10. Grateful for Speech

In the last episode, we were talking together about developing a positive mindset. I know I mentioned Dr. Seligman, and I’m going to again. He’s known as the father of positive psychology and he’s done extensive research on the nature of happiness and well-being. I personally think that we overlook how to help people, and especially moms develop better senses of well-being. We are used to taking care of everyone and making sure everyone is secure and happy. But it’s really hard to do that if we are pouring from an empty vessel. So while I LOVE self-care and I could talk about self-care for moms for DAYS, this episode is going to focus on self-care in a little bit of a different way. These ways are sure to fill your cup so all of your goodness can flow out into the people all around you without you ever coming up empty. 

The first exercise I’m going to talk with you today about is something called a gratitude visit. Dr. Seligman describes this basically as writing a physical letter of gratitude to someone you haven’t thanked before. I’ll link a video for more information about exactly how to do this in the show notes.  It really doesn’t matter if you end up sending the letter or not. I’ve done this exercise several times. And I’ve actually written to people that are no longer living, like one of my grandmas. 

The gratitude visit can be incredibly powerful to do with a person that has been a part of your or your child’s life. Maybe there is a therapist that you’ve really connected with. Or it could be a doctor, grandparent, or teacher. It can blow you away when you start to see the abundance of people stepping into your life to help to love and support your child.   

The second exercise I wanted to tell you about is known as 3 good things in life. To do this exercise, pick a specific time of day to consistently spend a few minutes focusing on three good things that have happened to you that day. As you do this, you’ll begin to notice your mindset slowly changing. Recognizing the good and focusing on it helps you to see it more quickly and experience it more fully instead of pushing it away and not recognizing how wonderful it is.