November 25, 2024 • 30 mins
In this special Thanksgiving episode, The Leadership Vision Podcast explores the transformative power of gratitude and practical ways to make it a daily habit. Nathan Freeburg and co-hosts Brian and Linda Schubring discuss the neuroscience behind gratitude, its impact on mental and physical health, how it strengthens relationships, and how it enhances life at work and home. The episode concludes with five powerful reflective questions to help listeners cultivate gratitude in their own lives.
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1. Gratitude and Brain Chemistry
- Key Point: Gratitude is scientifically proven to increase happiness by releasing dopamine and serotonin in the brain, creating pathways for positivity through neuroplasticity.
- Why it Matters: For leaders, this shift toward a positive mindset can foster resilience and help manage stress more effectively.
- Personal Story: Brian shares how a 20-year gratitude journaling habit, inspired by a mentor, has helped him combat negative thinking and maintain a balanced perspective.
2. Gratitude’s Physical Health Benefits
- Key Point: Studies show gratitude supports physical health, improving heart health and sleep quality, and lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels.
- Example: Nathan discusses the Grace Study on cardiovascular health, which found that gratitude significantly improves recovery times and reduces inflammation.
- Personal Story: Linda shares how her mother’s gratitude practice has positively impacted her heart health and how clients’ gratitude toward their teams fosters better health across their organizations.
3. Gratitude in Relationships
- Key Point: Expressing gratitude strengthens relationships, builds trust, and enhances social connection. Leaders who acknowledge and appreciate team members create a culture of mutual support and trust.
- Supporting Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words, “I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new,” reflect the importance of gratitude in building bonds.
- Client Story: Brian and Linda share stories of clients who practice gratitude and build deeper, more meaningful connections with their teams, creating a supportive and appreciative work environment.
4. Gratitude in the Workplace and Home
- Key Point: Gratitude can improve both the work environment and family life, increasing job satisfaction and motivation and fostering a positive, joyful atmosphere at home.
- Example: Nathan mentions Maya Angelou’s quote, “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, ev
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Leadership Vision podcast,
our show helping you buildpositive team culture.
Each year since 2014, so 10years now our team here at
Leadership Vision takes a fewmoments to reflect on the things
that we're grateful for Friends, family, health you get the
idea.
We do this because we know, atleast anecdotally, that
gratitude is good for us.
(00:21):
If we can focus on what's goingwell in this topsy-turvy world
that we live in, then maybe thatwill dovetail into a greater
behavior of gratitude.
As writer Anne Lamott says, nowThanksgiving right now is an
obvious time for this sort ofreflection to happen.
But to truly reap the benefitsthat gratitude can bring, we
need to find ways to makegratitude a daily habit.
(00:41):
Today on the podcast, we'regoing to be first making the
case to you as to why gratitudeis good for us and then share
some extremely practical waysyou can make this a daily habit.
We'll talk about theneuroscience of gratitude, why
it's good for our brains, thephysical benefits of gratitude,
the emotional and relationalbenefits of gratitude, why it's
good at the office, why it'sgood at home, and then we're
(01:04):
going to end with five ways tocultivate gratitude in your
daily life.
Let's start by first talkingabout gratitude and your brain.
Gratitude isn't just an abstractconcept.
It's deeply rooted in our brainchemistry.
Research highlighted in theWharton Healthcare article, the
Neuroscience of Gratitude showsthat expressing gratitude
(01:26):
releases dopamine and serotoninneurotransmitters that create
feelings of happiness andwell-being.
In essence, gratitude can shiftour brain toward positivity by
physically changing our neuralpathways.
Neuroscientists call thisprocess neuroplasticity, and it
means that by practicinggratitude, we're literally
wiring our brains to be morepositive.
(01:48):
Gratitude shapes thefoundations of positive thinking
and helps us approachchallenges with resilience.
For leaders, this means thatgratitude can make a tangible
difference in our emotionalresilience, helping us manage
stress and setbacks with greaterease.
Brian, can you think of anyexamples, either from your own
life or leaders that you'veworked with, who do this well?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I can think of many, many examples, but I want to
start with myself, because ifthere's one thing that has
changed in my life or has beenconstantly been shaped and
reshaped, it's the practice ofgratitude.
I had a mentor about 20 yearsago who challenged me to really
(02:30):
begin each of my days with agratitude practice.
Now many people know that Ijournal every single morning and
my mentors invitation was forme to start my journaling with
expressions of gratitude and, ofcourse, me being who I am, I
said grateful for what?
And that was kind of.
(02:50):
The point was just to let it,let myself naturally think about
what I'm grateful for as anindividual and in my
relationships and in mysurrounding.
And, honestly, that practicelasted over 20 years of
consciously connecting to agratitude practice by writing in
a journal, and for me that'swhat really began a change.
(03:13):
And the reason why this isimportant is because oftentimes,
gratitude is offsetting sometype of deficit mindset that we
have, whether it's tellingourselves a negative story about
who we are, or we may havegrown up in a situation where we
were disadvantaged in one wayor another, and I share parts of
both of those stories.
So for me to ground myself inthe beginning of the day with a
(03:35):
gratitude practice really helpsme become more aware of my
perspective, the abundance thatsurrounds me and how I can begin
to reshape how I'm thinkingwith some of the challenges that
I'm facing.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I love that and I can't wait for us to get to some
more of those daily practicesthat can help build gratitude as
a habit.
But the benefits of gratitudedon't stop with our mental
well-being, do they?
I found this article fromHarvard Health Publishing called
Giving Thanks Can Make youHappier, and in it it points out
that gratitude is alsoassociated with better physical
(04:11):
health.
Studies have shown that thosewho practice gratitude regularly
experience improved hearthealth, better sleep and lower
levels of cortisol, which isthat stress hormone that we
don't normally want unless we'rerunning from a wild animal.
It turns out that simply givingthanks can be an important
contributor to our physicalhealth.
There's this big study it'scalled the GRACE study, which is
(04:33):
all on cardiovascular healththat points out that gratitude's
role after an acute coronaryevent found similar results.
And get this, linda patientswho practice gratitude saw
improvements in cardiovascularhealth, lower inflammation
levels and even experiencedfaster recovery times after
heart events.
Now I think this isparticularly valuable for
(04:55):
leaders in high stress roles,where health often takes a back
seat.
By fostering gratitude, we canmitigate some of the physical
impacts of stress.
Linda, can you think of someexamples of leaders that you
have worked with or again, evenpersonally, where this practice
of gratitude has helpedhealth-wise.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yes, nathan, I have many examples, but I want to
start with one that's near anddear to my heart and that is my
mother, and we all know that shelistens to this podcast.
