Radical Gratitude

Challenging times.  

Scary even.

I am learning a new tool to help us in these challenging times.

Radical Gratitude.

The practice of Radical Gratitude or RAD GRAD will help you to feel better.

Life will always throw us challenges and some of those will be painful.

We cannot escape those.  It is part of our shared human experience.

But, suffering is optional.

Gratitude is the emotional state that is scientifically proven to lift your mood, to create feelings of happiness and life satisfaction.

Like life mastery, practicing radical gratitude is not a one and done.  

It is a practice.  

Here are the steps of Radical Gratitude:

1. Ground yourself in your current Reality.  Accept your current challenge for what it is no matter how painful. Recognizing this is not where we want to be in the future, it is our current reality.  
2.  Understanding that the world works "for" us not "to" us we know we are getting what we need to evolve to our next level of mastery. Asking ourselves how we can be Radically Grateful for this challenging situation.

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE OF OUR CURRENT REALITY

The practice of Radical Gratitude allows us to ground in our current reality while we pivot towards a new potential. 

Kristin Neff, the author of Compassionate Self defines suffering as Pain x Resistance.

When we resist our current reality, no matter how painful, we suffer.

By grounding ourselves in our current reality we accept that this is where we are.

When I am feeling frustrated with a project I am working on or a relationship, it is usually because I am feeling the world should be different than it is!  

Byron Katie's seminal book, Loving What Is, tells us that when we argue with reality we always lose, but only 100% of the time.

To the extent we are pushing against or resisting our current reality, we suffer.

When we feel this challenge, it is the perfect time to shift into Radical Gratitude.

Shift your thinking from frustration to appreciation by asking yourself, how can I appreciate what is right now?

The Radical Gratitude practice is a riff on Barbara Frederickson's book, Love 2.0 where she shows through research that small micro moments of connectivity that we have throughout the day with strangers (the checker at the grocery store, the mail delivery person, the neighbor you see on walks) are the key to greater joy and happiness in life.  Creating more of those moments creates more joy and love in our community and in our lives.

The practice:

Love 0.0  is self love.

Love 1.0 is your intimate relationships/family.

Love 2.0 is your community

Love 3.0 is called heroic love - encouragement towards others.

Love 8.0 is work love.

Love infinity is world love.

Pick a current challenge you are having.  I will use the corona virus.  My current challenge is I am feeling fearful for my folks who are in their 80's and my uncle who has tested positive and is in the nursing facility where the outbreak started.

Love 0.0 - self love  I am grateful for the 

Love 1.0 - I am grateful for the increased contact with my cousins and my folks.  I am grateful that I can send them healing energy and love and be more conscious of them in my life. I am grateful that my folks are healthy and my wife and child are healthy.  I am grateful my uncle is showing very mild symptoms.

Love 2.0 - My community is virtual due to the virus so I am grateful for zoom and it's platform which allows my son to have his teacher conference while we sat in front of our living room fireplace at home.  I am grateful for the sweet Facebook posts my connections are posting.

Love 3.0 - I am grateful that I can encourage my tribe, my family and friends to practice radical gratitude to help them feel better in these challenging times.

Love 8.0 - I am grateful that the virus  provides me with a great deal of reading and writing time.  And I  am very grateful that I can coach from my phone and video platforms while recognizing that other work is not so portable.

Love infinity - I am thankful for Amazon prime who is delivering me books that I am devouring each day.  I am thankful for all the grocery stores and the restaurants who are adapting and I am thankful for the woods near my house. I am thankful for the nurses, doctors and firefighters who are caring for the people in our community who are most in need.

Now, it's your turn.  

Pick a current challenge.  And go through the gratitude steps outlined above. 

I am feeling your love shine through.

Thank you.

Sending you a virtual hug.  

Shannon