Feel Better Right Now with Gratitude

You can start feeling better, lower your stress, lower your resting heart rate, and even decrease inflammation in your body right now.  

Sounds too simple?

In this podcast, we explore how the practice of Gratitude can do all this and more for you.  

The blog post that covers the 5 Reiki Precepts can be found at this link.

Here is a link to the Pubmed Search Database on Gratitude:

Pubmed search on Gratitude

The book "21-Day Meditation Journey" can be found at this link.

The 21 Day Meditation Challenge can be found at this link.

Welcome to the Art of Healing Podcast community.  This podcast is devoted to helping you find what works on your journey to health and wellness.  This podcast is devoted to providing information on many healing modalities.  Learn more about:

• Reiki
• Functional Medicine
• Meditation
• Energy Healing

and more!

Learn more about Dr. Charlyce here. 

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:55

Hello, and welcome back to the Art of Healing Podcast. This is Charise. And for today's episode, we are going to discuss the role of gratitude. Um, particularly I wanna discuss the role of gratitude in the practice of Reiki, but this is a good topic as far as gratitude in every part of life. Um, I had done a blog post, um, some time ago, probably about three or four months ago, where I wanted to explore the five reiki precepts. For listeners that aren't familiar with these, um, the practice of reiki has a few cornerstones that help create the foundation of the practice. So one of these are called the five Reiki precepts. Of course, Reiki practitioners will be familiar with these, but for the rest of us, those five precepts are very simple. The way that I think of them are, there are two of the precepts direct us to do things that we want to do less of, and two of the precepts encourage us to do things we want to do more of, or sorry, three of the precepts are things that we want to do. So two, are are negative, we need those less, and three are positive. We want to do those more. And when I was doing my training and learning reiki, I approached it that way to help myself remember. So the five Reiki precepts are, do not worry, do not get angry, work hard, be kind to others, be grateful. So of course, the two that we want to do less of are, uh, we want to worry less, we want to get angry less. And then the three we want to do more of are be kind to all living beings, uh, work hard, um, and to be grateful. So, um, of all those precepts, the being grateful is one that I think we can all agree can impact our lives in a positive way in so many ways. So it's always worth exploring the role of gratitude and what role it plays in your life. I am finding myself, uh, in definitely the past year, um, engaging in the practice of gratitude, probably more than ever. And I think this is because there has been so many times, um, in the past year as a practicing physician or since the start of the pandemic, that at times I really felt some helplessness for myself, for my patients, especially during those uncertain times at the beginning of the pandemic where there were so few answers. And, um, it was apparent that, you know, this virus was really going to impact us, and we had so few answers. So, um, gratitude for me in difficult times, but then in good times, seems to serve as a stabilizer, sort of to help return me back to the midline of how I'm feeling. So, um, when I felt extremely nervous and wondered what was going to happen, all of us, um, I would engage gratitude at that point by being grateful at least that I was there. At least I could answer some questions for myself, my patients, my family, my clients, um, being grateful for those that were healthy. And then as we got further into the pandemic, definitely being grateful for these survivors that I could learn from the, those that contracted the virus and recovered from it. And, um, definitely as patients, they were, um, I have to say, I, I really felt like so many of them were extremely giving in their advice that I could use to help my other patients. Things that found, they found helped them, experiences that they had in their symptoms. Um, I took care of quite a few, um, healthcare workers that contracted the virus, especially at the beginning. And I was really profoundly amazed at, um, their loving attitude towards their experience of having been exposed and contracted this virus, and then being more than willing to share, um, what helped get, get them through these rough times. And then I was grateful that in a way I was sort of a conduit to help them, uh, to their taking their information to help those later that would contract the virus. So, in one way, if you're going through something that's unpleasant, painful, uncomfortable, um, there's always something you can take from the experience that can help you be grateful. So I know for me, that was one, one place that it really seemed to help when, and it's not that I've always felt that I had all the answers or, or anything like that. Uh, definitely I think for all of us, the older you get, and then of course in practice of medicine, um, I'm finding that is day by day. There is much more that I really don't know than, than I do know. But, um, definitely I could take gratitude and at least being there, being a conduit that could help even though I didn't have the