I'm going to give her a shoutout right now because she is
going to be so excited aboutyour findings, nathan, and
reading the study about thecardiovascular benefits of
(05:35):
gratitude, because she can thencount it as exercise.
So, mom, shout out to you, I'mexcited about that.
But, being serious, my motherhas had a specific gratitude
practice.
She is so specific in thethings that she names, she also
journals, she also documentsthat, the things that she sees
(05:57):
in her daily life, that reallycultivates such a grateful heart
, that she that reallycultivates such a grateful heart
.
When she had sort of a heartincident, one of the nurses said
to me like your mother's heartis so good, like it's so clean,
I was like if you only knew.
But really I was raised in ahouse where generosity and
(06:20):
gratitude were a value, and so,once again, to know that there's
health benefits from that, Imean that's the first thing I
think of.
The other thing that I think ofin our clients is that when we
have experienced leaders who canbe very specific about the
things that they are thankfulfor and they can express that to
(06:40):
their teams.
It is a different feel, or adifferent positive health of the
team Leaders that stand up andsay, hey, thanks for being here
is different than thank you fortaking this time, investing in
this way, doing this specificthing, and I like the reframe of
that, how gratitude doesn'tjust.
(07:01):
It isn't just a polite way thatwe practice professional
decorum.
It is a way where we actuallyimpact our physical health.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
There's one client that we're working with right
now and they went through, youknow, an entire organization
wide performance evaluation forthis time of year.
That's not odd.
However, they were spendingtime specifically focusing on
saying things that they weregrateful for or recognizing
individual contributions of thepeople that they were doing the
(07:33):
evaluations for.
They were just conscious of thefact that when you begin to
introduce things that are goodand right about people and
express your gratitude andthankfulness for that person
being a part of the team, itdoes set a tone for the
conversation, and that doesn'thave to be reserved just for
performance evaluations.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's right, that's right.
I mean, we know gratitude isgood for our brain, we know that
it's good for our overallhealth, but did you also know,
brian Linda, that it's good forour relationships?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What yeah, tell me more, tell me more, tell me more
.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, ralph Waldo Emerson, the American
philosopher and essayist, and abunch of other things he once
said.
I awoke this morning with devoutthanksgiving for my friends,
the old and the new, and wefound that gratitude strengthens
relationships by helping usrecognize and appreciate the
positive contributions of others, and I just think it's a
(08:28):
profound way to build bondswithin a team or organization or
family or any kind of unit ofpeople.
There's Radius Health, which isa nonprofit mental health and
substance use disorder serviceorganization, notes that
gratitude reduces feelings ofloneliness, it enhances social
connection, among otherrelational benefits, and when we
(08:49):
express genuine gratitude toteam members or family members
or whomever, it creates aculture of appreciation and
acknowledgement, which not onlyboosts morale but it also
reinforces trust and loyalty,and I think that in this way,
this specific way, gratitudebecomes a leadership tool that
fosters deeper connections andcommitment within a team.
(09:10):
Brian and Linda, I'm wonderingif you have any examples of this
from clients that we've workedwith that have really
demonstrated this publicly kindof that idea of appreciation or
acknowledgement, and what sortof benefits you saw from it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well, going off the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that
you had.
A lot of the work that we do isinvolving reflection of the
relationships and the peoplethat have shaped people's lives.
Now, we're not intentionallyintroducing a gratitude practice
or some kind of exercise onThanksgiving, but it's the
(09:43):
remembering of who brought youto where you are, whether that
was a leader who is making aninvestment in you, whether it
was the parenting system thatraised you or people that were
in the neighborhood where yougrow up, A reminder that
relationships make contributionsto who we are.
When you remember the people,when you begin to tell those
(10:04):
stories, that in and of itselfis an act of gratitude.
Anytime that we can make arelational connection between
individuals that we're workingwith and the people that have
shaped their life, that in andof itself is an act of
thanksgiving for the people thathave brought us to where we're
at today.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Just the other day we were working with an executive
team and we were asking we wereasking these leaders who would,
who has helped them in theirpast um, live out more fully who
they are?
How did, how did um peopleshape the future lean of even
where these leaders findthemselves right now on this
(10:45):
executive team?
And for them to hearken back toearly 20s, mid 20s, when
everything from they were givenfreedom to fail because there
was a relational trust betweenthis person and his supervisor,
whether it's people listening tothe woman that could just see
(11:05):
and orchestrate different groupsof people coming together.
She just could see how it allworks and, even just being an
intern, that future was calledout of her.
Those future places, as theseleaders are giving us examples,
as Brian was mentioned when weasked, they're giving examples
of people that have impactedtheir life for the better.
(11:27):
You can feel gratitude stirredand then we tried to focus it on
then how do you pay thatforward?
How do you be that personstirring, cultivating gratitude
in the people that they'releading?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And that exercise that we did it wasn't
intentional, because in that wedid it in November it was
intentional in that remindingoneself of what we're grateful
for places you in a position ofgiving generously, Because what
we're asking these executives todo was remember who shaped you
(12:08):
and then asking these leaders tolook at their teams and then to
begin to ask questions how canI now pay it forward?
How can I be generous with theposition that I now have and the
opportunities that are herewithin this company?
How can my generosity as aleader invest in the lives of
someone else?
That's where the enhancing ofsocial and relational connection
(12:31):
happens, because the leader isnow saying I see something in
you.
That's a relational connection,and here's how I'm inviting you
to lead.
That's a social connection.
And so there's like two orthree different bounces of
generosity just in seeingsomeone investing in someone and
(12:52):
inviting them to shape thepeople around them.
That's the power of gratitudeand generosity.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Impacting relationships.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
yeah, yeah, I love that and I want to pull back
just a little bit fromrelationships.
We know that teams and familiesand all those things are made
up of all those individualrelationships.
But I want to talk about thebenefits in the workplace and
the home to expressing gratitude.
I found this great article fromWharton Healthcare that
highlights that workplacesencouraging gratitude see higher
(13:21):
levels of job satisfaction andproductivity and teams are more
engaged and experience lowerburnout rates, which I think we
have all experienced a lot andthey're actually more motivated
to go above and beyond in theirroles.
There's this great quote thatwe've probably all heard from
Maya Angelou that says when wegive cheerfully and accept
gratefully, everyone is blessed.
(13:42):
So in a professional settingright, isn't that great.
In a professional setting,gratitude is contagious.
Also, I think leaders thatmodel gratitude set a standard.
