reality acceptance
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Lesson_6_Choosing_your_attention_and_practicing_gratitude_-_final.pptxSit in Your Groups
While you wait – What are you doing to keep yourself feeling well during midterms?
INSTRUCTOR NOTE: Play music of your choice for about 5 minutes before class begins. We typically choose something upbeat and uplifting.
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Questions
Stone flake on the lake. Imagine that you are by a clear blue lake on a beautiful sunny day. Then imagine that you are a small flake of stone, flat and light. Imagine that you have been tossed out onto the lake and are now gently, slowly, floating through the calm, clear blue water to the lake’s smooth, sandy bottom.
Notice what you see, what you feel as you float down, perhaps in slow circles, floating towards the bottom. As you reach the bottom of the lake, settle your attention there within yourself.
Mindfulness Exercise: Observe
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Choosing Attention and Practicing Gratitude
Lesson 6
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(DeCano & Cook, 2015)
Last week we learned about distress tolerance crisis survival skills and willpower skills, which are APT resources.
Today we’re going to learn the other half of the distress tolerance skills
This week we’re also going to talk about some strategies for cultivating positive emotions
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Summary of the Previous Lesson
Distress tolerance skills help us avoid decisions that will likely make things worse, and are used to accept reality for what is really is
When you cannot change the situation, the problem cannot be solved, then use reality accepting skills
The skill of radical acceptance – helps us to see things as they really are and reduces our suffering
The skill of turning the mind – is used to help us refocus on what truly happened, moving away from willfulness to willingness
Finally, the skill of mindfulness of current thought helps us separate our thoughts from who we really are and that we can simply have thoughts, notice them, and watch them go by – you are not your thoughts (cognitive defusion)
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Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Explain what we pay attention to impacts how we feel and behave
Describe our natural tendency to selectively focus more on negative and bad aspects of life more than the positive and good
Explain how we have the power to intentionally choose to pay attention to more positive aspects of situations
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Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Search and find positive characteristics in others and the silver lining in even the most challenging situations
Practice specific gratitude exercises that have been shown by research to produce a number of beneficial outcomes
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Lesson 6: Glossary Terms
| Lesson 6 Choosing your Attention and Practicing Gratitude | |
| The Cocktail Party Effect (Selective Attention) | Selective attention is defined as “the ability to maintain a cognitive set in the presence of background ‘noise’ or distraction” (Baron, 2004, p. 222). |
| Negative Confirmation Bias | Seeing others or situations through a negative lens and failing to pay attention to the positive (e.g., tunnel or monocular vision). |
| Gratitude | |
| Silver Lining | A sign of hope in an unfortunate or gloomy situation.; a bright prospect. If you talk about a silver lining, you are talking about something positive that comes out of a sad or unpleasant situation. |
| Self-fulfilling Prophecy | The process by which our expectations of another person impact the other person’s behavior in such a way s/he behaves in a way that confirms the expectations |
| Awe in the present moment | Awe, defined as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast and greater than the self, that exceeds current knowledge structures” (Keltner & Haidt, 2003). |
Participation Wk 6 Part 1
Share an example of a time you focused on the negatives in a situation that you later realized was positive.
For example – focusing on the one question you missed on a test rather than on a good overall score.
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Nature of our thoughts
20,000 = the average number of thoughts people have per day.
The majority of people spend more time attending to the negative.
Call out – how many thoughts do you think people have each day?
Psychologists have tracked the average number of thoughts people have a day and the results indicate that 20,000 is the average number of thoughts people have each day. The majority of thoughts people have are neutral, meaning they have no positive or negative valence to them. However, when considering the ratio of negative to positive thoughts, findings indicate that people tend to have 5 negative thoughts for every one positive thought.
The single most powerful way to reshape your brain and thus your mind is to develop greater control of what you pay attention to. This is a relatively simple idea to understand but a rather challenging practice to apply in one’s life because it requires both awareness and effort. Once we learn we have the power to choose to pay more attention to the positive aspects of our lives, the application of this practice becomes easier.
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Sensation and Perception
Sensation: your window to the world through your senses
Perception: interpreting what comes into your window
Let’s break down more of how our attention, and thus our thoughts, actually work.