definitive answers. Of course, when things are going great in your life and you're vibing and everything's clicking into place and you're in alignment, um, that's a nice time to soak up all the gratitude that you have for your life yourself. Those that you love, um, maybe those that you don't like, even there's, you can actually get grateful for someone you're not, you know, especially crazy about or even challenges you or that you just may dislike. Um, that's an interesting way to see it because those kind of relationships often are teaching you something about yourself in the world. And I, I found being grateful in a difficult relationship helps me to learn about myself. So of course, when things are going well, um, that's an awesome time. And of course, an easy time to be grateful for who you are, where you are in life, what's happening next. Um, especially if you've got, you know, a nice upcoming event or something you're looking forward to, that's a great time to have gratitude for a vacation or gratitude for a promotion or gratitude because you're closing on a house. So, you know, and I think in those times, um, you can bottle up your gratitude and share it, not necessarily like you're bragging, but I think a good way to see those times is maybe take those emotions, kind of meditate on it, and then let it sort of glow outside of you so that maybe some of your good vibes can roll off to someone else. Maybe even in like small talk. Or if you're grabbing a coffee somewhere, maybe some of your goodness can spread to someone that may be really needing it. Then, of course. And, um, I wonder, I've often wonder if this might be the most challenging, is finding gratitude in times of boredom or stagnation. I think we all have times in life where we feel like we're not moving ahead or maybe feel stuck or maybe internally we're sort of wishing or wanting for a change, but it's not arrived yet or it's not there yet for a number of reasons. And although I think probably finding gratitude during difficult times cuz the emotions are strong, can come easily. Finding gratitude in times when things are going well is very easy. But I personally feel that finding times, finding gratitude in times of stagnation or when things are sort of slowing down, aren't moving, that might be the most challenging. Um, we as humans are sort of primed for patterns, challenges. We look for them, we, we breed them and we create them. Absolutely. So when we get to those times when things seem to be at a halt, it can, and you feel restless, that can be when it's hardest to find some gratitude for that experience. Um, I, myself, I I definitely think I suffer from that and feeling like, Oh, what's gonna happen next? Let's, you know, let's get something going. But, um, maybe the way to approach that is finding gratitude for that silence and that peace. And maybe seeing that as times of like, well, you're not being called to do something else, or there's not a challenge, or it's not some high drama coming up. So you can use that quiet time to build gratitude for even the tiniest things like your, your home, your health, your decorations, you know, just little things like that. It certainly can't create any harm. The practice of gratitude is frequently done in several types of meditation, and one of the things that we know about gratitude is that it definitely helps to improve the overall mood when it's been used in mindfulness meditation, It creates a sense of calm. Medical science as well as psychological science has been taking an interest in meditation as a health intervention, a behavioral health intervention for decades now. And, um, it's pretty interesting. There's a, um, database, um, that I use frequently that's, um, and how I like to, I often forget to advise people, um, that it's open to the public. It's called PubMed. Um, and it is, it's completely free. It's, um, a research database where many medical and scientific, um, of research documents go. So, um, just outta curiosity, I decided to do a, a search on just gratitude, um, which is kind of a fun thing to put into a database like PubMed, where your top research topics will be coronavirus 19 interventions, cancer interventions, myocardial infarction interventions. So usually very hard science to quote. But, um, I did a search on just gratitude just to see what would come up. And pretty interesting. There were actually about 600 relevant studies on the practice of gratitude. Um, one study in particular, which is called the Positive Psychology and Gratitude Interventions, a randomized clinical trial, um, study participants were grouped into two primary groups, one in which the group was tasked with keeping a gratitude journal and one that kept a journal of just neutral events for about two weeks. And this is interesting, the study showed that the individuals that kept a gratitude journal overall showed a little bit of an improvement in their affect. They felt happier, they felt more life satisfaction, and it reduced, um, feelings of depression and negative emotions. So that's pretty fascinating cuz something as simple as a gratitude journal, um, created measurable changes in these inter these individuals. There is another interesting study looking at the effect of gratitude meditation on the neural networks and the brain heart coupling where the researchers looked to see what effect, um, gratitude interventions