€¦ · web viewrevolution is a big word and our best definition is that it’s a fundamental...

CAROL ADAMSKI

Month 11, Week 4

Speaker, Life & Professional Coach GratitudeHabitat.com, CarolAdamski.com

Gratitude: Be Prepared To Be Amazed

[These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The information on this audiocast is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.]

[Theme song playing]

Robyn:Hello and welcome to month 11 of the Self-Care Revolution, where we have done a deep dive into the subject, theme and beautiful topic of the Power of Gratitude. We are with our final speaker of the month, Carol Adamski. Thanks for being here.

Carol: You’re welcome. I’m happy to be here Robyn. Thank you.

Robyn:All the way from Chicago today. We’re thrilled. For all of you, many of whom are joining us for the very first time. My name is Robyn Benson and I’m a doctor of Oriental medicine, the Founder of Santa Fe Soul Health and Healing Center and Co-Creator of the Self-Care Revolution. I’m also joined today by…

Kevin: Kevin Snow, co-host of the Self-Care Revolution, an intuitive counselor here at Santa Fe Soul and I’m also known as the Desert Shaman. It’s a beautiful sunny winter day. I’m grateful and happy to be here, and grateful for this entire month of gratitude.

Robyn:Yes. Again, for all of you joining for the first time, the big why of the Self-Care Revolution. Revolution is a big word and our best definition is that it’s a fundamental change in mindset about your self-care and how you take care of yourself in everyday life, knowing that we’re living in interesting, challenging and exciting times. When it comes to health there are so many major issues out there that we see on a major day-to-day basis that can be prevented and certainly reversed.

We all are here to live a fun fulfilled and engaged purposeful life and practicing self-care each and everyday can certainly make a difference. Gratitude is just another piece of it. We’ve gone through very strongly and we’re in our 11 of 12 months with varying themes. We started out with thoughts and food is medicine, exercise and we looked at the idea of how trauma also affects our health.

Kevin: This month, we’re leading into an amazing month of pay-it-forward, so we’re very excited to be leading into our final month this year in 2013 with some amazing interviews scheduled for next year that we’ll hold back for later. Today though, we’re prepared to be amazed.

1www.jointheselfcarerevolution.cominfo@jointheselfcarerevolution.com

Read Our Disclaimer Here

http://www.jointheselfcarerevolution.com/disclaimer/

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.jointheselfcarerevolution.com/

http://www.caroladamski.com/

http://www.gratitudehabitat.com/

Robyn: We sure are. Carol is a dear woman in my life. She is a warm, funny, insightful, powerful leader dedicated to helping others make positive, effective change in their lives. Carol is a speaker, life and professional coach and has led various workshops nationally and internationally on leadership, personal empowerment, inner wisdom, communications, and relationships. With 20 years experience, she has demonstrated strength, compassion and the ability to listen deeply and ask just the right questions. In her retreats and workshops, she creates experiences that are transformative and memorable. Carol’s success began as a top sales person and later as business director of a multi-million dollar corporation.

Regarding gratitude – when Carol was a kid, Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday. Okay, the menu may have had something to do with it. She says as time went on, I realized that appreciating my life, family, friends and work brought a sense of vitality, optimism, hope and abundance. Because of the numerous, powerful effects gratitude has had in my own life, I knew it would have the same positive outcome for others who practiced its gifts in daily life. This desire to share the amazing influence of heartfelt gratefulness led to the creation of GratitudeHabitat.com. Welcome.

Kevin: Welcome.

Carol: I’m happy to be here with you and Kevin. The Self-Care Revolution that you are spearheading, I feel the ripple effect of it in the many speakers that you’ve had. Each, giving us different ways to take responsibility and those are such heavy words but you’re doing it so gently by teaching us and giving us opportunities to make changes. Some being small but I love the tool box that you have and are providing to The Self-Care Revolution.

I’m so happy to add to that tool box along with the others my appreciation of what gratitude can bring to life. One of my favorite quotes – and I am going to read it – is by Sonja Lyubormirsky. She says, “The expression of gratitude is a kind of meta-strategy for choosing happiness.” Meta here means transforming or transformative. She’s a famous researcher about gratitude along with Robert Emmons. I love that she says the expression of gratitude is a life-changing strategy for achieving happiness. So often every religion talks about gratitude. I recently got an investment newsletter and the investment advisor said one of the key ingredients to abundance and a strategy for gaining wealth and maintaining wealth is gratitude.