Sensation refers to the process of sensing our environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. This information is sent to our brains in raw form where perception comes into play. Perception is the way we interpret these sensations and therefore make sense of our experiences. The goal of sensation is detection, the goal of perception is to organize and give meaning to what we are experiencing. Not all sensory input are perceived and interpreted. Attention is what draws our focus on certain portions of our experience versus others. It just so happens that attention plays a critical role in how we feel and behave and determines in large part whether we are resilient or not.
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What Is Attention?
Attention is that which takes possession of the mind.
Stated differently, attention is the focal point of our consciousness. It is like a spotlight that illuminates things in your mind.
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Defined as that which takes possession of the mind. Stated differently, attention is the focal point of our consciousness. It is like a spotlight that illuminates things in your mind. Various stimuli that strike the senses at any given moment, as well as memories of the past, thoughts & feelings about current circumstances, projections into the future can occupy the focus of our attention.
Attention allows us to "tune out” other information, which allows us to ignore other sensations and so we can actually focus our energy on the information that seems most interesting and important.
Humans have a limited capacity for attention which limits the amount of information processed at any particular time. Thus, it is important to understand what naturally captivates our attention and how can we use our attention to feel and behave better.
The Cocktail Party Effect
Selective attention: selectively concentrating on one thing while ignoring other things
The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of being able to focus one's attention on a particular conversation or image while filtering out all other stimuli, much the same way that a person at a cocktail party can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room with several other conversations going on simultaneously. This effect is what allows most people to "tune into" a single voice and "tune out" all others.
This effect is now referred to as selective attention. Selective attention is robust concept in that it shows up across all ages. Starting with infancy, newborns begin to turn their heads toward a sound that is familiar to them, such as their parents’ voices, while ignoring other noises. This shows that infants selectively attend to specific stimuli in their environment. Adults also selectively attend.
Selective attention is what enables us to hone our attention to what is most relevant or important, such as listening to a loved one talk about an upsetting experience while your favorite show or sports team is playing on TV. Although selective attention has many beneficial properties, it depends on what we selectively attend to . As we will learn, given natural tendencies we have, we may actually selectively attend to negative events while failing to pay attention to what is most important or notice the positive things that are happening right in front of our face.
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Count the Number of Passes
Watch video, pause in the middle and have students call out how many passes the team made
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We are vulnerable to paying more attention to bad emotions, bad interactions, negative aspects of others and upsetting aspects of our experiences.
What is our natural tendency? Pay More Attention to the
Negative than Positive
Have you ever wondered why the childhood stories people tell over and over tend to focus on what went wrong. We talk more about losing money, being abandoned by friends, receiving criticism and getting into an argument than we do about winning money, making friends, receiving praise, and having pleasant conversations with others.
Dr. Roy Baumeister, who is a professor of social psychology, has demonstrated with his research that we are vulnerable to have our attention being devoted more to bad than good. We are more likely to pay attention to bad emotions, bad interactions with other people, bad feedback, and bad impressions than good ones. Research over and over again shows that people are more likely to pay attention to negative and bad situations than good. It’s in human nature, and there are even signs of it in animals. In an experiment in which participants gained or lost the same amount of money, for instance, the distress participants expressed over losing the money was greater than the joy that accompanied the gain. People who are friends actually have "stress contests" with one another, each trying to outdo the other in lamenting about spouses, children, and work. The end result is that people feel more riled up than soothed and develop an even more negative outlook on their marriage, being a parent, and their job.
Negative events disappear from our attention much slower than positive events. Learning something bad about a new acquaintance occupies our attention more than learning something good, by and large. Evolutionarily, paying attention to the negative has proven to be an adaptive characteristic. Throughout our evolutionary history, species that were better attuned to negative things would have been more likely to survive threats and, consequently, would have an increased probability of passing along their genes. A person who ignores the possibility of a positive outcome may later experience significant regret at having missed an opportunity for pleasure or fun, but nothing directly terrible is likely to result. In contrast, a person who ignores danger (the possibility of a bad outcome) even once may end up maimed or dead. Survival requires urgent attention to possible bad outcomes, but it is less urgent with regard to good ones. Hence, it was once adaptive for us to be psychologically designed to respond to bad more strongly than good. The trouble now is that most of our daily life encounters and events do not involve life or death situations. Thus, we must gain an upper hand on our natural tendency to pay attention to the negative because it ultimately impacts how we feel and the behaviors we engage in. The mindfulness skills discussed in the previous lesson can help accomplish this, as it is a matter of paying attention on purpose in a specific kind of way that enables us to focus more on the positive aspects of our lives, others who we interact with and the surrounding environment.
