Gratitude!
Are you a negative person? Do you feed off of water cooler gossip? Is today’s economic crisis fuel for your soul? It sounds bazaar doesn’t it? That people may actually enjoy being negative, thrive in negative environments and recruit to their cause. It seems bazaar to me! You may not view yourself as one of these types….but are you?
Even if we are mentally on the up and up, in heavy times…. we can get down. The solution lies in gratitude and I can’t think of a better month for it. So take a moment and turn down the volume of life, ignore the headlines, disregard breaking news and FOCUS, if just for a moment on what you can be grateful for. Take a look at your life….STOP, did you go to the negative first? Try again, you have a roof over your head, that is a start. You are reading this email so….you either have a computer or know someone that does! I bet you even have a full stomach or are planning your next fast food assault on it. Think of your children….maybe they are playing in the seasonable weather, maybe they are sleeping upstairs, maybe the smartest in the class, maybe not… what they are is amazing.. be grateful.
My point is simple we get caught up in “life” more often than not, we react to it. Take pause and soak it up, I guarantee it’s better than you think. If you are passing this off as a cliché, sappy and from the soap box Thanksgiving letter…..stop reading, I thought I left all of you back in the first paragraph. Here comes my challenge, try STOPPING negativity at the very first sign. What does that sound like? “I have an issue!” STOP “Why does this always…” STOP. Start taking responsibility for negative behavior, by allowing it, YOU are part of it.
This “Aha” hit me last week when I noticed that I allowed a certain amount of negativity in my life. THOSE DAYS ARE GONE! So if you enjoyed blowing off some steam, explaining why you can’t or doing your very best to drag me down, from this day forward you will come barking up the wrong tree. I’m not interested in your belly-aching and honestly I’m hurting them by allowing it to continue. So this is the solution!
Write down 25 things you can be grateful for today! Read it every morning and consider that your daily dose of mental accountability. You don’t want to be a victim do you? Do you want to enable your friends and families victim mentality? By forcing yourself to write down 25 things you are grateful for you just took a great step towards changing your life. Think without limits……take away the comfort of excuses….then and only then can you change your life.
Sincerely,
Brett Boettge – KWTL Madison Crossroads
NOVEMBER 411
Contacts Made:300
Appointments Set: 32
New Appointments Had:20
Second Appointments Had:12
Cappers IN:2
Cappers OUT:0
Half Cappers IN:2
Half Cappers OUT:0
Thank you for such a timely post. I too have been taking this month to reflect upon the things that I am grateful for in my life. I agree that simply maintaining a positive mindset, especially in the face of adversity, can work immediate wonders on one’s wellbeing. In fact, stress and negative emotions are associated with poor physical outcomes such as heart disease and poor immune function. It is inspiring to hear that your days of negativity are gone. My question is, how would you advise beginning this endeavor? In theory, a change in outlook seems to be fairly undemanding, but I fear a dramatic shift from general pessimism to a life defined by optimism is more difficult than you make it sound. What specific steps would you recommend to “start taking responsibility for negative behavior?”
I have become increasingly interested in the positive psychology movement and recently read a study by Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough concerning the concept of gratitude journals. Their research examines the long term effects of gratitude on health and wellbeing. In their experimental study, they found that participants who kept a daily “gratitude journal” engaged in healthier behaviors and felt more optimistic than those who recorded daily hassles or even neutral events. Your last suggestion, “write down 25 things you can be grateful for today! Read it every morning and consider that your daily dose of mental accountability” seems to resemble this idea. Do you think keeping a journal as Emmons and McCullough suggest is sufficient for cultivating gratitude or would you practice additional exercises?
Lauren-
Thank you so much for the comment! Responding to negativity, projecting negativity are all behaviors that we can unlearn and it is just as simple as I make it sound. It is a choice. We cannot control how life happens to us, what we can control is how we perceive and react to it. Like most things… they are simple.. not easy. Your committment to change your behavior has to be far greater than that temptation to be complacent.
