exist, even when they are off balance. There are good pieces, sometimes small and minute ones, alongside the tougher, harder parts of life. 
  • It ignores the negative
    • Nope. It acknowledges this part, but your brain is already doing that too. You already know that you are upset, having a hard time and noticing all the things that are going wrong. Gratitude simply says “Hey! Those things suck and these things are also happening. Let’s acknowledge them, too”. 
    • It’s not ignoring the negative, but embracing the other parts. These are the parts that sometimes get pushed aside when there are other, more vocal, louder parts that want you to focus on them. But they are equally, if not more so, important to your well-being and for a full picture and perspective. 
  • It dismisses your feelings
    • Not at all! You are allowed to (and should) feel all your feelings. There really are no “good” or “bad” feelings, and even saying negative vs positive can be misleading. Feelings are feelings. 
    • Noticing more of the things you are grateful for simply shines a light on the things you might be overlooking or dismissing (unintentionally) as “not as important”, because they don’t need to be solved or resolved or “fixed”. Gratitude practices help you to not dismiss, but instead acknowledge all of your feelings. 
  • It doesn’t really do anything
    • Sometimes it sure can feel that way when you’re working on stuff that is not tangible, or when results take awhile to show. Gratitude does do something though and, in fact, it does quite a lot. 
      • Brain: trains it to look at positive, reduces stress
      • Body: reduces stress and stress response in the body as well
      • Mindset and Outlook: builds resiliency, looks at the positive and not just the negative
  • BONUS Myth: It is super trendy
    • Ok, this one is pretty true, but trendy isn’t always a bad thing. Gratitude is really trendy right now, but it is because it works. With an increase in studies and resources, gratitude is easier than ever to learn about, access and understand the benefits of. 
    • You can ignore the trendiness of it, and stick to a tried and true gratitude practice. That way, once the trends die down, you can continue to stick to your Gratitude Practice. 

Here’s the thing, your brain is wired to keep you alive. It is about surviving, not thriving. This part has to be trained and taught. Your brain is going to look for the negative and the things that are going all wrong, and dwell on them, to keep you safe, to alert you and to get you to possibly problem solve or automatically react (think fight, flight, or freeze). It is there to stress you out. Over and over again. It is not the enemy, more like a well-intentioned, over protective friend that creates more chaos and stress in your life. 

You have to train your brain to look at the things that are positive, and from there, you will thrive. 

Now that you know what might have been holding you back, you can start to infuse more of it into your day. 

Need some help getting started? Make sure to check out the gratitude meditations and journal templates in the SLP Toolbox, by subscribing below, or grab the printable (digital with a PDF app) journal “Gratitude Action Plan” available in the SLP Stress Management Shop.

What myth have you heard about gratitude? Share in the comments below!

Much love, 

Jessi

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11May

4 Ways to Practice More Gratitude

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Journal Techniques for SLPs Stress Management
Comments Off on 4 Ways to Practice More Gratitude

practice more gratitude

It can be really easy to find yourself stuck in the mindset of “everything is not working”, or some other variation of it, like “everything is the worst”, “nothing is going right”, “this all sucks”, “why can’t anything go well”. When you start to think this way, your brain kind of feeds on it – unintentionally – which is why it is SO HARD to pull yourself out of this type of funk or shift your mindset. And, since it is really hard to do, without an easy tool to grab and help out, you are likely to continue in this spiral and way of thinking, until you end up stressed out, overwhelmed and burned out. 

When I am stressed out, I notice that the first thing that goes is the acknowledgement of anything that is going well, and instead, my sole focus is on all that is not working, and looking for more things that fit that puzzle and continue to stress me out more. It’s unintentional and automatic, and happens so easily. 

Negativity, such as stress and these negative thoughts, is viewed as a threat by your brain. Your brain has a mission – to keep you safe and out of the way of potential threats, even the non-life-threatening ones, like paperwork, piles of more paperwork, changing policies, impossible schedules, unruly kids (your own and other people’s), annoying coworkers, demanding bosses, and being stuck at home for 24/7/365+. Your brain sees these as a threat and starts to stand guard, which causes you to spiral into stress and negativity, and automatically look for more of these things. It is no wonder those thoughts of “everything is the worst” dominate your brain space. It is an attempt to keep you safe that absolutely backfires. 

The key to pulling yourself out of these thoughts and this spiral into stress is to have an easy to use tool that will help you see all the other pieces of your day – the non-stressful, enjoyable, even good parts that your brain is overlooking, due to the calming, pleasing, peaceful, non-threatening nature of them. 

The way to do this is to practice positivity (not the toxic kind) via gratitude.

