What Turkey and Pumpkin Pie have in common with resilience and reduced anxiety…

​With thanksgiving just passed, it seems appropriate to bring up the topic of gratitude.  Whilst I haven’t traditionally celebrated Thanksgiving, I've had the pleasure of joining friends at their Thanksgiving celebrations in recent years and was touched by the sentiment of the holiday.  Whilst the food was fantastic it was the moment we went around the table and said what we were grateful for that really stayed with me; I was heartened by all the lovely details that my friends chose to focus on.  Each were experiencing their own challenges in life, but able to see the silver lining.  Some even described their struggles and gave thanks for the resulting learning curve, which was very humbling! 

More recently though, this practice has taken on new meaning, and become such an integral part of my own life, that I also regularly recommend it to clients, and not just for Thanksgiving!  Whilst practising gratitude at Thanksgiving is a wonderful tradition, the act of expressing gratitude on a daily basis can be a truly transformational journey.

In short, gratitude is all about expressing appreciation for what you already have, rather than what you want or desire.  Sometimes gratitude comes naturally, but at other times it is harder to muster.  Like when you’ve just heard that you didn’t get that audition you really wanted, or when you’ve been struggling for weeks to master a new technique with nothing to show for it.  The good news is that gratitude can be deliberately cultivated, and the more time you take to practise gratitude, the more likely you are to find yourself experiencing it in the future.

Why is this relevant to performers?  Striving for lofty goals always brings struggles, hard times and challenges.  Recent research indicates that gratitude can increase our happiness and well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, strengthens the immune system and helps us sleep better, but it can also help us to cope with tough times.  When we are experiencing challenges in our lives, we tend to think more about the bad things that happen to us than the good things.; we pay more attention to what is missing in our lives, than everything we have already.  Gratitude helps to even the playing field, and recognise that it's not all bad.  The more we choose to focus on what we’re grateful for, the more we notice what we would have otherwise missed.  In doing so gratitude builds resilience, which is an essential quality for any successful performer

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” 
Epicurus

As Robert Emmon, a leading researcher of gratitude, explains, gratitude works on two important levels: firstly by affirming the goodness in the world, and secondly by helping us to recognise that the source of this goodness is outside of ourselves.  This external focus is essential for happiness and well-being.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” 
Marcus Tullius Cicero

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How to practise gratitude

Practising gratitude doesn’t have to become another chore on an already long to-do list - it can be experienced in many different ways, and can prove to be a rewarding enjoyable part of your day.  Try some of these ideas:
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A gratitude journal:  Take a few minutes every night to write down five things you were grateful for that day.  They don’t have to be big; you may be grateful your teacher didn’t frown at you as much today, or you finally sang a solid top C, or the sun was shining on your way to your coaching.  Take the time to write each in full.  i.e. “I am grateful for…”.

Express gratitude: Let someone you care for know why you are grateful that they are a part of your life.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” 
William Arthur Ward

Spontaneous gratitude: next time you feel weighed down by troubles, see if you can step aside from it for a short moment and think of a few things you are grateful for… then notice that your mood has lightened, (even if only a little)!

Take a picture: take a photo of something everyday you are grateful for.  At the end of the year you will have an amazing record of all the beauty in your life!  Check out this wonderful example: http://365grateful.com, it’s a beautiful site!

Pay it forward:  If you are grateful for something that has been done for you, why not give the same gift to someone else?  A kind word after a challenging performance, perhaps:)

​So what am I grateful for?

I am grateful for so many things, but perhaps most relevantly; 

• I am grateful for my clients; their successes and fulfilment make all the hard work worthwhile!
• I am grateful that performers are finally receiving the mental preparation necessary to achieve their dreams.
• I am grateful for a wonderful team of supporters that makes this all possible, and 
• I am grateful for the opportunity to share this technique with you:)

​If you’d like to learn more you can sign up to receive blog posts direct to your email.  Alternatively, please click the little ‘like’ symbol below.  Or, if you're ready to tackle your inhibitions to performance head on, contact me to discuss your options and arrange an appointment.

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Amy Radford is a Performance Psychologist based in Sydney, Australia.  She is passionate about translating the latest research from psychology and neuroscience into practical strategies for both peak performance and career satisfaction. 

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