They create this workplace likeyou were talking about just a
second ago, where people feelvalued and are more likely to
invest in their roles fully.
Brian, before we get into thebenefits of gratitude at home,
(14:02):
do you have any examples ofworkplace gratitude benefits
practice?
Anything you want to add?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Sometimes, when you ask people to practice gratitude
, it seems almost formulaic andmechanical, and this practice of
gratitude can be somethingreally easy, as in asking people
like how things went or what'shappening around them or what's
something that you're working onright now.
I think people want to sharethe challenges, yes, and they
also want to share what's goingwell.
I think people want to sharethe challenges, yes, and they
(14:30):
also want to share what's goingwell.
We have a client right now thatwe have a great opportunity to
invest in their mid-levelleaders, and we have the chance
to spend hour-long conversationsover a period of weeks with
these leaders, and when youbegin to ask them what's going
on and how are they feelingright now, it seems like
everyone is talking about howthey feel great that they were
(14:50):
chosen to be invested in now.
That is an expression ofgratitude.
I didn't ask them like what areyou grateful for?
But giving people theopportunity to recognize what's
happening around them in apositive way, they'll say out
loud what it is that they'regood they're grateful for with,
without you having to really askthem.
It's just the way you'reapproaching it.
There's another client we haveand we again working with a
(15:12):
bunch of their leaders, andthey've just gone through a
complete remodel of theirorganization, and what this
remodel did was it reminded themhow much their previous
environment sucked like, howmuch just working in the
environment that they were inwasn't working.
And it seems that this team isgoing through this moment of
(15:35):
extreme gratitude for how nicetheir working environment is and
how they feel around theircolleagues and the invitation to
share time in different placeswith team members.
You can feel the energy intheir voice because they're
thankful for the opportunity towork in a nice environment where
(15:55):
they have the equipment and thespaces necessary to do the work
that our modern workplaces arerequired.
Even there, just asking peopleto just reflect on what is going
on around them, that's having apositive impact on them.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You'll hear expressions of gratitude on
around them that's having apositive impact on them.
You'll hear expressions ofgratitude, which is so
interesting because, brian, asyou were talking, I was going
through the whole list of allthe clients that we have, and
there's several of them thathave changed environments, that
they have either moved into anew office or renovated some
building.
And what's unique and commonabout these different clients
(16:33):
across different industries isthat they aren't just worried
about the stuff and the nicethings they want to.
They want to make sure thatthey preserve the culture and
they cultivate a culture wherepeople are invested in.
And it's not just because it'snice, but we're gonna, as as a
team and as in as leaders and asindividuals, we're gonna match
(16:55):
what this new environment is,which involves growing, which
involves changing and so kind ofhelping.
People say, oh, that'sgratitude or wow, I hear you're
grateful in that sometimespeople just need it, whether
it's home or work.
There just needs to be a tagLike that's gratitude, that's
generosity.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
When there's practices of gratitude and
Thanksgiving happening in theworkplace, you're setting
individuals up for the potentialto see and appreciate some of
the same things at home.
When you are helping peopleunderstand the value of some of
the challenging relationships,you may increase a person's
appreciation for therelationships that they have in
(17:37):
their home.
When you are allowing peoplethe opportunity to make
observations around what's goingwell, you're priming them to
make similar observations athome around what's going well.
There there's definitely acarryover from one environment
to the next, no matter how longyou consider your commute to be.
(17:57):
When we can elevate people'sbehaviors and when we can
broaden someone's perspectiveson the positive things happening
around them, we are settingthem up to carry that same
perspective into their homes andwith their families.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well, I like that because, as we know, the
benefits of gratitude extendwell beyond the workplace.
That's right, since we're notjust only these worker robots in
the workplace.
I think we also should talkabout benefits of gratitude
extending beyond the workplaceand how it can be equally
transformative at home.
So there's yet another articleI found from healthychildrenorg,
(18:31):
which is a publication by theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
that found that practicinggratitude with family members
can strengthen those emotionalbonds, create a more positive
atmosphere and help buildresilience.
And for children especially,witnessing gratitude in action
it teaches them empathy,appreciation and kindness,
(18:53):
qualities that I think carryforward into many areas of life
and, hopefully, are ones that ifyou start early, we'll build
with them to later in life.
Expressing gratitude as afamily can also be as simple as
just sharing one thing you'regrateful for each day, perhaps
around the dinner table orbefore bed.
I think, over time, that whenwe build these type of habits
into our daily life, these smallmoments of appreciation can
(19:15):
deepen family relationships andcreate a home environment that
feels both supportive and joyfuland I think joy is a good thing
and also in both work and homesettings, gratitude reminds us
to value each other and thepositive contributions that
everyone brings.
And if I'd love to hear aworkplace example, you have
something that our family triesto do at home not every day
(19:37):
because our schedule is crazy,but the days that we do it I can
definitely tell that the kidsseem to be in a better move.
But around the dinner table wedo this thing called high low
Buffalo and it's like hi, what'sone thing that went well or one
thing you're grateful for.
Today the low isn't just likesomething that's bad happened,
it's like what could maybe youhave done differently.
And then Buffalo is justsomething random, which always
(20:00):
tends to be like that fun thing.
And whenever we do that, thereis this, this palpable
difference in how bedtime goes,how we all sleep.
And, brian, linda, I'm curiousif you have in the workplace you
shared an example earlier alittle bit, but is there I don't
know an activity or an exampleof a client you've worked with
that had their version of highlow Buffalo that has seen some
(20:22):
sort of beneficial results?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Oh, yes, we have people that they do the rosebud
thorn.
Ah, sure, you know the greatthing and the thing that's
growing and the thing thatpeople that they do the rosebud
thorn.
Ah, sure, you know the greatthing and the thing that's
growing and the thing that theydidn't like.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, which is pretty simple, but I think can be
applied and there's obviousbenefits here.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, the consolation desolation like good thing
highlight low light or somethingyou're looking forward to.
Usually, a prompt just helpspeople have a chance to think
into something.
In particular, as you weresharing some of the workplace
examples, I was thinking aboutsomething that we had started at
Leadership Vision, probablyabout 10 years ago, and that was
(21:00):
this practice of gratitude.
So we just spend a lot of timewhen we're working with a group
I was going to say even a largegroup, but it's usually small
groups, even small, even in agroup I was gonna say even a
large group, but it's usuallysmall groups, even small, even
in a group of eight will willbreak people up into pairs and
get them talking.
We do know that people doingthe talking are doing the
learning.
So we want to give peopleenough of a chance to to really
(21:24):
learn and wrestle with whatevermaterial and bond with whoever's
on the team with them.