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Negative Confirmation Bias
Negative Confirmation Bias: only seeing others or situations through a negative lens and failing to pay attention to the positive (e.g., tunnel or monocular vision)
Some of us get in such a negative rut that all we pay attention to is the negative. What happens over time is that we actually develop a confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby we tend to notice and look for those things that confirm our beliefs, while ignoring, not looking for or undervaluing the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs. The best way to think about the negative confirmation bias is that it’s like a lens through which you see the world. Basically, everything you see or pay attention serves as a confirmation about how bad, sucky or negative everything is including self, others, and the world actually are. For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in admissions to the emergency room where you work, you will take notice of admissions during a full moon, but be inattentive to the moon when admissions occur during other nights of the month. A tendency to do this over time unjustifiably strengthens your belief in the relationship between the full moon and accidents and other lunar effects.
This tendency to give more attention and weight to data that support our beliefs than we do to contrary data is especially pernicious when our beliefs are negatively slanted toward self and others, given that we can potentially act in harm or unproductive ways toward self or others. The important point is to recognize that we have a tendency to develop a negative confirmation bias and this negative lens through which we pay attention to our experiences can result in feeling poorly mentally and physically and result in behaviors that are self-defeating.
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We Are Not Victims of Our Attention!
We may not be able to control what initially captures our attention, BUT we have the ability to notice what we are paying attention to and purposefully choose to attend to something more positive
So, what we’ve learned thus far is that we have a tendency to pay attention more to negative and bad aspects of life than positive aspects. The focus on the negative can diminish our sense of well-being and trigger a range of problematic behaviors that cause more problems than solve them.
Here’s the good news: in any given moment, we have the ability to choose what we pay attention to. This means if we find ourselves focusing on a negative, stressful situation, we can intentionally re-focus our attention to something more positive. Focusing our attention on the negatives is likely to start a cycle of negativity, whereas, focusing on the positives will allow you to establish a state of positivity. Choosing to pay attention to the positive and practicing gratitude on a consistent basis represents easy and effective ways to practice channeling your attention on those aspects of your daily life that tap into the positive emotions of fulfillment, enjoyment and happiness. The end result of intentionally focusing on the positive aspect of ourselves, others, and our surroundings is that we feel and behave better.
Remember! Neuroplasticity! We can change where our brain focuses automatically over time!
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The Benefits of Choosing to Pay Attention to the Positive
People report having a more satisfying life
People are more likely to build relationships than burn them
People are able to cope better with life stress and bounce back from adversity
People have better immune systems that resist illnesses
People recover better from illness or injury
Here is a list of the benefits of positive attention that have been uncovered via scientific research. People who purposefully choose to pay attention to the positive aspects:
report having a more satisfying life
are more likely to build relationships than burn them
are able to cope better with life stress and bounce back from adversity
have better immune systems that resist illnesses
recover better from illness or injury
I don’t know about you but these are the types of benefits that most people are looking for in their lives. If we can develop the motivation and belief to purposefully train ourselves to pay more attention to the positive aspects of our lives, scientific research indicates that we too can experiences these benefits.
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Toxic Positivity
Attention Training to Focus More on the Positive
Turning the Mind
Searching for the Silver Lining
Choosing to See the Positive in Others
Developing Positive Go-To Staples
Gratitude Practices
What we pay attention to actually wires connections between neurons in our brain. For example, people who tend to stay focused and stuck on the negative aspects of life, such as losing one’s keys, some annoying characteristic of a co-worker, or a parking ticket, actually have different brain functioning than people who are more optimistic. Yet, with practice, researchers like Dr. Martin Seligman have found that we can learn to focus more attention on the positive possibilities in situations and others. Consciously changing what you pay attention to can rewire your brain from a negative orientation to a positive one. As neuroscientist Rick Hanson states, “Attention can actually re-shapes the functioning of the brain.”
Here are three ways one can engage in attention training to spend more time purposefully paying attention to positive aspects of one’s life. These are searching for the silver lining, choosing to see the positives in others, and developing positive go-to staples. Applying these three general practices can help most people feel better mentally and physically, develop stronger relationships, and recover quicker from a setback.
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Searching for a Silver Lining
Stressful and challenging days are inevitable!
