Your Nervous System Has a Built-In Kill Switch
Is gratitude the key to hitting your year-end goals?
Ahh, November.
It's like the universe’s permission to slow down and get cozy. The days are shorter, the air is crisp (sometimes, anyway, down here in Florida), and there's this collective pause as we gear up for the holidays.
HAHAHA… I didn’t mean this universe, silly. But perhaps an alternative one?
For at least as long as I’ve been in the working world – and probably decades longer than that – business owners and high achievers don’t feel "permission to pause" as much as they feel “pressure to perform”.
There are Q4 goals to hit, Q1 targets to plan, last second scrambles to implement those flash-of-insight ideas…
By the way, are you hosting Thanksgiving dinner this week, or bringing a dish? Here’s your reminder to do your last-second grocery shopping today, because the stores will be closed tomorrow.
You gotta love the irony that the month Americans are supposed to focus on gratitude is often a month where people are too busy and preoccupied to actually feel grateful.
But… there’s always a but! And it’s fantastic, fascinating news:
Gratitude and stress can't coexist in our nervous system at the same time.
It's like trying to feel pissed off while petting a kitten.
And I know it might sound kind of weird, so let’s do an experiment.
Think about the last time you felt truly grateful. Maybe it was after landing a dream client, or watching your kid's face light up, or even just feeling all gluey as you sank into bed after a long day.
Remember how your whole body felt more relaxed? How breathing felt easy - so easy, you may not have thought about it until I mentioned it?
That's because gratitude and breath are natural partners. When we're grateful, our breathing naturally slows and deepens. And that’s just one thing that changes when you turn your attention to feeling thankful.
Gratitude has a number of measurable effects on both our mind and body. It can lead to all sorts of benefits like:
Reduced inflammation and diastolic blood pressure.
Better quality sleep – falling asleep faster, and staying asleep longer.
Fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.
Increased production of dopamine and serotonin, the “feel good” neurotransmitters.
And we’re not even accounting for how gratitude improves your relationships, which has a bunch of cascading effects on the day-to-day quality of your life.
Having said all that… don’t you freakin’ want some?!?
To guzzle gratitude down, or at least splash a bit of it on, like cologne or perfume… or Windex if you were the grandfather in The Lost Boys (still the best vampire movie of all time)?
Well, it’s an intangible thing, so we can’t… but we can reverse engineer to get the impact.
By mindfully controlling our breath while focusing on gratitude, we can amplify its benefits and create a powerful feedback loop between our mind, body, and heart.
(Yeah, another benefit of gratitude is that it brings your heart in sync with your breath faster to create resonance, which we talked about a few weeks ago.)
Ready to try it?
Here’s a breathing technique I shared with my Breathing & Balance Hub members earlier this month. (I bet you didn’t know I have a membership - I promise to tell you more about it soon.)
It’s a simple but powerful practice I call “Gratitude Breathing”.
Maybe try it tomorrow before the entire family shows up to destroy your calm? Or after a gluttonous dinner. I can’t think of a better way to digest that doesn’t involve a coma.
Gratitude Breathing
1. Sit down, get comfortable, close your eyes. This is a breath to spend a few minutes focusing on. I recommend NOT doing it on the go.
2. Put one hand on your heart. Do it! I don’t care if it makes you feel like a self-conscious weirdo – it will help you get into the zone faster. There really is something to the whole mind-body connection and touching your heart while you do this.
3. Take a slow, full breath all the way down into your abdomen for 6 counts, focusing on your feeling your heart expand as it receives fresh oxygen. As you inhale, think "I'm deeply grateful for [identify some specific thing here].”
4. Exhale slowly for 6 counts. Imagine that gratitude flowing from your heart throughout your entire body, through your entire circulatory system, from your head to your toes.
5. Repeat as many times as you’d like. Spend a few breaths focused on one thing, or feel free to think of different things you’re grateful for with each breath. Do what feels right for you – there are no hard rules here.
By the way… this isn’t just for Thanksgiving.
You can do this one anytime you’d like to shift your state. Or if you want to maximize the health benefits of gratitude (who could blame you?), then consider adding it to your morning or bedtime routine.
Speaking of gratitude, I'm genuinely grateful for YOU – for being in my world, for trusting me with your wellness, and for doing the work to take care of yourself.
It's not always easy to prioritize well-being, especially during busy seasons, but you're here, reading this, maybe about to try Gratitude Breathing – and that matters. The ripple effect is strong.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not. Keep breathing!
Last Gasp
It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.
~ David Steindl-Rast