And it's always awkward tryingto bring people back.
Or you know, people arestanding up and they're chatting
with a neighbor, or they havetheir materials and they're, you
know, recounting or answeringthe different prompts that we've
(21:45):
asked them.
At some point we just pause andwe get everyone back and
there's that awkward like whatdo we do when we need to go back
to our seat, and so, instead ofgoing back to your seat, I
started this practice, justcalled all right, thank your
partner, and then sometimes I'lljoke.
You don't have to swing yourpartner, but even in big groups.
(22:08):
When I say okay, thank yourpartner, head back to your seats
to hear all the resoundingthank yous that almost like
ripple in a room.
When people are expressing thatgratitude, it is almost a act
of reminding ourselves, likejust looking someone in the eye.
It's a.
It helps with transition, CauseI don't know what to say, like
(22:31):
hey, well, maybe I'll ask youagain about that later.
Or bye, um, instead it's thankyou, and we have found that even
by the end of our session.
Sometimes we're like all right,head back to your seats and
they will say thank you, noteven prompted by us.
So giving people a place topractice expressing gratitude is
(22:51):
really important.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So by now it should be obvious of the benefits of
gratitude, but I think what wewant to share with our listeners
is how do we make thispractical?
How do we actually turn thesebig ideas into daily habits or
practices that they can do bothby themselves and with a team or
a family or whatever it is.
So, brian, linda, I'm going toshare five simple questions that
(23:17):
each have kind of a largerfocus.
I'll put this in the show notesif people want to print off a
PDF and do it around theThanksgiving table or some other
table, if they're listening toit at another time of the year.
But then what I'm going to askeach of you to do is which of
these five questions maybestrike a nerve with you today
and, I don't know, maybe if youwant to share it.
(23:39):
So here's five reflectivequestions that you can ask at
the beginning of the day, end ofthe day, once a week, whatever
it is, and again, these caneither be focused on the
individual or team.
So the first one is a personalreflection what am I most
grateful for today and why?
Number two is more growthfocused.
What challenges have helped megrow recently?
(24:01):
What I love about this one is,it takes a challenge.
Instead of saying this isreally hard, it says how did
this help me grow?
Number three is aboutrelationship building.
Who in my life has made apositive impact and have I
thanked them?
Going back to earlier, what youwere saying, linda, about just
thanking people, I think, issometimes forgotten about.
The fourth one here has to doaround, like shifting your
(24:23):
perspective on things.
What small moments brought mejoy this week?
I think sometimes we can forgetthat every little thing that we
do is an opportunity for joy orgratitude.
And the fifth one, which I have, futuristic, as one of my
strengths I love thinking aboutthis it's this future gratitude.
So ask yourself or your team,what am I looking forward to and
(24:43):
can I appreciate it now?
We have a big, fun family tripcoming up in a couple of months.
How do I appreciate that now?
How do I think about it now?
How do I look forward to that,anticipating those little
moments of joy.
I think that can be a reallyuplifting place to focus on.
So, of those five questions,melinda, I'm gonna put you on
(25:04):
the spot first.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Any one of them kind of strike a nerve with you today
.
Yeah, it's interesting becausethis week I've really sought to
practice gratitude, like almostturn it up a little bit.
I think I have made a point toconnect with some of the leaders
that we are working with andname specifically like why I'm
(25:25):
grateful for them.
Our clients make a positiveimpact not just on the people
that they lead, but they make apositive impact on us, and when
we can catch leaders doing itright and when I have an
opportunity to say this wasgreat and this is what it looked
like, I sent a message to oneof the clients that we work with
(25:46):
and she wrote back somethingthat said this.
She said Linda, you were alwaysgenerous with praise and
gratitude and I want you to know.
I appreciate that.
And I paused because I thoughtI'm not always super generous.
Like it has to, it has to bemeaningful, there has to be,
some, some reason for it, andand so it isn't just like, hey,
(26:10):
good job, hey, thank you forthis.
I want to be specific in sayingwhat is it that I appreciate?
I?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
like that.
Thank you for sharing that.
What about you, Brian?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Today I am drawn to growth-focused.
We are entering into a seasonof our organization where I am
leading part of our businessinto an area that I've never
been involved in or participatedin before.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
A tremendous amount of growth focus at this point.
Of course, I'm grateful for it,because this time of growth in
this season is going to help usreach one of our dreams.
Okay, what I love about.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I want to speak to that.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Nathan.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Can.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I do that Please.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I want to reflect this, brian, because I am
grateful that you've approachedthis growth with gratitude.
I think there's times wheresome of the things that we do in
growth like it feels like ithurts, or it feels like we don't
know what we're doing or therecan be a lot of fear with it,
and I've seen the expressions ofgratitude and I'm thankful for
(27:32):
that.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Thank you, baby, I love that and I'm thankful for
that.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Thank you, baby and Nathan.
Thank you, and thank you forNathan, thank you for um the
ways that you even give us aplatform and a place to dialogue
together, because I I'mgrateful for the synergy of the
three of us.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Oh well, thank you, I I appreciate that and I, um, I
kind of already shared mine withthe future gratitude, but I was
, I've, I've read through thisseveral times in preparation for
that and I kind of alreadyshared mine with the future
gratitude, but I've read throughthis several times in
preparation for that.
And each time something has hitme differently.
Oh, interesting.
And the perspective shift as Iwas reading it, because I
already had my example of thefuture lined up.
Yeah good, but what smallmoments brought me joy this week
(28:09):
.
This has been kind of a roughweek for a variety of different
reasons, and what I like aboutthis is my mind immediately
thought of all these reallysmall things that I'm not going
to list because they justwouldn't mean anything to other
people.
But when you focus on that, youfocus on, like, what's going
well.
And it's not to bePollyanna-ish or ignore, you
know, I'm just going to pretendnone of the bad stuff happened.
(28:30):
But it's like, even in just thewhat has it been 30 minutes of
thinking about this, like huh,okay, like this is good to focus
on this.
And I think you know I won'trehash all that we just read to
you about your neuroscience andall that benefiting your health,
but it's true.
So I think you know thegratitude.
Practicing gratitude has theseundeniable benefits for both our
(28:52):
mental and physical health,strengthens our relationships,
it creates a more positive workculture and I think, especially
for leaders during this seasonof life, this time of year, it's
just can be such a powerfultool for inspiring teams,
fostering resilience and evenimproving our own well being, as
we've said a few times now.
So here's what I want tochallenge the three of us with
(29:13):
and our listeners, is that, aswe enter into the season of
thanks Thanksgiving, christmas,new Year's, whatever- other
holiday that we encourage you topause and reflect on what
gratitude means to you.