Everywhere you turn, people are talking about gratitude. Yet what I know is that generally people say oh yeah, yeah sure. However, it is truly a radical practice, a radical expression that can absolutely change our perspective in how we move towards and move forward in life. Gratitude is perspective and it’s an action. It can be developed easily and it can be strengthened easily. That’s the part I like, the easy part. Gratitude again is an action word. It’s not meant to be just felt. It’s meant to be expressed and it comes with awareness, acceptance and, therefore, further expression. We’re talking about giving thanks, thanks giving, living thanks. I’m going to ask both of you and everybody who’s listening to take a moment – is it okay with you if I ask you to do this?

Robyn: Can you say that quote one more time because it was so fabulous.






http://www.GratitudeHabitat.com/

Carol: The expression of gratitude is a kind of meta-strategy for achieving happiness. Here, meta means transformative, transforming. That’s a quote by Sonja Lyubormirsky. She’s a well-known researcher in the area of gratitude. One of the things I’d like to do if you would be willing is to close your eyes for a moment – both you and Kevin and everybody listening – and on a scale from zero to 10, zero being you’re feeling kind of funky and 10 being you’re feeling really great. What number would you give yourself as to where and how you’re feeling right now in this moment?

Kevin: Five.

Robyn: I’m 8.5.

Carol: Excellent, 8.5 and five. Now let that go and close your eyes again and take a breath, and think of something or someone that you’re grateful for, something or someone that has contributed to you or supported you and just get a picture of that in your mind, and open your heart to the gratitude for that person or that thing in your life. Using the same scale of zero to 10, what feelings do you have now?

Kevin: Ten.

Robyn: I’m a 10+.

Carol: Yes! That’s the incredible attitude kind of instance, and as you know in your work, the chemistry in how we feel in our body makes a difference in wellbeing. If I were give five reasons to practice or express gratitude, I would say based on research there are emotional, social, health, career and personality benefits that come with expressing gratitude on a regular basis. Clearly it changes how we feel and done as a regular practice, it changes our perspective in life.

The research shows that emotionally people who practice or express gratitude on a regular basis feel good. They have good feelings. I think that’s enough right there. It’s feeling good, more relaxed and having increased resilience. As we know, we’re going to be up and down in life and the more that we have those tools – and one of them being gratitude – we’re more likely to bounce back.

Also people who practice or express gratitude are less envious because we’re not out there looking at how people are better than us. We’re looking at what’s good in ourselves and what’s good in others. It’s pretty important stuff. Then I could go onto socially. People tend to be kinder. When I ask myself what do I appreciate about myself, the more I ask that question actually the more I see, and actually that doesn’t lead to arrogance. It actually leads to humility.

When I feel as gifted as I am it’s a very humbling thing. Therefore, as I begin to see the goodness in others and I’m grateful for you and Kevin giving me this opportunity for example, and I’m grateful for what my cousins who are treating me to a wonderful vacation in Chicago, I want to be kinder to them. I want to be kinder. I’m noticing what you’re giving me, so of course I want to be kinder and want to give back.

What comes with gratitude – again the expression of it – is increased kindness and more friends. Not all of us want more friends but most of us want to belong. When we start appreciating people, we have 3

www.jointheselfcarerevolution.cominfo@jointheselfcarerevolution.com





a sense of community, a sense of belonging in that circle, a healthier marriage and partnerships, deeper relationships. Sometimes it takes vulnerability and intimacy to express our feelings of gratitude. Clearly, the more that we look for it and express it, the easier it gets to go a little deeper and to be a little more vulnerable. Do you have any comments or thoughts about what I’m saying so far, Kevin and Robyn?

Kevin: We’re just following along.

Robyn: I’m taking notes. When I do a recap of this talk, they’re going to want to listen to it live for sure.

Kevin: Absolutely. Maybe just recap the five points.

Carol: The five points or the benefits of practicing gratitude are:

1. Emotional2.Social3.Health4.Career5.Personality

In terms of health – improved sleep and less apt to become ill. I know you guys can relate to this because it’s all about that self-care, feeling good and having positive chemistry in our bodies. People, who practice live longer, have increased energy and exercise more frequently. That’s always a good one.

