Zero to Dangerous - Workbooks
đŸ§˜đŸŸ

High Performance Mindfulness and Gratitude

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, as stranger into a friend ~ Melody Beattie
 

Table of Contents

 

Key Takeaways

  1. The Tragedy of the Hedonic Treadmill
  1. We Can Elevate Our Happiness Set Point but It Takes Work
  1. Why Gratitude Works
  1. Gratitude and Flow
  1. What Is Mindfulness?
  1. Three Pillars of Mind Training
  1. The Process of Mindfulness & the Brain
 

Exercises

notion image

Exercise 1: Write and send a gratitude letter:

  1. Make it massively personalized. Go all out. If it’s uncomfortable, lean in and say it.
  1. Be specific. Highlight the exact things you appreciate and provide clear examples of when.
  1. Emphasize WHY you appreciate that person or what they’ve done. Talk about how it’s enhanced your own life.
  1. Let us know in the comments who you’re sending your gratitude letter to and when.

Glossary

Gratitude: The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Mindfulness: Mindfulness in its most general sense is about waking up from a life on autopilot, and being attuned to the nuances and novelty within our everyday experiences. Mindful awareness, involves being aware of our present experiences, without getting lost in mental activities such as judgments, thoughts, or emotions. With mindful awareness the flow of energy and information that is our mind enters our conscious attention and we can both appreciate its contents and come to regulate its flow in a new way.
Focused attention: Focused attention refers to the ability to sustain one’s concentration, manage distractions when they arise, and refocus attention on a chosen object of concentration.
Open Awareness: During open awareness, rather than focusing on a specific object, the focus is on the monitoring of awareness. In this state, any thoughts or experiences that arise are acknowledged and then released, allowing the meditator to be aware of all passing objects within awareness without attaching to them.
Kind intention: Kind intention is a state of mind that cultivates positive regard and compassion internally (i.e., ‘self-compassion’) and externally (‘other’ directed compassion).
Mindfulness leads to what Dr. Dan Siegel calls the three O’s:
  • Observation—learning to notice when distracting thoughts pull away focus.
  • Objectivity—following the flow of your thoughts without judging, noticing how you feel and learning from it.
  • Openness—Accepting your emotions at every turn and not letting them turn into a source of stress.
 

Lesson Resources

The How of Meditation on One Page

  1. Sit comfortably, with your spine erect, either in a chair or cross-legged on a cushion.
  1. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and feel the points of contact between your body and the chair or floor. Notice the sensations associated with sitting—feelings of pressure, warmth, tingling, vibration, etc.
  1. Gradually become aware of the process of breathing. Pay attention to wherever you feel the breath most clearly—either at the nostrils, or in the rising and falling your abdomen.
  1. Allow your attention to rest in the mere sensation of breathing. (There is no need to control your breath. Just let it come and go naturally.)
  1. Every time your mind wanders in thought, gently return it to the sensation of breathing.
  1. As you focus on the breath, you will notice that other perceptions and sensations continue to appear: sounds, feelings in the body, emotions, etc. Simply notice these phenomena as they emerge in the field of awareness, and then return to the sensation of breathing.
  1. The moment you observe that you have been lost in thought, notice the present thought itself as an object of consciousness. Then return your attention to the breath—or to whatever sounds or sensations arise in the next moment.
  1. Continue in this way until you can merely witness all objects of consciousness— sights, sounds, sensations, emotions, and even thoughts themselves—as they arise and pass away.
 
badge