Mental Mac-and-Cheese
The other day, a friend and CMP newsletter reader named Caroline told me that—nearly a year later—she still thinks about an email our co-founder Erika wrote. The truth is, I do too. Some stories and ideas just stay with you.
So, in case you missed it, or could use a little inspiration today, here it is:
I'm sneaking this missive in before November 1 because once we hit the month of Thanksgiving there is what my grandfather would call a "superfluency" of emails with the word Gratitude in them. I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon but this is a literal example of too much of a good thing!
But it's not yet November, and I did want to chat about Gratitude. One of the things I find most fascinating about Gratitude is that it unlocks so much of what gives our life meaning and boosts our health.
Vast swaths (I'm so glad this is in writing because I never really know how to say "swaths" - feel free to call me and teach me!)... Anyway, studies show that vast swaths of what we need and want to do in life, like learning, being kind to others, sleeping, and feeling healthy rely on our having a sense that our needs have been met for the moment.
The catch is that our beautiful, complex, miraculous brains make it hard for us to have a sense that our needs have been met. Our brains want to make sure we survive, so they keep pointing out potential threats - all the ways that our needs may not be met. This is not a bad thing, just like kale is not a bad thing. But eating kale all the time without some feel-good mac-and-cheese isn't fun either.
Fortunately, over the past 30 years science research has caught up to ancient wisdom and given us a pretty good user manual for our brain and nervous system. In the back of this metaphorical user manual is a section on Basic Care and Maintenance that says something like, "For proper care and maintenance regularly pay attention to the goodness in your life."
So that's why Gratitude is one of the core Community Mindfulness Project practices. Like all the practices, it can be done anywhere, anytime, even for just one round of breath, and needs no special equipment. And the things we're grateful for don't have to be big deals. I mean, there are moments when we could write gushing love poems to the spoon we use to eat our cereal in the morning, or the hot water faucet on our sink. These things we're grateful for don't even have to cost anything or be "ours" - like the bright blue sky, or the soft sound of a pigeon's coo.
Anyway, what floats your boat these days? I'd love to know.
With love,
Erika Long
Co-Founder, Work in Progress, Grateful Human
More mindfulness reflections from our team:
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