But just don't stop there.
Just don't pause and reflect.
Consider how you canincorporate it in more fully
into your daily life and all ofyour interactions.
(29:33):
Eckhart Tolle, who is a teacherand author and a bunch of other
stuff, said that acknowledgingthe good that you already have
in your life is the foundationfor all abundance.
So thank you for being alistener to the Leadership
Vision podcast.
We appreciate you If you foundvalue from this episode or any
of our other material.
We would appreciate it if youcould share it with someone else
that you think might benefitfrom us.
(29:55):
You can find more about us atleadershipvisionconsultingcom.
Subscribe, click the littlebells, do whatever you want to
do to learn more about us.
My name is Nathan Friberg andI'm Linda Schubring.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
And I'm Brian Schubring.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
And on behalf of our entire team, thanks for
listening.
I was going to say happyThanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Happy Thanksgiving Thanks for listening Happy.
Hello and welcome to the Leadership Vision podcast,
our show helping you buildpositive team culture.
Each year since 2014, so 10years now our team here at
Leadership Vision takes a fewmoments to reflect on the things
that we're grateful for Friends, family, health you get the
idea.
We do this because we know, atleast anecdotally, that
gratitude is good for us.
(00:21):
If we can focus on what's goingwell in this topsy-turvy world
that we live in, then maybe thatwill dovetail into a greater
behavior of gratitude.
As writer Anne Lamott says, nowThanksgiving right now is an
obvious time for this sort ofreflection to happen.
But to truly reap the benefitsthat gratitude can bring, we
need to find ways to makegratitude a daily habit.
(00:41):
Today on the podcast, we'regoing to be first making the
case to you as to why gratitudeis good for us and then share
some extremely practical waysyou can make this a daily habit.
We'll talk about theneuroscience of gratitude, why
it's good for our brains, thephysical benefits of gratitude,
the emotional and relationalbenefits of gratitude, why it's
good at the office, why it'sgood at home, and then we're
(01:04):
going to end with five ways tocultivate gratitude in your
daily life.
Let's start by first talkingabout gratitude and your brain.
Gratitude isn't just an abstractconcept.
It's deeply rooted in our brainchemistry.
Research highlighted in theWharton Healthcare article, the
Neuroscience of Gratitude showsthat expressing gratitude
(01:26):
releases dopamine and serotoninneurotransmitters that create
feelings of happiness andwell-being.
In essence, gratitude can shiftour brain toward positivity by
physically changing our neuralpathways.
Neuroscientists call thisprocess neuroplasticity, and it
means that by practicinggratitude, we're literally
wiring our brains to be morepositive.
(01:48):
Gratitude shapes thefoundations of positive thinking
and helps us approachchallenges with resilience.
For leaders, this means thatgratitude can make a tangible
difference in our emotionalresilience, helping us manage
stress and setbacks with greaterease.
Brian, can you think of anyexamples, either from your own
life or leaders that you'veworked with, who do this well?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I can think of many, many examples, but I want to
start with myself, because ifthere's one thing that has
changed in my life or has beenconstantly been shaped and
reshaped, it's the practice ofgratitude.
I had a mentor about 20 yearsago who challenged me to really
(02:30):
begin each of my days with agratitude practice.
Now many people know that Ijournal every single morning and
my mentors invitation was forme to start my journaling with
expressions of gratitude and, ofcourse, me being who I am, I
said grateful for what?
And that was kind of.
(02:50):
The point was just to let it,let myself naturally think about
what I'm grateful for as anindividual and in my
relationships and in mysurrounding.
And, honestly, that practicelasted over 20 years of
consciously connecting to agratitude practice by writing in
a journal, and for me that'swhat really began a change.
(03:13):
And the reason why this isimportant is because oftentimes,
gratitude is offsetting sometype of deficit mindset that we
have, whether it's tellingourselves a negative story about
who we are, or we may havegrown up in a situation where we
were disadvantaged in one wayor another, and I share parts of
both of those stories.
So for me to ground myself inthe beginning of the day with a
(03:35):
gratitude practice really helpsme become more aware of my
perspective, the abundance thatsurrounds me and how I can begin
to reshape how I'm thinkingwith some of the challenges that
I'm facing.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I love that and I can't wait for us to get to some
more of those daily practicesthat can help build gratitude as
a habit.
But the benefits of gratitudedon't stop with our mental
well-being, do they?
I found this article fromHarvard Health Publishing called
Giving Thanks Can Make youHappier, and in it it points out
that gratitude is alsoassociated with better physical
(04:11):
health.
Studies have shown that thosewho practice gratitude regularly
experience improved hearthealth, better sleep and lower
levels of cortisol, which isthat stress hormone that we
don't normally want unless we'rerunning from a wild animal.
It turns out that simply givingthanks can be an important
contributor to our physicalhealth.
There's this big study it'scalled the GRACE study, which is
(04:33):
all on cardiovascular healththat points out that gratitude's
role after an acute coronaryevent found similar results.
And get this, linda patientswho practice gratitude saw
improvements in cardiovascularhealth, lower inflammation
levels and even experiencedfaster recovery times after
heart events.
Now I think this isparticularly valuable for
(04:55):
leaders in high stress roles,where health often takes a back
seat.
By fostering gratitude, we canmitigate some of the physical
impacts of stress.
Linda, can you think of someexamples of leaders that you
have worked with or again, evenpersonally, where this practice
of gratitude has helpedhealth-wise.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yes, nathan, I have many examples, but I want to
start with one that's near anddear to my heart and that is my
mother, and we all know that shelistens to this podcast.
I'm going to give her a shoutout right now because she is
going to be so excited aboutyour findings, nathan, and
reading the study about thecardiovascular benefits of
(05:35):
gratitude, because she can thencount it as exercise.
So, mom, shout out to you, I'mexcited about that.
But, being serious, my motherhas had a specific gratitude
practice.
She is so specific in thethings that she names, she also
journals, she also documentsthat, the things that she sees
(05:57):
in her daily life, that reallycultivates such a grateful heart
, that she that reallycultivates such a grateful heart
.
When she had sort of a heartincident, one of the nurses said
to me like your mother's heartis so good, like it's so clean,
I was like if you only knew.
But really I was raised in ahouse where generosity and
(06:20):
gratitude were a value, and so,once again, to know that there's
health benefits from that, Imean that's the first thing I
think of.
The other thing that I think ofin our clients is that when we
have experienced leaders who canbe very specific about the
things that they are thankfulfor and they can express that to
(06:40):
their teams.