In career – increased network, better management skills, improved decision-making, enhanced productivity and creativity. People who express gratitude are more likely to set and achieve goals. I once worked for a small company and the president of the company was big on customer service. His perspective was that our vendors were our customers, as well as our customers and clients. Also the people who we worked with in a sense were customers. When we received our customer service rules and guidelines on how to treat people in this company, one of the things was to set a time every Friday to write tangible thank-you notes.

At first I thought oh that’s going to get boring after a while. It turned out not to be and in fact I looked forward to Fridays. During the week I started noticing the goodness. I said oh I’m going to write them a thank-you note. It spread just goodwill throughout the company and we all left on Friday feeling great about who we were and about what we were doing. Inevitably, some of the clients and customers would say thank you for the thank you – I was glad to receive it. In terms of career, we often don’t think of expressing that kind of gratitude where we work, maybe at Christmas or at bonus time, and there are so many other ways that we can enhance our own work environments through the expression of gratitude.

The last one that the research has shown talks about personality. People who express gratitude are less materialistic. I can get that. They’re less self-centered. They have a heightened self-esteem and are 4






more spiritual. As a coach, I recently worked with a woman was feeling badly about work. She wasn’t sure she wanted to stay there and in order to make a career decision, one of the tasks I asked her to do was to begin to thank people at work or to show gratitude with little gifts or doing extra things.

She still chose to leave the company but I’ve got to tell you it made a huge difference in how she left and, therefore, how she starts her next job. It sounds like a simple task and sometimes people say oh yeah, yeah. It sounds so superficial and yet it’s a radical perspective change that is again simple and easy. I have in these last few months with establishing the GratitudeHabitat.com website become even more profoundly aware of what gratitude can bring to people’s lives. Do you have any questions for me so far or any thoughts or comments as we’re going along?

Kevin: You mentioned the website. Maybe you could share a little bit more about how that came to be. How did this idea materialize for you?

Robyn: I love the title.

Carol: Thanks. I chose habitat – everybody knows Habitat for Humanity, so there’s a marketing recognition there. The reason is because habitat is a place to live from or to live in, and I really think gratitude is a lifestyle. It’s something that you live in, so it’s like thanks living, a place to live from. That’s how I chose it. It’s allowing people to invite people to come to gratitude habitat and to make it their home as a reminder, a place to get educated, a place to purchase gifts and a place to be reminded to go to that place within themselves.

How it came about is that it has been a theme in my whole life. I don’t really know why. It just always came up when I needed it in trials and tribulation and when I hear music. When I’d be out hiking, it always came up. A couple years ago I was meditating and when I was journaling afterwards, it came up that I needed to do something national related to gratitude, and being a teacher it was natural me to want to teach and to give what I know about gratitude, so a website that can be national and international seemed like the obvious place to do it. I learned a lot about online marketing and Facebook and Pinterest as well. We’re on those venues as well spreading the wealth of gratitude.

Robyn: That’s so great. I just want to say that I love the dimensions in which you speak about gratitude and its impact, but it’s so true from personality to career. I find that to be so true in my life. If I’m I a funk for any reason to just think what am I not being grateful for? What am I putting my energy into rather than what’s always to be grateful for? It’s a great practice too. If we do that every day, having gone from a five to a 10 – and I went from an eight to a 10.5, I’m feeling pretty darn good already.

When I did that I was thinking about my 12-year-old daughter. She just makes me smile. I’m going to be picking her up after this call and just how grateful I am for my children, and I just love that switch, that self-care strategy like that. If we did that every day, can you imagine what that would do for you health wise? What’s that doing for your nervous system? Your heart glows when you’re feeling great.

Kevin: I’m going to start saying happy thanks living to people.







Carol: I agree. Yes.

Robyn: I love it. We’re going to spread the good word and we have, let me tell you. We’ve already used this. I would love to take this moment to say to every single one who listens to this recording or hears it in the future, we are so grateful in these 11 months. We have an international audience that have said yes to The Self-Care Revolution that are free members, they’re members, they’re part of this incredible tribe that know that one of the most important revolutions that we can be part of is our own self-care, and we’re grateful for the live event that was put on this year. By the year end, 125 speakers have said yes, just like you Carol.

