Throughout history there are some amazing minds who have said that everything is energy… life force. And if we focus on that, instead of the physical world we see, life would be much different. When I think about this, I always go back to gratitude, which I believe is a very polarizing force of energy.
I was lucky enough to sit down with my great friend John Assaraf a few weeks ago and even though only an hour or so had passed, it felt like we talked about everything under the sun. I poured everything I had into the conversation. So why did I leave the conversation feeling full of energy, rather than tired from just expelling so much energy? It’s like that friend or colleague that you spend time with and leave feeling like the Energizer bunny.
Positive force emotions, like gratitude, fill our cup, so to speak. That “full” feeling radiates out of us and acts like energy. It becomes its own entity in a way, and causes us to say positive things, feel positive emotions, and even take action based on those. Maybe we grab coffee and pay for the person behind us, or we text in our group chat and let our friends know how thankful we are for them. Maybe we pour some extra attention into our spouse and offer to make their favorite meal… and this trickle down effect continues until our cup isn’t overflowing anymore.
My life changed tremendously when I learned that I didn’t need others or those conversations to overflow my cup – that I have that capacity within myself too. Now, don’t get me wrong, I live for those amazing conversations and connections! Yet, that’s not the only way to get filled up. And if you think about it, it’s actually much more consistent and healthy to fill your own cup.
So – when we think about gratitude as energy, moving through our body and out into the world around us, it becomes somewhat of a superpower we’re all yielding yet not necessarily using. I’d like to change that because I want you to become Change Proof. We’ll come back to that, but let me tell you a story.
Putting Things In Motion
I remember watching an old video from a seminar – must’ve been at least 8 or so years ago but it has always stuck with me. The speaker in the video brings a woman on stage and asks her what problem he can solve for her right in that moment. She tells the speaker she hates her job, that it’s making her miserable and pouring over into her home life, and that she would do anything to be happy. The speaker, intrigued at this point, asks her, “Anything?” as he raises his brow to the audience. She repeats his ‘anything’ adamantly.
The speaker runs to the back of the stage, grabs a mirror, brings it in front of the woman and asks her again, “You’ll do anything to solve this right now? You’re ready for a solution?” Again the woman declares that she is ready and willing to do anything to solve this problem. He holds the mirror in front of her face and gives her the following, very specific, instructions, “Every single morning when you wake up, I want you to go to your mirror, look yourself in the eye, and declare I LOVE MY JOB. It’s the best job, it supports my family, it keeps a roof over my head and food in my mouth. And every single evening, I want you to repeat the same thing.” The woman, so shocked by the speaker’s instructions, physically took a step back and stared in disbelief. Obviously, his solution wasn’t close to what she was expecting based on her reaction.
Gratitude Creates Space for Pivots
What’s at work here is that when we are grateful and practice intentional gratitude every day (or even PRE-visional gratitude as I sometimes talk about in my keynotes), it has the power to change our thoughts, our perception and our reality. Solutions and pivots come in many different packages and we might miss out if we aren’t open to change. Yet, being open to change is counterintuitive to our human nature. We hate uncertainty and our brains hate change, as John Assaraf reminded me during our conversation that I mentioned. But just like using gratitude to pivot, we can do the same to build up resilience and to learn how to use change to grow.
Earning Your Emblem (Picture me with a big ‘C’ on my chest, like Superman!)
Becoming a Change Proof superhero means every single day you are intentional about filling your own cup. It means, like the speaker in the video, you are willing to pivot and open to solutions. It means you are practicing intentional gratitude for every blessing in your life and creating vision around the blessings you want to come your way. High energy emotions, like gratitude, are your hidden superpower, able to shift your thoughts, perception, mood, day, week, month, year and reality.
Do the work with me: Take a deep breath, place your hand over your heart, imagine 3 things you are thankful for in this moment. Repeat to yourself a quick mantra: I am thankful for ______, I am thankful for ________, I am thankful for ________. It is this simple to make declarations about your life and then, you get to watch them come true. How super is that?!