It is a different feel, or adifferent positive health of the
team Leaders that stand up andsay, hey, thanks for being here
is different than thank you fortaking this time, investing in
this way, doing this specificthing, and I like the reframe of
that, how gratitude doesn'tjust.
(07:01):
It isn't just a polite way thatwe practice professional
decorum.
It is a way where we actuallyimpact our physical health.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
There's one client that we're working with right
now and they went through, youknow, an entire organization
wide performance evaluation forthis time of year.
That's not odd.
However, they were spendingtime specifically focusing on
saying things that they weregrateful for or recognizing
individual contributions of thepeople that they were doing the
(07:33):
evaluations for.
They were just conscious of thefact that when you begin to
introduce things that are goodand right about people and
express your gratitude andthankfulness for that person
being a part of the team, itdoes set a tone for the
conversation, and that doesn'thave to be reserved just for
performance evaluations.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
That's right, that's right.
I mean, we know gratitude isgood for our brain, we know that
it's good for our overallhealth, but did you also know,
brian Linda, that it's good forour relationships?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
What yeah, tell me more, tell me more, tell me more
.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, ralph Waldo Emerson, the American
philosopher and essayist, and abunch of other things he once
said.
I awoke this morning with devoutthanksgiving for my friends,
the old and the new, and wefound that gratitude strengthens
relationships by helping usrecognize and appreciate the
positive contributions of others, and I just think it's a
(08:28):
profound way to build bondswithin a team or organization or
family or any kind of unit ofpeople.
There's Radius Health, which isa nonprofit mental health and
substance use disorder serviceorganization, notes that
gratitude reduces feelings ofloneliness, it enhances social
connection, among otherrelational benefits, and when we
(08:49):
express genuine gratitude toteam members or family members
or whomever, it creates aculture of appreciation and
acknowledgement, which not onlyboosts morale but it also
reinforces trust and loyalty,and I think that in this way,
this specific way, gratitudebecomes a leadership tool that
fosters deeper connections andcommitment within a team.
(09:10):
Brian and Linda, I'm wonderingif you have any examples of this
from clients that we've workedwith that have really
demonstrated this publicly kindof that idea of appreciation or
acknowledgement, and what sortof benefits you saw from it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Well, going off the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that
you had.
A lot of the work that we do isinvolving reflection of the
relationships and the peoplethat have shaped people's lives.
Now, we're not intentionallyintroducing a gratitude practice
or some kind of exercise onThanksgiving, but it's the
(09:43):
remembering of who brought youto where you are, whether that
was a leader who is making aninvestment in you, whether it
was the parenting system thatraised you or people that were
in the neighborhood where yougrow up, A reminder that
relationships make contributionsto who we are.
When you remember the people,when you begin to tell those
(10:04):
stories, that in and of itselfis an act of gratitude.
Anytime that we can make arelational connection between
individuals that we're workingwith and the people that have
shaped their life, that in andof itself is an act of
thanksgiving for the people thathave brought us to where we're
at today.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Just the other day we were working with an executive
team and we were asking we wereasking these leaders who would,
who has helped them in theirpast um, live out more fully who
they are?
How did, how did um peopleshape the future lean of even
where these leaders findthemselves right now on this
(10:45):
executive team?
And for them to hearken back toearly 20s, mid 20s, when
everything from they were givenfreedom to fail because there
was a relational trust betweenthis person and his supervisor,
whether it's people listening tothe woman that could just see
(11:05):
and orchestrate different groupsof people coming together.
She just could see how it allworks and, even just being an
intern, that future was calledout of her.
Those future places, as theseleaders are giving us examples,
as Brian was mentioned when weasked, they're giving examples
of people that have impactedtheir life for the better.
(11:27):
You can feel gratitude stirredand then we tried to focus it on
then how do you pay thatforward?
How do you be that personstirring, cultivating gratitude
in the people that they'releading?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And that exercise that we did it wasn't
intentional, because in that wedid it in November it was
intentional in that remindingoneself of what we're grateful
for places you in a position ofgiving generously, Because what
we're asking these executives todo was remember who shaped you
(12:08):
and then asking these leaders tolook at their teams and then to
begin to ask questions how canI now pay it forward?
How can I be generous with theposition that I now have and the
opportunities that are herewithin this company?
How can my generosity as aleader invest in the lives of
someone else?
That's where the enhancing ofsocial and relational connection
(12:31):
happens, because the leader isnow saying I see something in
you.
That's a relational connection,and here's how I'm inviting you
to lead.
That's a social connection.
And so there's like two orthree different bounces of
generosity just in seeingsomeone investing in someone and
(12:52):
inviting them to shape thepeople around them.
That's the power of gratitudeand generosity.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Impacting relationships.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
yeah, yeah, I love that and I want to pull back
just a little bit fromrelationships.
We know that teams and familiesand all those things are made
up of all those individualrelationships.
But I want to talk about thebenefits in the workplace and
the home to expressing gratitude.
I found this great article fromWharton Healthcare that
highlights that workplacesencouraging gratitude see higher
(13:21):
levels of job satisfaction andproductivity and teams are more
engaged and experience lowerburnout rates, which I think we
have all experienced a lot andthey're actually more motivated
to go above and beyond in theirroles.
There's this great quote thatwe've probably all heard from
Maya Angelou that says when wegive cheerfully and accept
gratefully, everyone is blessed.
(13:42):
So in a professional settingright, isn't that great.
In a professional setting,gratitude is contagious.
Also, I think leaders thatmodel gratitude set a standard.
They create this workplace likeyou were talking about just a
second ago, where people feelvalued and are more likely to
invest in their roles fully.
Brian, before we get into thebenefits of gratitude at home,
(14:02):
do you have any examples ofworkplace gratitude benefits
practice?
Anything you want to add?
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Sometimes, when you ask people to practice gratitude
, it seems almost formulaic andmechanical, and this practice of
gratitude can be somethingreally easy, as in asking people
like how things went or what'shappening around them or what's
something that you're working onright now.
I think people want to sharethe challenges, yes, and they
also want to share what's goingwell.
I think people want to sharethe challenges, yes, and they
(14:30):
also want to share what's goingwell.
We have a client right now thatwe have a great opportunity to
invest in their mid-levelleaders, and we have the chance
to spend hour-long conversationsover a period of weeks with
these leaders, and when youbegin to ask them what's going
on and how are they feelingright now, it seems like
everyone is talking about howthey feel great that they were
(14:50):
chosen to be invested in now.
That is an expression ofgratitude.
I didn't ask them like what areyou grateful for?