Intentionally searching for the silver lining can improve our well-being and overall performance both mentally, physically, and behaviorally
The idiom every cloud has a silver lining is quite a profound statement and applies to the notion of purposefully choosing to pay attention to the positive. What does this phrase even mean. When we look more closely at the edges of every cloud we can see the sun shining there like a silver lining. When applied to people, it means that even during stressful, challenging, and difficult situations, there is something positive that can be found and attended to. People have the ability to seek meaning and positivity in the most difficult situations, but it requires effort and a commitment. Searching for the silver lining during stressful and is a key aspect of purposefully choosing to pay attention to the positive and can result in being more resilient in the face of adversity.
How do you find the silver lining in the maddening, seemingly nothing but frustrating moments?
- What can I learn from this?
What about this can make me stronger in the long run?
Is there something about the situation that is interesting?
- What about life am I grateful for that this situation does not negate?
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Searching for the Silver Lining
How do you find the silver lining during difficult and challenging circumstances?
What can I learn from this?
What about this can make me stronger in the long run?
Is there something about the situation that is interesting?
What about life am I grateful for that this situation does not negate?
The idiom every cloud has a silver lining is quite a profound statement and applies to the notion of purposefully choosing to pay attention to the positive. What does this phrase even mean? When we look more closely at the edges of every cloud we can see the sun shining there like a silver lining. When applied to people, it means that even during stressful, challenging, and difficult situations, there is something positive that can be found and attended to. People have the ability to seek meaning and positivity in the most difficult situations, but it requires effort and a commitment. Searching for the silver lining during stressful and is a key aspect of purposefully choosing to pay attention to the positive and can result in being more resilient in the face of adversity.
How do you find the silver lining in the maddening, seemingly nothing but frustrating moments?
- What can I learn from this?
What about this can make me stronger in the long run?
Is there something about the situation that is interesting?
- What about life am I grateful for that this situation does not negate?
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When we focus on the negative characteristics, behaviors, and of others, it fundamentally influences how we perceive that person and ultimately how we act towards them.
Self-fulfilling prophecy – the process by which our expectations of another person impact the other person’s behavior in such a way s/he behaves in a way that confirms the expectations
Choosing to See the Positive in Others
It comes so easy to pay attention to things we don’t like or irritate and annoy us about other people. “I hate how she dresses, I can’t believe she talks while eating, his voice bugs me, or I don’t like people . Let’s face it, we have a tendency to pay more attention to what people don’t do well or when they mess up rather than what they do well or when they perform really well. When focus on the negative aspects of other people’s personalities, behaviors, and appearances, than it fundamentally influences and skews our perceptions of them and ultimately, how we behave towards them. Part of having effective interpersonal skills and building rather than burning relationships is to purposefully choose to see the positive in others
Researchers, like John Gottman at the University of Washington, has found that marriages in crisis can be saved by simply teaching couples how to pay purposeful attention to what they like and find positive about their spouse.
No matter how challenging a person behaves, you can identify attributes that you like about them, which enables you to see them in a more positive light. Think about the numerous people who are involved in your lives Think of someone who you have a difficult time getting along with—this could be a family member and friend. Now search hard to find something you appreciate, like or find positive about that person. This activity alone has been shown to help repair relationship between people. It enables us to get better at paying attention to the positive aspects of others rather than simply fixating on the negative or annoying aspects of others.
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Choosing to See the Positive in Others
Part of having effective interpersonal skills and building rather than burning relationships is to purposefully choose to see the positive in others, assume best intent, and work hard to have positive expectations towards them
This relates in an important way to when we learned about mindfulness. Remember how describing non-judgmentally means using only your 5 senses. And so much of when we see people in a negative light is because we’re interpreting them and their actions not looking at the facts of exactly what was said. We will learn more skills for this in a few weeks as well
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Positive Go-To Staples
Positive aspects of your life that you can pay attention to in any moment in order to purposefully alter your attention from something negative or stressful to something more positive and uplifting – thus distracting ourselves when negative/stressful situations have occurred or emotion mind is screaming at us.