Carol: Incredible.

Robyn: Yes, and just threading this ripple of change, this gratitude ripple that’s going to be spread in a much greater way because we feel better.

Kevin: Absolutely.

Robyn: We feel better.

Carol: Absolutely. It’s a real wealth. I have another task for you, should you choose to accept. Right now if you can, text or email – and if you can’t, then make a note – someone just simply saying thinking of you, grateful that you’re in my life. It’s very simple. Spontaneously out of nowhere. Go ahead and do that now for a moment. Just say I love having you in my life, thanks for being my friend or my family, looking forward to seeing you or whatever it is just out of nowhere.

On invited people on Facebook to do that last week, to send a text or an email, so I had to send one obviously. I ended up sending more and I sent one to my cousin. I said thank you, every time I think of you I smile, I appreciate you being in my life. It was very simple. Within a minute, I got a text back saying thanks, you made my day. Something as simple as that, there was a moment of connection. That’s the other thing that gratitude does. There’s a moment of connection between two people that opens hearts and puts all the stress aside.

Kevin: That’s beautiful and I really do feel that. I feel that as I sent the text and it really is simple. We do get lost in our busy lives and paying attention to things that maybe in the scheme of things aren’t quite as important as just connecting with people.

Carol: That’s the difference. It’s that instant of sweet, sweet connection.

Kevin: Yes, definitely. I think that one of the directions we often take with gratitude is its connection with living an abundant life. I wonder if you could speak a little bit about what you really believe abundance is and how gratitude can put us in that place of abundance?

Carol: I think that’s a great question, Kevin. I think abundance is seeing the wealth that we already have, and seeing the wealth that we already have, as most of us have heard, what you focus on expands, which goes along with the Law of Attraction. What you put out comes back, like attracts like. 6






It’s the beginning of abundance in that the more we’re grateful for what we have, the more that we will see to be grateful for.

Then as we feel good with that, we’re more likely to be more productive people, but who wants to give anything to a crank? When we have a grateful spirit we’re more likely to have friends who are generous and we’re more likely to be generous, and it starts this whole chain event of attracting more, having more and seeing more. There’s the old saying if you decide to buy a Ford Fiesta, you begin to see Fords everywhere. All the sudden they’re everywhere. It’s the same thing if you decide to see that life is black. Your antenna goes up and you say oh there’s a jerk, that doesn’t work, my life doesn’t work. It’s like we put out these antennas. If we decide to see the goodness in life, our antenna goes up and we say wow that’s really cool, wow. Then all the sudden we do feel like we have an abundant life.

There’s a story of Nazra Dean, a famous or well-known jester, teacher and philosopher tells the story that once you went along and there was a man sitting on a park bench and the man was bent over and kind of crouching, kind of moaning, kind of whining I should say and Nazra Dean said to him, my friend, what is the problem? This man sitting on the bench pulls out a pouch of his money and he says this is all I have in my whole life. I have very little. Nazra Dean jumps up, grabs the pouch and starts running and he runs off and he turns the corner, and then as he’s about to turn the corner again he drops the pouch. The man of course is following him running and then he sees his pouch and he picks it up and he’s so happy. He’s got this pouch filled with his money.

I love that story because again it shows about perspectives and that’s one of the things gratitude brings to our lives in terms of the feelings, the seeing all that we have instead of waiting until it’s missing or it’s gone to appreciate what we have and appreciate the moment. So, there he is with his little pouch just as happy as could be, jumping up and down with joy. What I love about that story is that’s available to all of us. Jumping for joy that I’ve got the best coffee in the world, a sandwich with a fresh tomato, an opportunity to have a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family, a body that’s healthy, that’s clean and clear. That I have a bed that is soft and warm when I get into it and I can snuggle in before I go to sleep.

It’s about looking at what we do have and expanding that. That’s what true abundance is. Each one of us has an opportunity for a very rich life and it’s already stated the better we feel, the more likely we’re going to exercise, to achieve goals, to be productive, to take risks and to be creative. Feeling good is key as you two know, and I think this is a very simple tool for that.

Kevin: Wow, I think we’re both soaking it in. We’re both basking in this gratitude and all our listeners are as well.

Robyn: I sent three texts and I already got two back.

Carol: I know. That was my experience and it only takes a couple of minutes.