Gratitude is one way to increase mental accountability and a crucial step on the road to a mindset of proactive accountability. Another great exercise is to write down something that seems wildly out of reach. Instead of dismissing that as “it could never happen”, start asking yourself “Who can help you get there?” For example I want to go to Australia in 2 weeks for 7 days. It is human nature to first think “THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE!”…. again the challenge is to think “How it is!” and “Who can help me.”
So what in the past have you thought was out of reach? What have you never even entertained the thought of because you decided it just wasn’t possible. Take 30 minutes write them down and create a list of 20 reasons how you could make the impossible… possible. Creating that habit will also help decrease a negative mindset while cultivating one of proactive accountability. Think without limits.. thanks again Lauren!!
Hello My Friend! Thanks to you, I was able to travel to my favorite retreat destination, relax, and reflect upon my life, career, and family. I had not vacationed in 2 years because of my business. My business was running me instead of me running my business.
When you and I discussed moving to the next leveI, I truly questioned adding a buyer agent to the Baker Realty Group, but with your leadership and direction, the decision to add Victoria Murray to the Baker Group was priceless. Vicki’s addition gave me the ability and comfort to escape and live out my passion of scuba diving in the Virgin Islands. I was able to spend 10 days diving on one of the most beautiful reef formation in the world and nothing is more gratifying than “swimming with the fishes” and I mean Hundreds and thousands of fish, numerous turtles, rays, eels, and yes an occassional shark.
To me there is no greater sensation than being underwater and listening to your bubbles as you exhale from the regulator that you are breathing from. This is a sport where less than 1% of the worlds population can master and have logged close to 500 dives in all kinds of water and at various depths.
I love selling real estate and being associated with Keller Williams, but I would not have the successes that I do if it weren’t for my KW family, and your leadership. Brett, thank you for your support, trust, guidance, and belief in me.
Negativity, Never. ” Lets Rock n Roll”
Bill
I once asked a mentor how to keep daily energy up…? She said “say 5 things you’re grateful for each morning.” That’s great advice and, when I’m feeling pooped or down, it’s a good thing to think about what IS good. Here’s what is good in my life:
-I ate fresh sushi for dinner tonight
-I blew my two year old a kiss this morning as I left for work
-I have a cozy living room where I can retreat to each day
-I am healthy and, so far, have not suffered with any significant diseases
-I have neighbors that I smile at and say “how are you?” to on a regular basis
-I have a dog that kisses my face each morning
-I have a lover that kisses my face each night
-I have buttwarmers in my car
-I have a tulip garden that produces the most beautiful early spring colors
-I drove to Milwaukee today and was touched by the beauty of autumn in WI among the rolling hills of the Kettle Moraine
-I have a career that provides me with great satisfaction AND pays well
-I have a passion for reading that keeps my mind sharp and my imagination alive
-I have a mother who is my best champion and a sister who is my best friend
-I am here, breathing, and enjoying the ride
Graditude????????????
We only need to:
Go to church.
Look at your family.
Choose a career you like.
Look out the window and see the beauty of nature.
Turn on the TV and listen to the news.
Read the newspaper.
Sit down at the dinner table and know you will return again tomorrow.
Go to your closet.
Turn on the heat.
Turn on your lights.
Turn on the faucet.
Walk down the street.
Buy a car.
Buy a house.
Go shopping.
People watch.
Go on vacation, but we always come home.
Take a deep breath.
Talk to someone else.
Vote.
Make a choice.
Graditude? It is the things we take for granted everyday that we should be grateful for, because without them, what do we really have?
Having someone like you with insight, patience and a desire to help others, makes my work world a great place to be.
Blessings,
Judie Czys
Thanks to you all for your insights on gratitude as well as your kind words! Let’s keep the positivity alive, enjoy scuba diving and those little things we take for granted.
One thing you may take for granted is the city you call home. Take a weekend and be a tourist in your own town. Go to your local Country Kitchen and look at all the brochures for events and activities in the foyer. I’m sure there is something for everyone and even if you have done it all…. do it again with different people, the experience is sure to be entirely new.
I did this with my hometown recently and had a renewed passion for the old stomping grounds.
Sincerely,
Brett Boettge