But giving people theopportunity to recognize what's
happening around them in apositive way, they'll say out
loud what it is that they'regood they're grateful for with,
without you having to really askthem.
It's just the way you'reapproaching it.
There's another client we haveand we again working with a
(15:12):
bunch of their leaders, andthey've just gone through a
complete remodel of theirorganization, and what this
remodel did was it reminded themhow much their previous
environment sucked like, howmuch just working in the
environment that they were inwasn't working.
And it seems that this team isgoing through this moment of
(15:35):
extreme gratitude for how nicetheir working environment is and
how they feel around theircolleagues and the invitation to
share time in different placeswith team members.
You can feel the energy intheir voice because they're
thankful for the opportunity towork in a nice environment where
(15:55):
they have the equipment and thespaces necessary to do the work
that our modern workplaces arerequired.
Even there, just asking peopleto just reflect on what is going
on around them, that's having apositive impact on them.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
You'll hear expressions of gratitude on
around them that's having apositive impact on them.
You'll hear expressions ofgratitude, which is so
interesting because, brian, asyou were talking, I was going
through the whole list of allthe clients that we have, and
there's several of them thathave changed environments, that
they have either moved into anew office or renovated some
building.
And what's unique and commonabout these different clients
(16:33):
across different industries isthat they aren't just worried
about the stuff and the nicethings they want to.
They want to make sure thatthey preserve the culture and
they cultivate a culture wherepeople are invested in.
And it's not just because it'snice, but we're gonna, as as a
team and as in as leaders and asindividuals, we're gonna match
(16:55):
what this new environment is,which involves growing, which
involves changing and so kind ofhelping.
People say, oh, that'sgratitude or wow, I hear you're
grateful in that sometimespeople just need it, whether
it's home or work.
There just needs to be a tagLike that's gratitude, that's
generosity.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
When there's practices of gratitude and
Thanksgiving happening in theworkplace, you're setting
individuals up for the potentialto see and appreciate some of
the same things at home.
When you are helping peopleunderstand the value of some of
the challenging relationships,you may increase a person's
appreciation for therelationships that they have in
(17:37):
their home.
When you are allowing peoplethe opportunity to make
observations around what's goingwell, you're priming them to
make similar observations athome around what's going well.
There there's definitely acarryover from one environment
to the next, no matter how longyou consider your commute to be.
(17:57):
When we can elevate people'sbehaviors and when we can
broaden someone's perspectiveson the positive things happening
around them, we are settingthem up to carry that same
perspective into their homes andwith their families.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well, I like that because, as we know, the
benefits of gratitude extendwell beyond the workplace.
That's right, since we're notjust only these worker robots in
the workplace.
I think we also should talkabout benefits of gratitude
extending beyond the workplaceand how it can be equally
transformative at home.
So there's yet another articleI found from healthychildrenorg,
(18:31):
which is a publication by theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
that found that practicinggratitude with family members
can strengthen those emotionalbonds, create a more positive
atmosphere and help buildresilience.
And for children especially,witnessing gratitude in action
it teaches them empathy,appreciation and kindness,
(18:53):
qualities that I think carryforward into many areas of life
and, hopefully, are ones that ifyou start early, we'll build
with them to later in life.
Expressing gratitude as afamily can also be as simple as
just sharing one thing you'regrateful for each day, perhaps
around the dinner table orbefore bed.
I think, over time, that whenwe build these type of habits
into our daily life, these smallmoments of appreciation can
(19:15):
deepen family relationships andcreate a home environment that
feels both supportive and joyfuland I think joy is a good thing
and also in both work and homesettings, gratitude reminds us
to value each other and thepositive contributions that
everyone brings.
And if I'd love to hear aworkplace example, you have
something that our family triesto do at home not every day
(19:37):
because our schedule is crazy,but the days that we do it I can
definitely tell that the kidsseem to be in a better move.
But around the dinner table wedo this thing called high low
Buffalo and it's like hi, what'sone thing that went well or one
thing you're grateful for.
Today the low isn't just likesomething that's bad happened,
it's like what could maybe youhave done differently.
And then Buffalo is justsomething random, which always
(20:00):
tends to be like that fun thing.
And whenever we do that, thereis this, this palpable
difference in how bedtime goes,how we all sleep.
And, brian, linda, I'm curiousif you have in the workplace you
shared an example earlier alittle bit, but is there I don't
know an activity or an exampleof a client you've worked with
that had their version of highlow Buffalo that has seen some
(20:22):
sort of beneficial results?
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Oh, yes, we have people that they do the rosebud
thorn.
Ah, sure, you know the greatthing and the thing that's
growing and the thing thatpeople that they do the rosebud
thorn.
Ah, sure, you know the greatthing and the thing that's
growing and the thing that theydidn't like.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, which is pretty simple, but I think can be
applied and there's obviousbenefits here.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
Yeah, the consolation desolation like good thing
highlight low light or somethingyou're looking forward to.
Usually, a prompt just helpspeople have a chance to think
into something.
In particular, as you weresharing some of the workplace
examples, I was thinking aboutsomething that we had started at
Leadership Vision, probablyabout 10 years ago, and that was
(21:00):
this practice of gratitude.
So we just spend a lot of timewhen we're working with a group
I was going to say even a largegroup, but it's usually small
groups, even small, even in agroup I was gonna say even a
large group, but it's usuallysmall groups, even small, even
in a group of eight will willbreak people up into pairs and
get them talking.
We do know that people doingthe talking are doing the
learning.
So we want to give peopleenough of a chance to to really
(21:24):
learn and wrestle with whatevermaterial and bond with whoever's
on the team with them.
And it's always awkward tryingto bring people back.
Or you know, people arestanding up and they're chatting
with a neighbor, or they havetheir materials and they're, you
know, recounting or answeringthe different prompts that we've
(21:45):
asked them.
At some point we just pause andwe get everyone back and
there's that awkward like whatdo we do when we need to go back
to our seat, and so, instead ofgoing back to your seat, I
started this practice, justcalled all right, thank your
partner, and then sometimes I'lljoke.
You don't have to swing yourpartner, but even in big groups.
(22:08):
When I say okay, thank yourpartner, head back to your seats
to hear all the resoundingthank yous that almost like
ripple in a room.
When people are expressing thatgratitude, it is almost a act
of reminding ourselves, likejust looking someone in the eye.
It's a.
It helps with transition, CauseI don't know what to say, like
(22:31):
hey, well, maybe I'll ask youagain about that later.
Or bye, um, instead it's thankyou, and we have found that even
by the end of our session.