Robyn: Exactly. We do need to do more of that, especially for some of the more challenging people.

Kevin: Yes, definitely. 7






Robyn: Actually one out of those three was not the easiest one for me.

Kevin: Maybe that might lead into our next question, which is, how do we access this when things aren’t going our way or when we really are not in a good place in our life?

Carol: To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t think it’s always easy and I don’t want to be some kind of Pollyanna. I think there are tragedies and events in our lives that hurt deeply and that are traumatic. I don’t think that we can automatically and quickly shift. I was with a friend who was dying, and you know, a younger person. Even in that, there were moments of laughter and sweetness. When I look back on it, there were those moments that I can be grateful for and I really think that gratitude is an important part to our healing.

So, as we take a breath and we begin to look at what is there to gain – gain isn’t even the word – what gift is in this tragedy or what gift is in this adversity, and maybe that takes a little while, I’m not sure. I was recently reading a blog post and I think it was by Ed Wills. He talked about a fellow named Terry Thomas. Terry enjoyed storybook romance, a fairytale wedding, and he and his bride were actually on their way to the airport on their honeymoon, and they were in an accident and his bride of a few hours was killed.

In this remarkable take on life, and apparently in his book – I’ve not read it yet – he discovered healing through gratitude and actually wrote a book that’s title is At Least We Were Married. He began to find the gifts as he healed, so I do think it’s a process and there are moments that we can garner in our hurt or in our anger to begin to gather towards our healing because we’re all going to have adversity.

We’re all going to have tragedy at some point in some way and it’s just a part of life, but with faith and patience and perseverance and endurance, we do get through. I think gratitude turns the table towards feeling. I don’t want to be a Pollyanna and at the same time as we reflect and take a breath we can be in those moments that then lead to complete healing.

Kevin: I agree. I think that’s very respectful of the process, but it is also finding those small things within the tragedy to be grateful for. I definitely agree with that. One of the things that you also mentioned is the importance of working with children and teaching children how to be grateful and some of these practices and enlisting them in doing them in their lives. Can you share a little about that?

Carol: Sure. I think that it’s essential for a number of reasons. Some of us are natural appreciators and some of us need further guidance to learn to see the beauty and/or the wonder in the world. Gratitude for children opens their hearts, it gives a sense of belonging and a sense of community, and I think that’s really important. Number one, it’s the perspective of seeing the good in life but kids also, I think, in all of us get a sense of belonging when we see that people in life and in nature are giving to us and that we’re a part of that, and to also express our gratitude to that person gives back, so we get to see the connection between people.






I love this quote by William James. “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.” I think all of us want to be seen. All of us want to be heard but we want to be seen for who we are and to belong. When we’re seen, we have a sense of belonging. We have a sense that we’re okay in the world. Teaching gratitude to kids teaches them to belong. I think it teaches them respect and care.

Has anybody ever known a spoiled brat? The big thing now is kids who are entitled. I think what’s missing is gratitude. There’s that whole thing that entitlement ends when gratitude begins. I think the number one way to teach kids is to be the example. Those of us who have children in our lives, it’s to be that example, to say thank you to clerks, to make sure we express appreciation to teachers, to the healthcare professionals, to the people we need on a daily basis, to thank our kids in little and big ways, but to make sure we’re doing that through notes and looking into their eyes and in soft ways.

I think another way is to show affection as a way of showing gratitude through kisses and hugs and snuggling and notes of appreciation, both specific and in general is really important to kids. I think kids and nature is really important. Naturally when we take kids and get them away from phones and the videogames, there is so much to see as you can imagine. I remember coaching a man whose little three-year old daughter was completely taken with snails. I mean he was miffed by this, but she had such a wonder and joy. Look at that snail. Isn’t it wonderful? It moves so slowly.

It establishes a sense of wonder. We could say don’t you love that I so love this little snail? I appreciate this little snail, how slowly it walks. We assist with them the extension of the appreciation that they have already. Kids’ senses are so alive, so to touch the snow and to look at the tree and to watch the sun set, I think enhances their sense of belonging in the world and to the earth and, therefore, also better care of others and appreciation through nature.