A favorite memory
A beloved family member or friend
An accomplishment of significance
An anticipated event or trip
When we are in the heat of the moment, it can be difficult to re-focus our attention on something more positive and uplifting. This is why it is important to identify a positive go-to staple. A positive go-to staple is an object of your attention that you have spent time thinking about before you actually notice your attention is stuck on something negative that is provoking a sense of stress or discomfort. A positive go-to-staple is something that you have to spend time thinking about on the frontend to identify so you can purposefully choose to think about when you notice. In this way, it is considered a go-to. The staple aspect of this term reflects that it is a relatively constant aspect of your life. What we know is that it takes active practice to change the default negative thinking setting. This activity helps to pre identify some positive go to things that can STOP the negative thinking pattern in the moment and encourage a better positive thinking trajectory.
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POSITIVE GO-TO STAPLES are positive, uplifting, enjoyable aspects of your life that you can choose to focus on in any moment—that is, it is a “go to”. A positive go-to-staple could be:
A family member (for example, a child, parent, spouse, partner)
A beautiful or serene place you have visited (for example, beach or mountains)
A fun or uplifting experience (for example, volunteering at a food shelter, mentoring a youth, etc.)
An accomplishment (for example, getting a promotion, running a race, receiving an award)
The anticipation for a fun event (for example, vacation, concert, sporting event)
Turn and talk and share some things you might go to for this
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Gratitude as Special Type of Positive Attention
Gratitude is the felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for the small and big things that come along with life.
We experience gratitude when intentionally focus our attention on particular aspects of our lives that we are thankful for and have a deep appreciation of
I am certain that you have a had a moment in your life where you have had a profound sense of being grateful for something. Perhaps you were grateful for a loved one, the mentorship you received, your health, a unique experiences, or an unexpected gift.
Gratitude is defined as a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for the small and big things that come along with life. In this way, it is an emotional experience. Gratitude is the acknowledgement of the goodness in one’s life and the recognition that the source of this goodness lies outside of the self. The object of gratitude is other-directed. You could practice gratitude by noticing how fortunate your circumstances are (and how much worse they could be), by calling an old mentor and thanking her for guiding you through one of life’s crossroads, by relishing moments with your child, or by recalling and savoring good experiences in your past.
Gratitude is a special type of attention. It is attention that is devoted to identifying things we are thankful for or have a appreciation of. Gratitude plays a very prominent role in the development of resilience, happiness, and overall well-being. The tools and techniques of modern science have been brought to bear on understanding the nature of gratitude and why it is important for human flourishing more generally. From childhood to old age, accumulating evidence documents the wide array of psychological, physical, and relational benefits associated with gratitude. Gratitude is important not only because it helps people feel good, but also because it inspires them to do good. Gratitude heals, energizes, and transforms lives in a myriad of ways consistent with the notion that virtue is both its own reward and produces other rewards.
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Benefits of Gratitude
People who intentionally practice gratitude have been shown to:
more satisfied with life
happier
more optimistic
better at handling challenges
have fewer illnesses
get more sleep
exercise more
able to think more clearly
In the very first set of gratitude studies, one group of participants was asked to write down five things for which they were thankful – namely, to count their blessings – and to do so once a week for ten weeks in a row, while the control group were asked to think about either five daily hassles or five major events that had occurred to them. The findings were outstanding. Relative to the control groups, those participants who purposefully practiced gratitude reported more optimism and satisfaction with their lives. Even their health received a boost; they reported fewer physical symptoms, such as headache, coughing, or nausea, and more time spent exercising. Other studies have shown the positive effects of gratitude on employees, students, parents, and patients with chronic illnesses. These studies have shown that on the days that individuals strive to express their gratitude, they experience more positive emotions (that is, feelings like interest, excitement, joy, and pride) and are more likely to report helping someone, to feel connected with others, have healthier immune systems and even catch more hours of quality sleep.
The practice of gratitude also protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness. Researchers have also found that people who practice gratitude cope better with everyday stress, may show increased resilience in the face of trauma-related experiences,, and recover more quickly from an illness.
The important fact is that as much of a platitude as expressing gratitude is sometimes, it is also incredibly effective, as the scientific evidence shows persuasively. The anecdotal evidence is also hard to disregard; I know many (now happy) individuals who report that becoming grateful changed their lives.It is something we can do with our attention that produces positive benefits for ourselves and others.
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Relationship between Joy & Gratitude
Dr. Brene Brown, a social work researcher, author, and now public speaker, has a Nextflix special titled “The Call to Courage.” In this special, she sites a profound research finding: of the thousands of people that she interviewed, even those that experienced traumatic life events, people who described themselves as joyful all had one thing in common: an active gratitude practice.