Gratitude helps you to shift your thoughts to the things in your day, no matter how small, that are going well. It could be something really big, or something small. Here are a few examples of gratitude:

  • You get to socially distance with your best friend after a year apart and air hug.
  • You get to video call your mom.
  • The person ahead of you pays for your coffee.
  • Your kid listens when you ask them to clean up.
  • You get a reply back from an email that you weren’t expecting. 
  • You have a cancellations (but still get paid) and now have 30 minutes to do something for yourself. 
  • Your coffee was hot when you drank it. 
  • You had a really yummy lunch.
  • The sun came out. 
  • It snowed. 

There are a lot of things that could qualify for this list, but your brain may overlook a lot of them, especially the small ones that make up most of your days, unless you train it to look that way through reflecting via gratitude practices. 

Since this type of thing is much easier said than done, it helps to have a few ways to get you into a routine of gratitude.

Here are 4 Ways to Practice More Gratitude:

  • Journal
    • A gratitude or positivity journal is a great way to train your brain to notice some good things that have happened in your day and life. You can do this by writing down at least 3 things that would be considered positive, went well, you are grateful for, you are thankful for, or that are “working” for you. 
    • These are the opposite of what your brain usually focuses on, so they might otherwise be overlooked. There is nothing too big or too small to put in your journal. 
    • You can leave it a bullet point list, or elaborate as much as you’d like. 
  • Meditation
    • You can also use gratitude in your meditation practice. Take a seat and get settled. Take a few deep breaths to begin. Then start to think of 3 things that you are grateful for. 
    • If you want to take it further, think of 3 things, then 3 moments from your day, and then 3 people. 
    • If you want, follow it up with a Gratitude Journal Practice.
  • Recall 3 Things
    • You can also verbally recall or state 3 things you are grateful for, rather than writing them down or thinking of them. This adds a little bit of accountability to the practice and solidifies it, making it more real, than just thinking it. 
    • Try finding a person (your partner, kids, friend, family, etc) that you can either say these to or, in a pinch, send a text or voicemail to. And in return, they can send you theirs. 
    • You can also do this around the dinner table, when you head to bed, or when you are getting your kids to bed. 
  • Mental Note
    • Another way to do this, if you want to start slow, or are a little hesitant to meditate, write or share aloud, is to simply make a mental note of your gratitude. 
    • You can do this throughout your day, anytime you need a reminder or have something you are grateful for. 
    • You can also do this right when you go to bed or wake up, or even at the start or end of the work day. 
    • Just think of the things you’re grateful for, make a mental note, and you are finished. 

For more gratitude practices, make sure to sign up below for the SLP Toolbox, where you’ll find gratitude meditations and journal templates, or purchase the “Gratitude Action Plan Guide” from the SLP Stress Management Shop.

practice more gratitude

Now that you have a few strategies to start practicing gratitude, it’s your turn to put it into action! Leave a comment below sharing which strategy you are going to start implementing, or already use, in your day. 

Much Love, 

Jessi

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30Nov

Gratitude Journaling for SLP Stress with Marie Muratalla: SLP Stress Management Podcast

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Journal Techniques for SLPs Podcast Stress Management
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gratitude journaling for SLP Stress

Stress and overwhelm are some of the main reasons that so many SLPs are leaving their current job setting or leaving the field entirely. As an SLPs, you have more than likely experienced some level of stress, and perhaps have either contemplated leaving or have made the leap and left, with no other option to combat your stress.

This stress seems to build and build, getting worse as you stay where you are, or can even seem to follow you to the new job. One of the reasons is that you brain will try to stay stuck in “stress-mode” looking for more and more things that are stressful, negative and, overall, not working. And once you start looking for these, you end up staying stuck in this mode, what we call the “Cycle of Stress” in the SLP Stress Management Course.

There are a lot of different ways to help reduce stress, bring you out of the constant searching for it, and give you some relief. These practices are things that can help you to rewire the stress response (make it so you aren’t as affected by the stress around you) and shift your brain’s focus away from looking for stress (and to notice some other things). One of the simplest, and most concrete, ways is to have a gratitude journal practice.

Gratitude Journals help you to train your brain to see what is working for you and the positive pieces of your day, instead of being fixated on the things that are not going well or that are stressful.

Gratitude journaling for SLP stress can be as simple as writing down 3 things that are going well for you that day. It could be something like bullet points.

For example:

  • I am grateful for my hot coffee
  • I am grateful for talking to my mom
  • I am grateful for snuggles from my dog

Or it could be something more elaborate:

I am grateful for my hot coffee today. I was able to find a few moments of quiet to sip on my coffee and reflect on my intentions for the day, before having to get to work or help anyone else get ready for the day. It was the perfect temperature and really helped me ease into my day.

