706: 4 Unconventional Ways to Cultivate Gratitude When Life is Hard

Last Monday, on my 47th birthday, I sat down at my desk and decided it would be a good day to integrate some new software into my business.   Look, it’s never a good day to integrate new software, but it’s an especially rotten decision on your birthday.   Shortly after that awful life choice (and 13,000 messages on chat support with said software company), I accidentally deleted 84,628 emails. That is not an exaggerated number I made up. That is the literal amount of emails that I watched disappear from my inbox.   84,628.   Most of them were from the last 18 months. Many of them were filled with things like contracts and critical client information.  Needless to say, I spent a decent chunk of my birthday having VERY BIG feelings. The kind your 3-year-old has when you give them the orange cup instead of the green cup.   VERY BIG.   I yelled. I cried. I definitely dropped a few (like, 347) F-bombs.   I tried to remind myself of what my therapist recently shared with me. Based on research from brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, she told me that feelings are waves that rise and recede all day long. These waves last only 90 seconds. After that, we're simply re-stimulating our internal circuitry. In other words, if we stay stuck in horrible feelings for longer than 90 seconds it’s because we have created our own feedback loop keeping us there. This is great news because it tells us we have the power to move through feelings very quickly if we have the right skills in place.   This just made me madder, if I’m being honest. I knew that I was gonna need more than 90 freaking seconds. And how dare these doctors and therapists try to put limits on my ability to hold rage! I had to dig deep into my coaching toolbox to coach myself on my birthday. While I definitely felt the universe was conspiring against me, I was determined to move through my big feelings in order to still find a way to find joy in my day. In this episode, I talk you through how to use unconventional gratitude practices to get over yourself and get through sticky emotions - whether you deleted 84,628 emails or someone gave you the orange cup instead of the green one.  Link mentioned: Get the SMA Newsletter to learn about our January 2023 events: shamelessmom.com/newsletter Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Sara Dean launched the Shameless Mom Academy to help moms lead more positive, powerful and purposeful lives #everydamnday. Sara is an award winning fitness professional, author, speaker, and leadership & transformation coach who spent the last 18+ years serving moms in the fields of business, leadership, psychology, sociology, health & wellness. But, it took becoming a mom herself in 2012 to learn that - holy cow - this is hard work, and if you’re not paying attention you can completely lose your own sense of identity while raising babies. Join Sara every Monday and Wednesday as she and her notable guests dig deep into topics like creating the confidence you crave; turn your struggles into strengths, building better boundaries, and tuning into tiny habits that can change your life. Discover how why thousands of moms all over the world are turning to The Shameless Mom Academy to live bigger, bolder, braver lives #everydamnday.