Sometimes we're like all right,head back to your seats and
they will say thank you, noteven prompted by us.
So giving people a place topractice expressing gratitude is
(22:51):
really important.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So by now it should be obvious of the benefits of
gratitude, but I think what wewant to share with our listeners
is how do we make thispractical?
How do we actually turn thesebig ideas into daily habits or
practices that they can do bothby themselves and with a team or
a family or whatever it is.
So, brian, linda, I'm going toshare five simple questions that
(23:17):
each have kind of a largerfocus.
I'll put this in the show notesif people want to print off a
PDF and do it around theThanksgiving table or some other
table, if they're listening toit at another time of the year.
But then what I'm going to askeach of you to do is which of
these five questions maybestrike a nerve with you today
and, I don't know, maybe if youwant to share it.
(23:39):
So here's five reflectivequestions that you can ask at
the beginning of the day, end ofthe day, once a week, whatever
it is, and again, these caneither be focused on the
individual or team.
So the first one is a personalreflection what am I most
grateful for today and why?
Number two is more growthfocused.
What challenges have helped megrow recently?
(24:01):
What I love about this one is,it takes a challenge.
Instead of saying this isreally hard, it says how did
this help me grow?
Number three is aboutrelationship building.
Who in my life has made apositive impact and have I
thanked them?
Going back to earlier, what youwere saying, linda, about just
thanking people, I think, issometimes forgotten about.
The fourth one here has to doaround, like shifting your
(24:23):
perspective on things.
What small moments brought mejoy this week?
I think sometimes we can forgetthat every little thing that we
do is an opportunity for joy orgratitude.
And the fifth one, which I have, futuristic, as one of my
strengths I love thinking aboutthis it's this future gratitude.
So ask yourself or your team,what am I looking forward to and
(24:43):
can I appreciate it now?
We have a big, fun family tripcoming up in a couple of months.
How do I appreciate that now?
How do I think about it now?
How do I look forward to that,anticipating those little
moments of joy.
I think that can be a reallyuplifting place to focus on.
So, of those five questions,melinda, I'm gonna put you on
(25:04):
the spot first.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Any one of them kind of strike a nerve with you today
.
Yeah, it's interesting becausethis week I've really sought to
practice gratitude, like almostturn it up a little bit.
I think I have made a point toconnect with some of the leaders
that we are working with andname specifically like why I'm
(25:25):
grateful for them.
Our clients make a positiveimpact not just on the people
that they lead, but they make apositive impact on us, and when
we can catch leaders doing itright and when I have an
opportunity to say this wasgreat and this is what it looked
like, I sent a message to oneof the clients that we work with
(25:46):
and she wrote back somethingthat said this.
She said Linda, you were alwaysgenerous with praise and
gratitude and I want you to know.
I appreciate that.
And I paused because I thoughtI'm not always super generous.
Like it has to, it has to bemeaningful, there has to be,
some, some reason for it, andand so it isn't just like, hey,
(26:10):
good job, hey, thank you forthis.
I want to be specific in sayingwhat is it that I appreciate?
I?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
like that.
Thank you for sharing that.
What about you, Brian?
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Today I am drawn to growth-focused.
We are entering into a seasonof our organization where I am
leading part of our businessinto an area that I've never
been involved in or participatedin before.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
A tremendous amount of growth focus at this point.
Of course, I'm grateful for it,because this time of growth in
this season is going to help usreach one of our dreams.
Okay, what I love about.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I want to speak to that.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Nathan.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Can.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
I do that Please.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I want to reflect this, brian, because I am
grateful that you've approachedthis growth with gratitude.
I think there's times wheresome of the things that we do in
growth like it feels like ithurts, or it feels like we don't
know what we're doing or therecan be a lot of fear with it,
and I've seen the expressions ofgratitude and I'm thankful for
(27:32):
that.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Thank you, baby, I love that and I'm thankful for
that.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Thank you, baby and Nathan.
Thank you, and thank you forNathan, thank you for um the
ways that you even give us aplatform and a place to dialogue
together, because I I'mgrateful for the synergy of the
three of us.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Oh well, thank you, I I appreciate that and I, um, I
kind of already shared mine withthe future gratitude, but I was
, I've, I've read through thisseveral times in preparation for
that and I kind of alreadyshared mine with the future
gratitude, but I've read throughthis several times in
preparation for that.
And each time something has hitme differently.
Oh, interesting.
And the perspective shift as Iwas reading it, because I
already had my example of thefuture lined up.
Yeah good, but what smallmoments brought me joy this week
(28:09):
.
This has been kind of a roughweek for a variety of different
reasons, and what I like aboutthis is my mind immediately
thought of all these reallysmall things that I'm not going
to list because they justwouldn't mean anything to other
people.
But when you focus on that, youfocus on, like, what's going
well.
And it's not to bePollyanna-ish or ignore, you
know, I'm just going to pretendnone of the bad stuff happened.
(28:30):
But it's like, even in just thewhat has it been 30 minutes of
thinking about this, like huh,okay, like this is good to focus
on this.
And I think you know I won'trehash all that we just read to
you about your neuroscience andall that benefiting your health,
but it's true.
So I think you know thegratitude.
Practicing gratitude has theseundeniable benefits for both our
(28:52):
mental and physical health,strengthens our relationships,
it creates a more positive workculture and I think, especially
for leaders during this seasonof life, this time of year, it's
just can be such a powerfultool for inspiring teams,
fostering resilience and evenimproving our own well being, as
we've said a few times now.
So here's what I want tochallenge the three of us with
(29:13):
and our listeners, is that, aswe enter into the season of
thanks Thanksgiving, christmas,new Year's, whatever- other
holiday that we encourage you topause and reflect on what
gratitude means to you.
But just don't stop there.
Just don't pause and reflect.
Consider how you canincorporate it in more fully
into your daily life and all ofyour interactions.
(29:33):
Eckhart Tolle, who is a teacherand author and a bunch of other
stuff, said that acknowledgingthe good that you already have
in your life is the foundationfor all abundance.
So thank you for being alistener to the Leadership
Vision podcast.
We appreciate you If you foundvalue from this episode or any
of our other material.
We would appreciate it if youcould share it with someone else
that you think might benefitfrom us.
(29:55):
You can find more about us atleadershipvisionconsultingcom.
Subscribe, click the littlebells, do whatever you want to
do to learn more about us.
My name is Nathan Friberg andI'm Linda Schubring.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
And I'm Brian Schubring.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
And on behalf of our entire team, thanks for
listening.
I was going to say happyThanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Happy Thanksgiving Thanks for listening Happy.
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