I think with gratitude, kids also learn to take care. Send your grandmother a note for the bicycle she gave you and tell her what it has brought to your life. As you ask the child to send a note for the bicycle and tell her what the bike brings to your life, it gives you a sense of what that bike contributes and they’re more likely to take care of it, to respect and care for things too as we begin to show appreciation for them, which has to do with food and the people in our lives, greater respect and greater care.

Lastly, with older kids I think it’s great keep a gratitude journal, volunteer, go along and do volunteering with them as a way to give back in gratitude, asking them or requiring them to send thank-you notes. I recently had a birthday – talking about thank-you notes and I’m an older child myself and I thought since I’m this gratitude lady, I’d better send thank-you notes.

So, I sat down to write them and I did them over two days, and each day I can’t even begin to tell you the feelings. As I sat down to each note with each person – I kind of made myself do it. Sometimes it’s great to sit down at the table and write a note and guide them to what it is they could say if they don’t have the words themselves. As I did these notes, I couldn’t believe I was very aware of how happy I got writing the notes to my friends and family for taking care of me and acknowledging me on my birthday. I think it’s a real gift that we can give kids that obviously lasts the rest of their lives. I think parents,






grandmothers, aunts and uncles are the most important teachers in kids’ lives, and giving them a perspective of gratitude will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Robyn: Absolutely. I have a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old and I’m just thinking how differently they express their gratitude. My son tends to be a real connector, eye-to-eye. He just never seems to forget. It’s like his nature almost. My daughter is much busier. She’s jumping onto the next thing. Both my kids certainly have their screens and they’re living in a different world certainly than how we grew up. Sometimes I think that it is a parent’s duty to help our children to have a ritual, to have a practice of gratitude. I’m thinking how I’d love to do that with them and do my own gratitude journal with my children at night.

It’s almost like waking them up five minutes early in the morning and just being grateful for our food. Why do we wait for Thanksgiving to say a form of grace? Sometimes we take these special occasions to remember to be grateful rather than it being a practice, but I also like that word ritual.

Kevin: Absolutely. Since we’re coming up on Thanksgiving, do you have any suggestions on rituals or activities that people can do during this day of Thanksgiving?

Carol: Yes, I think there are many things that we can do to get everybody, whoever’s at the table, to participate in. My favorite way and actually what we’re going to do this Thanksgiving is I got some art paper and we’re going to paste it all over the hallway and have markers, so everybody will write happy Thanksgiving, happy thanks living.

So, everybody can go and write their gratitude. What’s interesting is I did this a few years ago. Someone will start and then someone will go by and add something. Pretty soon someone goes back and adds something else, and then pretty soon everybody’s at the wall writing. It is a really fun way to do it. Some people draw and write really big and it’s just a wonderful activity and creates a really fun loving community energy before or after sitting down to dinner.

Another one that we’ve done is to collect branches outside. We go for a walk and collect some branches. Of course some of them are covered in snow. Then we cut out some fall-colored pieces of paper in strips or you can cut them in shapes of leaves. Everybody writes something they’re grateful about and attach it to the truth it becomes the centerpiece.

Another way to do it is to cut up pieces of paper or use index cards. It doesn’t have to be fancy, something simple like a notepad. Everybody writes what they’re grateful fun. You can even provide some suggestions for people who are stuck, and put them in a basket. Then you pass the basket around and everybody gets to read one. It may be theirs or it may be somebody else’s that they get. Often people are guessing who wrote it. People inevitably cross-talk and say oh yeah I’m grateful for that one too. Again, it creates a fun energy.

Another one is – I have a friend who does this. She bought a leather-bound journal and every year it’s their annual gratitude journal, so everybody writes in it. Over the years, you can see how some of it’s the same and some of it has shifted, and how awareness has grown or more intimacy shows up after a while when people become used to writing in that journal. That’s a legacy for her family. 10






Lastly – and sometimes I think this one takes more courage – is to hold hands and to take a moment to be quiet and each person says what they’re grateful for. I personally like writing things because somehow it seems easier for people than to just say it without writing. Those are some of the practices that we have and again it creates a fun energy in the house. Which one of those do you guys like?

Kevin: They all sound great. I think the big art paper on the wall sounds awesome to me.

Carol: With a lot of different-colored pens, of course.

Kevin: Absolutely. That sounds really fun.

Carol: Someone inevitably draws a turkey.

Kevin: That’s perfect.

