A Little Dash Will Do You!
Hi There,
I’ve employed a ritual over the last dozen years on days when I present “on-stage”. Upon opening my eyes on these high-stakes days, I do a mental check-in and actively express gratitude for feeling healthy and making it to the starting line.
Last Tuesday, for the first time since I began my ritual, I woke up NOT feeling healthy. My eye was terribly irritated and practically swollen closed. My nose was runny and my throat, scratchy. I was exhausted and hadn’t even gotten out of bed yet.
Yikes! This was not a good start to a day when I had to be on-point and razor sharp. I performed my daily habits and practices, deriving zero joy or energy. By the time noon rolled around (workshop minus 3 hours), I was shattered and exhausted! I could now keep neither eye open. Plus, my discomfort made me toxic and ungrateful.
Since I typically preach about the capacity to respond instead of reacting to situations, I decided to deliberately inspire gratitude, hoping to become infected by others’ feelings of good fortune.
At the start of DRIVEN’s virtual experiences, I invite people to “check in”. Depending on the size of the group and time constraints, it may be a verbal sentence, or in this case, a word or words shared in the chat box describing how you’re “entering the space”. I influenced the outcome of this check-in by asking participants, “What has happened this morning that you’re already grateful for?” And a great thing happened: As I read through the responses, I felt my mood lighten, my discomfort dissipate a bit, and my fatigue melt away just enough to deliver powerfully.
After the session, I felt devious and victorious! I’d successfully leveraged emotional contagion. Haven’t heard of this term before? Consider how when someone yawns in your presence, you have the urge to yawn, too. Another example is how when someone smiles at you, there is something sneaky triggered in your neurochemistry that compels you to smile back.
I understand that at this moment in time, there is plenty NOT be happy about. But since we can’t easily change our pandemic situation, we get to choose to have gratitude. And even in the midst of pain, fear, frustration and exhaustion, when you focus on finding something to be grateful for, the options become abundant.
What are you grateful for right now?
Cheers!
-Deborah
Deborah Goldstein
DRIVEN Professionals / Forbes / Linkedin
info@drivenpros.com | LinkedIn
DRIVEN Professionals, 35 Adrienne Lane, Garrison, NY 10524