BLOGS & RESOURCES
Higher Purpose Podcast 105: Gratitude is a Way of Life
This week Steve Foran is back on the Higher Purpose Podcast to talk with Kevin about one of their mutual favorite topics - gratitude. They debrief the 10-day gratitude challenges, and the impact they’ve had on people’s lives, and go on to talk about the greater impact of gratitude, and why it’s so critical in this day and age.
Listen to the full episode:
Debriefing the Gratitude Challenge
The hypothesis was that in ten days we could move people from 0-10 in terms of surviving and thriving. The gratitude challenge was 10 days of emails to help people improve their gratitude. The hypothesis was proven right - the needle moved for many, many people, as proven by an avalanche of messages talking about the real, meaningful changes in their lives. The average self-reported change people experienced was a 46% improvement in how they felt. Steve points out that as more people take the challenge, this kind of data, and what it represents could be massively impactful.
What Happens When You Invite Gratitude In?
Steve talks about some of the physical, neurological changes that happen when you’re focusing and prioritizing on gratitude. When stress is one of the leading causes of disease and unhappiness, gratitude is a simple, effective and accessible antidote to the chemicals caused by stress. The hormones that stress causes cannot be produced at the same time as the hormones caused by gratitude. Kevin talks about reading the Abundance Loop, which talks about how negative outcomes have happened when decisions are made on fear. The fix for that is, you guessed it - gratitude. Steve points out that we can be tempted to dismiss the power of gratitude because it is so simple.
Gratitude is Critical
The average North American has the highest quality of life in recorded history. But happiness is not keeping up with the external indicators of happiness and comfort. Steve thinks that the negative is so easy to see, and humans have a tendency to notice and amplify the negative much more than the positive. Kevin and Steve talk about one particular challenge, and how the idea of turning lemons into lemonade can be a useful tool.
Breakthroughs
Kevin had breakthroughs in gratitude and outlook - even as the host of the challenge! Gratitude is the gateway to improvements in all areas of your life. Steve compares it to brushing your teeth. It’s something to do every day. It shouldn’t be rote, and the 10-day challenges are a way to keep your gratitude practice fresh and engaging. Steve asks Kevin to talk a little bit about the change in outlook he had during the challenge. Ultimately, Kevin doesn’t believe they found the gratitude challenge - the challenge found them. Like most things in life, gratitude is better together than alone.
A Grateful Community
The third gratitude challenge - new and improved! - is starting on August 12th. It is the foundation for an extraordinary life. Steve reminds the listeners that even if you’ve taken the first or second challenge - take the third one. There is always something more to learn and experience.
Kevin recalls the line from Steve’s book: “You are worthy and you have much to be grateful for.” Steve talks about what this means, and the way you can use the idea to keep yourself from living in the survival zone. We can all thrive.
Resources
The Power of Gratitue with Steve Foran
Higher Purpose Podcast 101: The Power of Gratitude
In this week’s episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast, Kevin Monroe speaks with Steve Foran. This episode is one that Kevin has been looking forward to - and it’s actually been saved specifically for this week. The next hundred episodes of the Higher Purpose Podcast are going to be grounded in gratitude - and this conversation is going to begin that.
Steve Foran is a gratitude guide. He has a background in electrical engineering and an MBA - but had a revelation that led him to pursue gratitude as a full-time career. He’s written a book called Surviving to Thriving, and Steve talks about how it came to be, after banging around in his head for several years. Kevin notes that the book ended up cracking him wide open, and helped him solidify his goal of making gratitude his focus for the next 100 episodes of the show.
Listen to the full episode
The Hierarchy of Leadership
Steve talks about the 4 primary points on the leadership spectrum. Underlying them all is Influence.
- Surviving is drudgery.
- Striving is hard work.
- Arriving is a good place to be.
- Thriving is where life is like a playground.
Kevin and Steve discuss where you end up spending most of your time because it has a huge impact on how you feel, and what you’re able to accomplish. In other words: when the sh*t hits the fan - lean into gratitude!
One of the unrelenting forces pulling us back down the hierarchy is negative attribution bias - Steve discusses what they are, and the kinds of impacts they have on us physiologically and emotionally. Kevin notes that this is a good reason to keep your gratitude practice consistent!
You Are Worthy and You Have Much to be Grateful For
Gratitude has a profound way of touching each of our lives, and Steve couples it with the concept of worthiness. When you hold onto the belief that you are worthy - the opportunities to thrive and succeed open up for you. Many of us, deep down, don’t feel as if we are - but Steve (and Kevin!) both fundamentally believe that we are - every one of us.
The Benefits of Gratitude
More and more studies are finding there are physical benefits to expressing gratitude. Kevin asks Steve what the implications of gratitude are in business. Steve talks about increases in collaboration, empathy, successful/positive conflict and a general improvement in morale and profitability. It can be as simple as beginning meetings by asking everyone what they are grateful for.
The Gratitude Challenge
As Kevin was preparing this show, he was thinking about creating a short gratitude challenge - Steve’s immediate response was: Yes! The gratitude challenge is open for registration now - so whether or not you’ve had a regular formal gratitude practice, or you’re an old hand - Kevin and Steve invite you to go to Thegratitudechallenge.community. This is a 10-day challenge, with a daily email that will help you think about gratitude that day. Over the course of 10 days, Kevin and Steve both believe you could experience a major change in your life. If you don’t feel like you have a huge amount to be grateful for - this challenge could change that for you.
Kevin reminds us that gratitude may not immediately change anything about the situation, but it changes us and how we perceive and experience the situation. Steve adds that it’s easy to get complacent in your gratitude practice - and this challenge can be a way to re-invigorate it.
Resources
Use the discount code: Higher Purpose Podcast for $5.00CAD off the price of the book.