Robyn: Perfect.

Kevin: Speaking of posters on the wall, you’ve got a gift for our listeners today. Why don’t you let us know what that is?

Carol: I actually have two gifts.

Kevin: Excellent.

Carol: When people go to GratitudeHabitat.com and you sign up to receive our email notices and reminders about living in gratitude, you’ll get those weekly and our blog posts. Also with the code 25 Thank You’s, you’ll receive 25% off purchases of $50 or more. Something I forgot to mention, which is really important because gratitude is about perspective, I designed an online workshop called The Art of Appreciation. Again, when you type in 25 Thank You’s, you’ll receive a 25% discount off of that workshop.

What that workshop is, is every day in your email you’ll receive a sheet, a one-page and sometimes two pages of invitations to look at what you have in your life that you’re grateful for and each day is a different topic, so you begin to expand how you look and feel about life. Each perspective and each focus day takes maybe five to 10 minutes, so it isn’t a lot of time to change how you look at life and to feel a sense that you’re living from gratitude. It’s really fun too.

I had one woman who emailed and she did it every day in the car with the kids driving to work. I’ve had a mother and daughter across the country sign up together and they would get on the phone for five minutes every day and share the sheet and talk about it and answer the fun little questions. It’s a gift to your listeners, and the members of The Self-Care Revolution also get 25% off of the everyday online art appreciation workshop.

Robyn: I just want to shift on gratitude; I think I’m 10++ right now.







Kevin: Definitely.

Robyn: I have to say, Carol, I still think about how much we’re living in a very high stressed lifestyle – many of us – and how again that affects our physiology in a big way. We hear about the amygdala, you know the part of the brain. You know the amygdala quite well, where we store traumas and memories and it’s that part of our brain that we recycle again and again, and it’s hard to remember what we’re grateful for very often because of that. That’s that beta overload and just to think how simple this ritual, this practice on a day-to-day basis will not be activated on a regular basis and that will radically change your health too on a day-to-day basis.

When you think that it takes 10 years very often before cancer will be diagnosed, before we’re diagnosed with anything, but no matter what any of you that are listening to this right now if you’ve got something percolating in your body, think about what Carol has been sharing with us today and what Hope shared with us earlier and all of our other fabulous speakers with these practices, that it can completely shift your state of mind and how you function in day-to-day life, and showing up for your work and your family in a different way. I love it.

Carol: Some of it’s really simple and easy for the most part. It doesn’t have to be a major chore. I’m really glad you brought up the amygdala and the scientific perspective of that because it’s important that we understand that.

Kevin: It really is and you had mentioned earlier appreciating your physical body, your health and that sort of thing, and it really does tie directly into one of the main reasons why people don’t take care of themselves is because they don’t necessarily have this level of appreciation or gratitude for what they currently have, so they are practicing or doing behaviors that are degrading their health as opposed to increasing it as we’re advocating here at the Revolution.

Carol: That’s absolutely true.

Robyn: One of the cool things I want to tell you Carol that happened while we’ve been on the phone is Kevin and I and our team and our Self-Care coaches were thinking who would we like to bring in as one of our final speakers ending 2013 and as we go into 2014, and it was Gregg Braden, and we just got a call from him.

Carol: Oh how great!

Robyn: Is that cool we got a little knock on the door?

Carol: That’s fabulous! Good for you.

Robyn: He’s an incredible author and speaker. I mean he has shifted consciousness in many ways by showing us what’s possible.

Kevin: Absolutely.






Robyn: And non-local. I mean he’s amazing, so we’re very excited about bringing him into the picture here.

Carol: That’s wonderful. Good news. Congratulations. That’s great.

Robyn: We’re talking 125 amazing messengers. It’s so clear to see that this is a practice. I can hear it in your voice. Again, a true messenger who elevates the energy, the vibration around you, and I feel that just by hearing you speak and share your gratitude message.

Carol: Thank you. I’m very appreciative to be spreading this word and be on the journey with you, Robyn and Kevin.

Robyn: I love our connection. I just want to ask you a question that we ask all of our speakers. How do you practice self-care in everyday life, other than of course your gratitude lifestyle?