had on the heart rate. And this is very interesting that, um, gratitude actually showed the individuals how to decrease in their heart rate, implying that they had an overall decrease in their stress levels. So, um, and I'll make sure to include in my show notes, uh, some of this research, but, um, I find that very interesting. It's such a simple, um, act, um, in, in healthcare, especially in the healthcare that's based in behavioral health. But I'm a primary care doctor. Um, it, um, I think many individuals would be surprised how often, um, I am diagnosing and treating, um, mental health illnesses. And it's actually quite common, becoming more common, fortunately because of the pandemic. So I think it's nice to, um, shine the light on a really simple intervention, um, in which, um, you can use just gratitude to improve your mind and your mood and your body immediately. In my book 21 Day Meditation Journey, um, I outline daily activities that, uh, can be performed. Um, the purpose of my book is to help individuals who are wanting to get into meditation or those that maybe have been meditating and are wanting sort of a, a program or something to do daily or wanting to return to their practice. So I created 21 Simple exercises, um, to help. And, um, in one of the chapters, Day 12, the meditation exercise is actually gratitude journaling. So, um, even as you're listening to this podcast or, um, you know, definitely something you can do later on your own time when you're doing a gratitude journal, it's very simple. Um, you get your journal or something right with, if you don't normally keep a journal, um, you set a timer. Um, in terms of a meditation practice, I really like the idea of setting a timer. It removes a layer of stress so that you don't stress yourself about doing the activity until something else happens. So even if you're just gonna do a simple gravitation journaling, I would recommend setting a timer depending on your comfort level. Um, I'm usually recommending five minutes for someone that doesn't normally meditate. Um, otherwise I think it's good to set it for 10 to 15 minutes if you are comfortable with sitting still and, um, you know, quiet. Um, an aspect of my book that I reinforce, um, pretty frequently is that, um, when you're getting ready to do one of these exercises and you're setting your attention, you wanna try to set yourself up well, or as I call, sit, well, which is, um, if you're gonna be journaling, I assume you'll probably be sitting somewhere. So you may wanna plant your feet firmly, or if you wanna sit cross-legged on the floor, um, you can and just make sure you're planted firmly. And then maybe even doing a couple seated cat cows, which helps to open up the spine and on a deeper level opens up the energy channels. And then you simply grab your journal. Um, you may want to take three deep mindful breaths with your eyes closed, and then just say to yourself, I'm going to write down everything I'm grateful for within the time that you've allotted. And then you just simply start to write. And, um, I encourage you when you do this gratitude journaling, try not to limit yourself. Whatever comes up, simply write it down as quickly as you can. You don't wanna place any limits on what you're doing because, um, later you're gonna review this and the little things may add up to really nice big picture. So with the completion, when your timer goes off, then you'll read over your, your journal, have a look, and, um, you don't need to act on it, you're just gonna look at it. But then sometimes you might wanna maybe snap a picture with your cell phone or just keep the list with you throughout the day. And then you can be, um, reviewing that list. Or, um, if you're, you get fancy with it, you can pull things from the list and use one of the graphic design tools like Canva or something like that and put'em on a pretty picture and make a wallpaper for your cell phone. Or, um, you know, you can, you know, go wild with it. And actually I think you really should because that gratitude, you putting that positive energy into the list is gonna feed back into you. And we now have a huge body of, of scientific literature that tells us that it's good for your body. And then of course you'll know that it's good for your soul. So once again, thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. Um, I will make sure to put links for the, um, the scientific articles that I pulled, as well as if you're ever interested, um, the, the database that I frequently use. Um, I am excited that my book 21 Day Meditation Journey is now available on Amazon, so I will make sure to place a link there. Um, if you're interested. And as always, I do have a 21 day meditation challenge that's available at healing arts health and wellness.com. So definitely check those out if that's something you're interested in and to close. I am very grateful for, for my listeners, I am so grateful that you open up your ears and open up your heart to listen to me during this time in your day. So as you listen, I do want you to know that in my gratitude journaling, you are in it. Um, definitely the time that you spend with me. I know we are all busy. I know individuals, you all have so much to do, so believe me, I am grateful for you being a listener. Thank you so much. Thank you for listening to The Art of Healing. And until next week, we'll reconnect Byebye.