Let's connect!
Molly B Duncan Health Coach
  • Home
  • About
  • Health Coaching
    • FAQ's
    • Testimonials
  • Classes
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • FAVORITES

One Simple Action to Turn a Bad Week Into A Good One

7/18/2017

0 Comments

 
PictureHas anyone seen my vitamins?

Last week, parts of my life resembled the lyrics to a depressing country song.  My parents' dog died (RIP Doc).  My car sustained damage while being serviced at the dealer.  Our fire alarm, hardwired into the electrical, would not shut off for hours no matter what I tried. This caused the dog to have anxiety ... for all of those hours. I received an empty bubble package from Amazon, slashed in the middle, lacking the vitamins I ordered.  I pinched a nerve in my shoulder and had severe pain from my neck down my right arm for most of four days.  Every one of those things in and of itself would have been trying, but compress them all into Monday through Wednesday, and my catastrophic thinker had me full-on believing that it was a bad week.  A very bad week.  

And I have a dark side so it is very easy for me to get depressed (so familiar) and decide I am a victim (so comfortable and yet so boring).  But I know that while it was a trying a week, it was not a bad week.  I know that every single one of us is going to have one of those weeks from time to time.  As my mother reminds me, no person is immune from tragedy or trauma.   Last week contained neither tragedy nor trauma. 

So how did I turn last week around and not surrender my happiness to events somewhat out of my control?  The simple answer is gratitude.

On Tuesday (before the fire alarm situation had even occurred), Brian and I were going for a pre-dinner walk with the dog.  It was lovely out, neither too hot nor too warm, lots of flowers blooming, and generally pleasant.  I turned to Brian and I said, "You got to help me get out of my head about all of these things going wrong this week.  I need to do some quick-fire gratitude right now."  

Gratitude is one of the easiest things for me to do, express, and embrace.  I talk to clients about it all the time.  Gratitude helps you focus on what is going right, not what is going wrong.  It keeps you in the present moment noticing all the blessings in your life.  Studies show that grateful people are generally happier.  As an aside, they also are in better physical health.  

Your brain patterns are not set.  Gratitude is one way to shift your thought patterns away from catastrophic thinking and towards being focused on the positive.  This does not mean spiritually bypassing your feelings and not getting upset when things go wrong.  By all means, feel your feelings.  It does mean not letting them consume you or blowing things out of proportion.  Gratitude, I've found, is great for perspective.

With Brian, while walking the dog, I listed as many things as I could think of that I was grateful for in that moment.  There were so many more things I was grateful for than the handful of weird things that went wrong last week.   As I went deeper and deeper into gratitude, I could feel my shoulders relaxing and my anxiety waning.  By the end of it, I simply felt better.

With my wonderful clients, I talk about gratitude as part of a healthy toolkit.  Mindset is key to achieving goals, ending self-sabotaging habits, and believing in your value.  Some of them have found it effective to keep a gratitude journal.   It's fairly easy, and it either sets you up to have a good day or a good night's sleep.  Here's how you do it:
  • Place a notebook and pen beside your bed.
  • Either before bed or when you awake in the morning, write down two to three things you are grateful for.

​So simple!  And now it's your turn.  How do you tune into your gratitude?

0 Comments

    Author

    Hi friends!  I am Molly.  Welcome to my blog where I share my creations and adventures to help you create a life you love.  I am passionate about food, travel, and health! Thanks for stopping by and looking around.  All photos are taken by me unless otherwise attributed.  I develop and write all my recipes with attribution for inspiration and ideas where applicable.  All of my recipes are gluten free.  

    Archives

    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    Categories

    All
    Breakfast
    Dessert
    Dinner
    Exercise & Fitness
    Gluten Free
    Healthy Living
    Healthy Snacks
    Healthy Travel
    Quick
    Recipes
    Side Dishes
    Skin Care
    Sugar Addiction
    Vegan
    Web Wellness Wednesdays
    Women's Health

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required
    Your data is used in line with our privacy policy.
Health Coaching
Classes
Contact
FAQ
Terms and Conditions
​Disclaimer
Privacy Policy
© COPYRIGHT Molly B Duncan.
​ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Brett Jordan, roseannadana