Latest / Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot / Gratitude Unlocked 1/7: When Gratitude Flips the Script. Because even in chaos, you control the switch. #MakingMovesMonday

Transcript

Gratitude Unlocked 1/7: When Gratitude Flips the Script. Because even in chaos, you control the switch. #MakingMovesMonday · Dr. Derek H. Suite MD - The SuiteSpot

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hello there, beautiful souls.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's Dr.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sweet.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to The Sweet Spot, and I'm delighted you're here.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you're back here with us on Making Moves Monday.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, I'm a board certified psychiatrist.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I work in high performance, and yes, that means I get to sit with folks who are doing athletic things, folks who are doing positive things in the executive realm, and folks who are in mission critical positions.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing the stories of individuals who are dedicated to being their best selves.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what I love more than that?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love helping people find calm in the middle of chaos.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I love helping people build a life that actually feels like theirs.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And since it's Making Moves Monday and we're in this whole thing about gratitude, let's start the week, shall we?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at a hidden benefit of gratitude most people never explore.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: That gratitude can flip your stress, flip your stress response in real time.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude has so many benefits, it has so much power, we just don't use it enough.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're not taught how to use it.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's where it changes.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the sweet spot.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: You ever have one of those moments where you can feel stress, feel it, hit your body before you even understand what happened?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Your breathing changes, your shoulders get tense, your mind starts scanning the room or wandering off knowing that something is wrong.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's wild how fast that happens.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And most of us think that we have to ride out the stress until the storm passes.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: But what if I told you gratitude?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I know, strange, that gratitude could help you.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about just saying thank you.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about gratitude, real grounded gratitude that interrupts the spiral of stress faster than you can even realize.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Look, but before we go any further, you know on the sweet spot we love going to the ancient wisdom because we get so much information from ancient wisdom that helps us today.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a line in the ancient wisdom that says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: The older I get, the more I understand that this is about life.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Life is about finding my peace.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Life is about trying to remember the place where calm still exists.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it's a small, tiny place that I can find some calm, it's helpful.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this, my friend, is where gratitude quietly shows up.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Not the I am super thankful kind of gratitude, not that.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I want to be clear about that.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's good to say thanks, but I'm talking about gratitude as a power.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about gratitude helping you figure out tiny things you forgot to notice when you're feeling stressed and you're feeling overwhelmed, and you decide to practice being grateful.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know what happens?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: You start getting grateful for the breath you didn't even know you were holding.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: The friend who checked on you last week.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: A moment that you didn't fall apart, the time that you still stood standing, the trees outside, the fact that you still have the ability to move around.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: That is what gratitude does.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: It pulls your attention back to what's still supporting you when everything else feels shaky, when everything feels like it's coming apart.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And for a lot of us, that shift is the first moment we will feel a reduction in our stress when we exhale, when we are practicing gratitude, and it's so simple, just being conscious that I want to be grateful today, and the science is saying the same thing when you let go, when you let yourself land on one thing, just one thing that you're grateful for, one thing that's steady, one thing that's still good in your life, one thing that you can just say, you know what?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I am grateful for this right now.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: At least I have this.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your nervous system responds almost immediately.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your heart rate starts to settle, your breathing evens out, your muscles will stop bracing for impact.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: As the amygdala, the fear center of the brain, quiet down when you practice gratitude.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like your body says, Okay, we've got something solid to hold on to.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to solve the whole problem.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's the beauty of gratitude.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not trying to solve the problem.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: You just interrupted the anxiety, you're interrupting the negative thinking, the panic, long enough to think clearly again.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: That is how gratitude is a stress interrupter.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the part most people miss.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude isn't about pretending everything is fine, it's about creating a small pocket of steadiness, a small pocket of thankfulness, so that your mind could catch up with the moment, whatever's going on, whatever is overwhelming, whatever feels like it's too much, is it the doctor?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a legal problem?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a financial problem?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it something in your game if you're an athlete that's not going well?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need everything to be okay.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You just need one thing to be okay, and to acknowledge that one thing, and take a moment to be in gratitude about that, and your whole system will recalibrate.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Guaranteed.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a practical tool that I use with my clients, mostly athletes, some law enforcement officers, that actually works.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's called the notice, name, breathe, reset.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Notice, name, breathe, and reset.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you how this works really quickly.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: The first step is to notice.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Pause for a moment if you're feeling stressed, if you're feeling overwhelmed, and just notice.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Feel what your body is doing.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Get in touch, even if it's a bit uncomfortable.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Recognize if your neck is stiff, if your jaw is tight, if you're breathing shallow.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Notice it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's step one.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Step two, pick one steady thing.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't have to be big.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Pick one thing that you're grateful for, one thing that didn't fall apart today, one thing that's still true in your life, one thing that's still working, something that reminds you that you're not alone, you're not completely broken in this moment.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, step one, you noticed it, and step two, you're gonna name the one thing.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Got it?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And now, step three, you breathe.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I know that sounds crazy, but when we are stressed, we stop breathing in many ways, or we breathe super shallow.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So after you've noticed what's going on with you and you're naming the thing that's actually right, you have to acknowledge it with a breath.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Take a nice deep breath in slowly.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's good, and then a long exhale.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Slow inhale all the way in.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's right, and a long exhale.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for some of us, this is the only deep breath we're gonna take all day.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad you did it.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just practice that for 10 seconds.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's all it takes for your nervous system to say, hmm, we're not in danger.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's settle down so we can think again and get back on the job.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, my friend, you now have a reset tool.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know how to name the problem, you know how to breathe, and you know how to let go.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, this is Dr.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Derek Sweet.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for believing that gratitude is not soft anymore, that it can be a strategic tool.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the quickest ways to interpret stress and interrupt it and pull your mind back into its power just by saying, you know what, I'm gonna stop right now and I'm gonna be thankful.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: You can't make me not do that, okay?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be thankful.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So try this reset today, my friend.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Use it before you walk into a room that's tense.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Use it if you're on the field or you're on the court or you have a big game or something is really stressful.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Use it when someone's tone hits you the wrong way.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: You don't like how they're talking to you.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: You reset yourself.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Use it after you've received terrible news.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Use it anytime you feel your body slipping in to super anxiety and stress.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gratitude, my friend, doesn't erase the storm, but it will help you find the part of yourself that can stand in the storm.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So look, I'll see you tomorrow for episode two of this gratitude unlocked series that we're doing, uh, where we're gonna unpack a gratitude skill tomorrow that sharpens your focus and clears all the mental noise.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be a good one.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's for tomorrow, Tuesday, not just any Tuesday, take action Tuesday, and I'll see you then.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Love and blessings.