\u201cYou have to be stupid. That\u2019s what optimistic means, you know? It means stupid. An optimist is somebody who goes, \u2018Hey, maybe something nice will happen.\u2019 Why the f*ck would anything nice happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Pretty funny, right? But do you know what Louis CK\u2019s job is? (Or was. I don’t know if he still gets work. \ud83d\ude2c) He\u2019s a comedian. He takes his observations and twists them to make them hilarious. As with all comedians, you shouldn\u2019t take their acts as gospel. I, however, was in a dark place when I heard that bit and latched onto his words tightly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BREAKTHROUGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
About 8 years ago (lest we forget, I\u2019m super old)<\/em>, I was very worn down from being so negative. Negativity breaks the spirit, you guys. Like for real.<\/strong> Thinking back on it now, I can see I was in a bad way, but at the time I was pretty sure everyone else was just awful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My breakthrough came when I accepted a position with a company that was very positivity-centered. One of the perks of this job was life coaching sessions with a well-known coach. Well, she wasn\u2019t well-known to me as a pessimist, but she was in her field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At my first session with her, she told me a secret (not The Secret<\/em> by Rhonda Byrne, but close!): You can shift your outlook by practicing gratitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FULL DISCLOSURE:<\/mark><\/strong> Way-Back-Maggie did not do gratitude. As in, when someone mentioned the word to me, I cut all ties and never talked to them again. (Haha, not really, but isn\u2019t that visual hilarious? Me running for the hills at the mention of gratitude? If nothing, I amuse myself.) But seriously, when someone mentioned gratitude to me, I really did suspect they were up to something. Maybe Scientology. I’ve seen the documentaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When my coach told me about gratitude, though, I was pretty desperate. I had just overcome some health problems, I had a new job which required I go into the office on the weekend, I was traveling for work way more than I liked, and I had a poisonous attitude. Gratitude will help, you say? Sign me up. I\u2019ll take two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I totally gave this away in the intro. I know I did, but you guys<\/em>! It needs repeating! Yelled from the mountaintops! (Unless you live in Cleveland, Ohio, like me, and have access to exactly zero mountains. In that case, mention it from the slightly elevated area at your local park.) There\u2019s a reason \u201cattitude of gratitude\u201d is a thing people say. Gratitude shifts your outlook, and suddenly everything isn\u2019t terrible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a scientific reason for this, by the way, but we’ll get into that another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Studies have shown (real studies, like the 2012 study from the journal Personality and Individual Difference<\/em><\/a>) that people who practice gratitude have fewer aches and pains than their less mindful counterparts. Now, buckle up buttercup – I’ve got a non-scientific theory here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m neither a scientist not doctor, but here’s my thought: Both parties experience similar aches but when asked to recall for a study, people who practice gratitude do not recall the issues as vividly as their non-practicing pals. Mainly because the gratitude group focuses their energy on things they\u2019re thankful for, not things that are a bummer. Your perception becomes your reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saying \u201cthank you\u201d is polite, yes? But as the recipient, it signifies more than just good manners; it means appreciation. Feeling appreciated is one of my favorite feelings. Appreciation connects us as humans, and it can strengthen the bonds in your relationships. No one wants to be friends with an ungrateful ninny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve all heard the term \u201cretail therapy.\u201d Materialism has links to depression – strong ones. Shopping to reduce stress or fill a void is not only expensive, it\u2019s a placebo. Once the thrill of the experience is over, you\u2019re right back to the same mental state you were in before you went to the mall, only now you have less money because you spent it all on shoes. (Good purchase, by the way, just bad reasoning.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m about to get all scientific on you again, but this is important! This 2006 study<\/a> from the journal Behavior Research and Therapy<\/em> found that combat veterans who practiced gratitude had fewer instances of post-traumatic stress disorder and were more resilient than their counterparts. Dude, if it\u2019s good enough for combat veterans (some of the bravest people I can think of!), it\u2019s good enough for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen, it took some convincing for me to start practicing gratitude. It can be overwhelming to implement a new habit, I get it. To help you get started, I made you a fillable weekly gratitude download. Snag it here.<\/a> Good luck, my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me know in the comments below if you\u2019re already practicing. Have you noticed a shift in your outlook? What other benefits have you noticed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This post is dedicated to all my eternally pessimistic homies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7,18],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mindset","tag-blog","tag-resource"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Maggie](\"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Gratitude-Pin-1-684x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Why of It All<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. OPTIMISM<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2. IMPROVED PHYSICAL WELL-BEING<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3. STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4. REDUCED MATERIALISM<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
5. IMPROVED MENTAL RESILIENCE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
ALL ABOARD THE GRATITUDE TRAIN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/maggieisley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Inline-Gratitude-1-1024x246.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n