Gratitude.mp4

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Play, download and edit the free video Gratitude.mp4.

Over the past month, we have been focused on navigating our way through the more difficult times in our relationships—--holding each other accountable, having difficult conversations, managing our anger, and resolving conflict.

And now, as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the character strength of GRATITUDE. As we talk about a lot in the RCI, adversity is a big part of life. And the past 4 weeks of the RCI have highlighted that a lot of that adversity involves the people we care so much---our family, co-workers and teams.

But this week, we are talking about gratitude—--affirming the goodness in others and in life.

People often use the word grateful and thankful interchangeably, but our understanding of the difference is that “thankful” is a feeling, and “grateful” involves taking action.

There are a lot of things that we tend to be thankful for if we slow down enough---having food to eat, clean water to drink, shelter to sleep under—but also for a beautiful sunset shared with a loved one, a favor done by a friend, or even for a stranger holding the door open for us. These are just a few examples, but if we look around there are countless people and things we can be thankful for.

A key component to gratitude, though, is taking time out to take to notice---and then respond.

Gratitude is 1 of positive psychology's 24 character strengths. As with all character strengths, gratitude comes more naturally to some people than others.

Back in 2017, I did some research into this topic with fellow positive psychologist, Scott Barry Kaufman. It's important to share that we learned that of all the character strengths, gratitude was THE most highly correlated with well-being....

And there's much more to share on the power of gratitude. It is linked to feeling more energized and alert, reduced stress depression and anxiety---and even improved cardiovascular health. Overall, both physical and mental well-being benefit when we do things that increase our gratitude. And as it pertains directly to the RCI, gratitude is a key driver of resilience.

It also goes a long way in building our relationships. Gratitude, above all, is in part a mindset—--and like other mindsets that we have talked about in the RCI, it can be trained and developed.

So the question is: what can we do to make ourselves more grateful? That is one of the things we're focusing on this and next week.

Before we address that, though, let's start with the reality that unless it is a top strength of yours, if you don't work on strengthening your gratitude---your default setting is to think about the more negative side of things in life.

People can be really different when it comes to gratitude—how they offer it and how they respond to it. Some people don’t expect or even really need a pat on the back to be engaged and passionate about what they are doing. But as leaders, it’s important to recognize people's effort. Because for some people, they really need to feel valued to do their best work.

As we lead others, recognizing the frequency, the depth, and timing of expressing gratitude can also be important. I encourage you to know, down to the individual level, if someone needs consistent feedback of appreciation --and what kind? For example, one person might value a meaningful and well-thought out note—--but someone else might appreciate a gift card to a favorite coffee shop.

A final thought before closing out. The US Army cares a lot about resilience in soldiers. One of the ways they encourage that is by teaching soldiers to hunt the good stuff. At the end of every day, for 21 straight days, write down 3 things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. It is proven to improve well-being and resilience for up to 6 months. So let's have a great week learning about the power of gratitude and how to tap into its power in your life!

Download, play and edit free videos and free audios from Gratitude.mp4 using RedcoolMedia.net web apps