Kc Rossi 0:00
This week, I really wanted to dive into overwhelm. I know that especially this time of the year, we can feel buried, we can feel behind the eight ball, we can just feel really overwhelmed, you know, just a tremendous amount of things on our plates.
Kc Rossi 0:16
Typically, when we experience something out of balance, it really doesn't matter what it is, it is usually a vise of excessiveness, or a vise of deficiency. So in the first couple of days, we subtracted things. In day one, we talked about what we could stop doing in our day, one thing that we could stop doing in our day that would improve our well being and help move towards that feeling of freedom and breath and the opposite of overwhelm. In day two, we also talked about subtracting something, we talked about creating a to don't list. So you can check out those replays. In day three, we actually added something that was one of my favorite things. And that was adding boundaries, and getting very clear on how the things we do say yes, to line up to our wildly important goals.
Kc Rossi 1:18
Today, we are also going to be adding something because a big part of overwhelm is a deficiency of gratitude. I also want to pause here because there are I think a lot of people that are suffering that have had a lot of struggles and challenges this year and last year. And sometimes it's difficult to even cultivate gratitude. It may sound awesome for someone else, it may sound "woo," it may sound airy fairy. And I just want to say that there is always something to be grateful for. And this is where we can really start to shift our mindset.
Kc Rossi 1:56
And also look at the positivity of overwhelm. Now, you may be saying, Kc, oh my gosh, I don't think there's anything positive about overwhelm. But I'm gonna invite you to look at the other side of it. Because when you look at the definition of overwhelm, what comes up is overcome with emotion. So we can have an overcome of emotion, that stress, anxiety and negativity. And of course, yes, we don't want that. That's why I'm doing this series on how to reduce those feelings of negative overwhelm. However, if there is black, there's always white, there is always the flip, there's always the other side of the coin, we have an opportunity to look at it with a different perspective with changing our own personal view, and also our worldview.
Kc Rossi 2:46
The flip of being overcome with emotion is positive emotion, emotion of joy, emotion, of fulfillment, abundance, emotion, of gratitude. And so that's what we're really going to be looking at today. And going back to, there's always something to celebrate, if you're having a hard time of being really grateful if if you lost a family member or a pet, I lost a pet just about a month ago. And so sometimes when we're in loss and transition, it's difficult to cultivate those feelings of gratitude. If that's you, or if you find yourself falling into that, I invite you to really break it down to the smallest thing that you can notice in your life, that you do find positive, that you do have a bit of joy in that you can cultivate or even amp up those feelings of gratitude, I like to look at them or think of them as micro blessings.
Kc Rossi 3:46
It could be something as simple as the softness of your blanket in the morning. Right? express gratitude to that feel this amped up feeling of being grateful that you are warm, that you actually had a bed to sleep in, that you have a roof over your head, that you have a meal that you can partake in or share with others. And the more that you start noticing these micro blessings, the more you're actually going to be programming your reticular activating system known as your RA s, to look for other good feeling thoughts and emotions to look for other positive micro blessings. And you can literally make a game of it.
Kc Rossi 4:27
What else can I notice today? That I'm really grateful for? Maybe it's the silence, maybe it's the trees, maybe it's having a washing machine to make your clothes fresh and clean. Like you will really start to shift that maybe doldrum feeling that felt like maybe you couldn't get out of or felt like you were stuck or felt like you were in this comparison mode of WoW, other people have XYZ or maybe I'm not experiencing my true desires right now in this moment.
Kc Rossi 4:58
You're going to be able to find flip a switch by cultivating gratitude. With this micro blessing focus, just what can I look for next? What can I look for next, you know, maybe it is a smile in your child's face, you know, maybe it's a new recipe, maybe it's getting something in the mail, like a handwritten card for someone, or maybe you can actually create a do good experience by being that one that sends a thoughtful card in the mail, or a sweet audio clip on text. Because science has x actually shown, it is kind of the trifecta of gratitude.
Kc Rossi 5:39
And I'll explain what that means it can be experienced in three ways, we actually raise our happiness quotient, when we do a positive act. Awesome. We also get it raised when someone does a positive act or an act of generosity towards us. But the coolest thing is that a witness Sir, who experiences a positive act, either coming or going, also gets that increased level of happiness. So it has this tremendous power to have a positive ripple effect. Not only if we are the do gooder if we receive something good, or if somebody actually witnesses, an act of kindness. So that's really exciting. I myself have found a lot of peace and having a daily gratitude practice. And it can be as quick as 30 seconds or one minute, you don't have to take hours to journal your handoff in order to experience positivity.
Kc Rossi 6:42
There was actually a study I wanted to share with you. It was a study that showed five minutes a day of daily gratitude increased long term well being across the board by 10%. So if you're a metrics lover, like I am, I love to see data and analytics, that really is tremendous. Because one it's free to we have the power to cultivate it. Three, we can create a daily habit so we can continue to amp up our happiness quotient, and contribute to that 10% of overall well being. That's pretty exciting. So my question is to you, how can you look for and or create micro blessings in your life, to add gratitude, which is contributing to not over not only overall well being, but it's contributing to what we're focused on this week, which is reducing overwhelm. And it's something that we can start today.
Kc Rossi 7:46
So I'm really curious one, do you already have a gratitude practice in place?
Kc Rossi 7:51
If so, DM me, let me know or drop a comment in the feed. Because this is again, how we can increase and motivate and inspires others to do the same. Knowing that we're not only going to feel better on a daily basis, but it has the power to let other people in and improve that positivity and have them feel better as well. Super, super exciting. That's what I wanted to share with you today on day four. Until tomorrow, my friends where we talk about our fifth tip and how to reduce overwhelm. Please, breathe joy.