Carol: I established a number of years ago a morning routine that I’m flexible with but on rare occasions, and I usually start out reading something that is uplifting and it could be two or three minutes or a simple quote to set my mind. Then I meditate and I do a lot of different meditations. It might anywhere from five to 20 minutes of meditating and then I usually journal. It’s one of the reasons I decided to be self-employed because I wanted to be able to do all of this.

Then I go to the gym or I take a walk. I go to the gym and do weights two or three times a week. I have hiking buddies. I also walk by myself, and in the afternoons I walk my dog. I work at eating healthy and I’ve noticed sometimes that’s confusing and there are so many different changes that are always coming up, so I’m doing that with consciousness and moderation. I think moderation when it comes to food is my word for now. That’s kind of what I do, and then of course expressing gratitude.

Kevin: Of course.

Robyn: In your Gratitude Habitat movement, what’s your next year looking like? How do you want to expand this message, you as the messenger of gratitude?

Carol: I just started an online webinar workshop where we can go a little deeper into all of this and actually do some practices. It will be a webinar. People will get to see me and talk back and forth. Also I’m expanding in products that I’ll be offering. Right now I offer pendants and magnets. It’s all meant to remind people to be positive in their lives. There are some wonderful bookmarks and journals and some sweet gifts that you can give yourself and others. For next year, it’s continuing. I don’t have it totally defined. I go away usually every New Year’s to look at and plan out my next year, so that’s what I’m planning to do more specifically.

Robyn: I just want to say to all you listening, I’ve been on your list now for several months and it’s just so fun. It’s refreshing actually to get your emails and there’s always some whimsical information, like catsup was a food in the 1800s, what was that one?

Carol: I know! Catsup was a medicine. 13






Robyn: I love it.

Kevin: That’s great.

Robyn: I think it’s really cool that you just add some very flavorful messages each week. I love getting them. Thank you so much.

Carol: That’s a great word. Thank you, Robyn. I appreciate that.

Kevin: We of course are running out of time in this hour, but we just wanted to thank you so much for sharing this radical practice of gratitude with all of our listeners and living it yourself. We’ll definitely be sending you some texts and some emails saying thank you and how much we appreciate you. Do you have any words to leave our listeners with just to finish up for today?

Carol: My words would be to take a moment and again think about what you’re grateful for about yourself, the things you have that contribute to the world that makes you unique or different or makes a difference. What skills, talents or attributes do you have that you’re grateful for? One of the things I’m grateful for is my ability to teach and the wonderful people who have come to my workshops and seminars and coaching. I’m grateful that I have the gift and I have some wonderful friends, so I know that I’m a good friend. I work at being a good friend. I’m grateful for my ability to care for people when I do.

What gifts and talents do you appreciate about your life and who you are? I know that I’m kind most of the time. People would say that I’m generous, so I’m going to accept that as a gift. What about you? What do you like about you? I know I appreciate Robyn’s energy and the effort that it takes to put together all of this. Kevin, your steady voice and wonderful questions – you have great questions to give to the world. What are you grateful for about yourselves? You’re on the spot again.

Robyn: I’m grateful that I am never bored. I’m never lonely. I am always in awe of life and people.

Carol: I’ve seen that about you.

Kevin: I’m grateful that I have, like you said, this steadiness or personality, I’m most often happy and I do like doing this. I like interviewing and digging deep, and I think I’m quite good at that and teaching as well.

Robyn: I just want to add that I love like with The Self-Care Revolution having Kevin as my co-host. I’m grateful for you and having this male-female balance.

Kevin: Absolutely. Like you said, Robyn’s energy to be able to do this for an entire year, to be able to visualize it, to envision it into existence and to stick with it. I certainly have endless gratitude for that.

Robyn: People tell us we’re crazy that we’ve done something every week for a whole year that they’ll say… and you know what… talk about sustainability, but like you mentioned earlier, the breadth that 14






we’re giving to what self-care really is about and how could we miss out on gratitude for all of our members and all the people that have heard of the Revolution to really have a much more expansive view of the power, the potency of gratitude in day-to-day, and you certainly have illuminated that in such a great way, Carol. Thank you so much. I can’t wait to see you again.

Carol: I look forward to it too. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Kevin: Thanks.

Robyn: Continue to thanks living.

Carol: Take care. Thank you. Bye-bye.






€¦ · web viewrevolution is a big word and our best definition is that it’s a fundamental...

Documents