Gratitude - Shifting Out Of Negativity Bias

I'm happy to have everyone here to join in on this gratitude practice to bring some positive into our mind's eye and to intentionally choose to focus on some positive and in paying attention to four good things we can outweigh the negative and this is a peace within mindful self-compassion that we call broaden and build and so today in our gratitude practice we're going to be trying to shift that negativity bias that lives within us as humans and trying instead to pay attention to at least four things that are good right now for you four or more things that you are grateful for and slowly seeing how this shift happens within you from a overwhelming negativity to even the slightest bit of release or the slightest bit of joy or hope in practicing gratitude we can open just a little bit more out of the heaviness into even the littlest bit more peace contentment and openness and so start by taking a deep breath in and a breath out starting to get comfortable in a space here for you now where you can settle in for the next moments and take this kind care for yourself once you find a spot to settle in getting comfortable maybe a blanket on you or your feet on the ground grounding in maybe during this practice you'd like to offer a soothing touch that could be a hand to your heart or just connecting your hands together and releasing them maybe putting a hand to the stomach we're just gonna start with a few cleansing breaths in this place and feel free to close your eyes if that's available to you once you have completed those big breaths already starting to open up some space you can continue the practice with your hand on your heart or stomach or you can release it now and we're going to bring just an awareness to the tone of mind right now is there a heaviness is there a feeling of overwhelm or general negativity or perhaps you're starting this practice feeling a sense of positivity already if there is a experience that brought on a more negative bias just noticing it knowing that the negative bias is something that lives within us as a survival tactic narrowing in the field and our minds tend to focus on the negative over the positive we can be having a amazing day and then one thing happens later on that is a heavy feeling or creates a heavy feeling or feels negative and it tends to cloud over all the other good in the day and so what we're doing in our practice today is trying to shift that back trying to broaden and build by paying attention to the good really being intentional and choosing things that make you smile things that you're grateful for and it really is a choice to choose gratitude and when we're in gratitude our mind instantly starts to shift out of that way down negativity and into a place with at least a little bit less weight and so breathing in here and breathing out just starting to ask yourself the question what am I grateful for in this moment what am I grateful for in this moment starting to bring to mind things that make you smile something that you really are grateful to have in your life despite the challenges despite the hard pieces just choosing what is good if it's hard to come up with and access some feelings of gratitude right now maybe starting with some of the basic level things that you may have right now do you have a roof over your head is there access to clean water do you have kind and caring humans in your life who are there for you and who love you me choosing one or a few of those pieces to explore and just allowing yourself these moments to try and notice and take some inventory over what you're really feeling grateful for right now what can you be grateful for you can continue this practice as long as you would like if you'd like to make a list and gratitude list of all of these things that came up for you gratitude is a practice that instantly can shift us out of this negative bias even just a little and doesn't need to be a long and in-depth piece can be just a moment or two before you get out of your car in the morning before you close your eyes at night as you're in the shower making dinner just bringing in these moments to be aware and be intentional of the good that is here choosing to shift away from the negative and into what feels good the key to feeling good is to stop feeling bad which can be challenging but gratitude is a practice that helps as a tool to bring us there so slowly bring yourself back into your surroundings and I'm sending you gratitude for taking this moment to practice together today