Your gratitude doesn’t have to negate the stressful things, or be the opposite of them (aka I am grateful for my hot coffee, because usually it is cold by the time I drink it) or be in spite of it ( I am grateful for my job, no matter how stressful, because at least I have one and get paid regularly. It could be worse. I need to smile and see the bright side. This is bordering on toxic positivity).

If you need some help getting started with gratitude journaling for SLP stress, there are some really great journals, including the one from my latest podcast guest, Marie Muratalla, on her site, Thank Morris.

Here is a little more about Marie:

“Hello & Welcome! I’m Marie, although some call me Morris. I am an adventurer, speech therapizer (in a preschool setting), magic seeker, and comedy improv-er. Oh! Also, I like to sing, play piano, take photos, and cook healthy meals (and that’s not all). Yes, I wear many hats throughout my days and I wouldn’t change a single thing. In fact, I tend to gladly add to the list as exciting things come my way. This site is a way for me to bring some areas from my world together as I share the things I find magical with you.”

In the episode, we talk about things like:

  • Maries’ journey with journaling
  • Marie’s experience with stress in grad school and how she found support
  • How to start and keep going with a daily gratitude journal practice
  • Prompts to use for your journaling practice
  • The practice of ongoing gratitude for stress management
  • The “Say Thanks More” movement and journal

You can tune in below, or in your favorite app, or at the SLP Stress Management Podcast page.

If you are looking for more ways to manage stress, make sure to sign up for the free resources in the SLP Toolbox (such as meditations audios, mindful movement audios, journal templates and more). You can subscribe to this free resource below.

And if you are ready to dive deeper into your stress management, you can check out the SLP Stress Management Course, enrolling now.

Much Love,

Jessi

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23Nov

How to Use Gratitude to Reduce Stress as an SLP: Mindfulness Meditation for SLPs

Posted by: Jessi Andricks Categories: Gratitude Stress Management
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gratitude to reduce stress as an SLP

As an SLP, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed on a regular day. When things like schedule changes, a rush to finish work, and the indecision of whether or not to bring work home with you, all come into play before (and during) a break or change in your routine, it can increase the stress. (And being in a global pandemic in 2020 just adds to it that much more). It can make you want to climb under the covers and stay there, ignoring your work completely and the stress around it.

And stress can absolutely suck the joy right out of your work and your chosen career.

One thing that has been shown to help reduce stress and bring you back to a place of passion, joy and calm, time and time again, in study after study, is gratitude. Brene Brown talks about the power of gratitude in her research on vulnerability and wholehearted living.

Gratitude is the act of remembering and reflecting on the things that are going well, the tings that you are grateful for, and/or the things that you are thankful for. It is a way to shift your brain to notice these things, rather than take the easy route (which your brain is wired to do) and look at all that is not working or going well. It retrains your brain to focus on the things you are grateful for, even when things are hard.

Your brain is automatically going to be on the lookout for things that are threatening and not going well, and then will get stuck in a cycle of looking for more and more of these things, in order to protect you. This cycle, called the “Cycle of Stress”, and how to get out of it, is what we talk about in the SLP Stress Management Course. Gratitude is one of the ways that you shift out of the negative loop the cycle gets stuck in, because it helps you to see the positive things that your brain is trying to ignore.

According to Harvard Health, gratitude is “a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness.“

There are many ways to practice gratitude, ranging from simple to more complex and time-consuming. Since time is already one of the things that can add to your stress as an SLP, here are a few basic ways to bring more gratitude into your daily routine.

How to use gratitude to reduce stress as an SLP (and human):

  • Gratitude journal: list 3-5 things you are grateful for each day
  • Gratitude Meditation: mediate and reflect on the things you are grateful for (you can download an FREE gratitude meditation audio in the SLP Toolbox)
  • Grateful thoughts: mentally reflect when you wake up or when you are going to bed on things you are grateful for (this can be great for helping you fall asleep)
  • Gratitude together: share 1-3 things you are grateful for each night with your family/friends/loved ones (maybe send a nightly text to your BFF, share around the dinner table, or reflect while you are doing nighttime routines with your kids).

Gratitude can be a simple but powerful way to bring more joy into your day, and to diffuse the stress you feel even when the stressors and uncertainty are still there. It teaches you not to ignore the stress, but to also see the positive, joyful aspects of your day.

If you are looking for a guided way to start your gratitude practice, and reap the benefits or meditation, you can find a guided gratitude practice in the SLP Toolbox, a FREE resource library to help SLPs reduce and manage stress. You can subscribe to this resource below:

And if you are ready to learn more about gratitude, breaking free of the “Cycle of Stress”, and even more ways to realistically manage and reduce your SLP stress, make sure to check out the SLP Stress Management Course, now available as a Self-Study program.

Much Love,

Jessi

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