The relationship between joy and gratitude actually surprised Brown. She expected to find that joyful people were grateful for what they had in their lives, the data indicated, however that it’s in fact gratitude that comes first… then happiness.
In the words of Brother David Steindl-Rast. It is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.
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How to Best Practice Gratitude
The way in which people think about positive life events and practice gratitude is critical!
They have to believe in it and intentionally practice it.
The deeper the processing, the greater the benefit.
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The way in which people think about positive life events is critical. First, you have to believe it in and intentionally practice it for it to work. Second, research has shown that the deeper we process why we are grateful for a particular positive event or person, the more benefits we are likely to experience. Thinking about the absence of a positive event from our lives improves happiness more than thinking about the presence of an event. Therefore, gratitude exercises should include thinking, writing, or talking about how one’s life would be like without that event/person/gift in the list. For example, if I didn’t have the opportunity to get my daughter up in the morning and interact with her before going to work, then I wouldn’t have been able to see her beautiful face and smile and interact with her in a positive way. Reminds me of how lucky I am to have a family and an opportunity to interact with my daughter.
Tips for Expressing Gratitude
Don’t just go through the motions.
Journaling is more effective if you first make the conscious decision to become happier and more grateful.
Go for depth over breadth.
Elaborating in detail about a particular thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.
Get personal.
Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.
Try subtraction, not just addition.
One effective way of stimulating gratitude is to reflect on what your life would be like without certain blessings, rather than just tallying up all those good things.
Savor surprises.
Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.
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The skills all build on each other!
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Practicing mindfulness allows us to cultivate a better awareness of our thoughts, emotions, actions, and the environment overall.
This improved awareness helps us to clarify our individual values and goals.
Implementing willpower allows us to maintain specific behaviors and actions that are in line with our values and goals.
Practicing gratitude allows us to reflect on our values and be more present in the positive moments.
The more we do this, the more able we are to identify these times and be more present and aware in them.
Specific Activities to Practice Gratitude
Weekly gratitude journaling
Thank you notes
Gratitude letter
Gratitude visit
Awe in the present moment
Gratitude ABC’s
Saying “Thank you” instead of “I’m sorry”
Gratitude, at least initially, requires mental discipline. This is the paradox of gratitude: while the evidence is clear that cultivating gratitude, in our life and in our attitude to life, allows us to flourish, it is difficult. Developing and sustaining a grateful outlook on life is easier said than done. The only way this works is if you are committed to feeling better and truly believe that being grateful is a desirable virtue and can enable you to experience the range of benefits that scientific research has demonstrated.
A number of evidence based-strategies, including weekly gratitude journaling, thank you notes, gratitude letter, and gratitude visits have shown to be effective in creating sustainable gratefulness.
Remember, gratitude is not about paying attention to what we want or have lost in life but rather about what we already have or have been fortunate enough to receive. Rest assured, that the activities outlined on this slide help people purposefully choose to pay attention to more positive and enable to reap significant benefits.
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Summary of this Lesson
What we pay attention to impacts how we feel and behave
Our natural tendency is to pay more attention to negative or bad aspects (emotions) of ourselves, others, and the environment than positive aspects
Negative confirmation bias refers to getting stuck on paying attention to negative and stressful experiences while tuning out, ignoring, and missing the positive
The five main take home messages from this lesson are as follows:
What we pay attention to impacts how we feel and behave
Our natural tendency is to pay more attention to negative or bad aspects of ourselves, others, and the environment than positive aspects
Negative confirmation bias refers to getting stuck on paying attention to negative and stressful experiences while tuning out, ignoring, and missing the positive
With effort and intention, we can purposefully choose to focus on more positive aspects of our lives, others, and daily experiences (that is, finding the silver lining, paying attention to the positive in others, and developing positive go-to staples).
Gratitude is a special type of positive attention that involves recognizing and acknowledging what and who we are grateful for in our lives
Specific ways to practice gratitude include:
Gratitude journaling
Thank You Notes
Gratitude letter
Gratitude visit
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Summary of this Lesson
Gratitude is a special type of positive attention that involves recognizing and acknowledging what and who we are grateful for in our lives
Specific ways to practice gratitude include:
Gratitude journaling
Thank You Notes
Gratitude letter
Gratitude visit
Awe in the present moment
The five main take home messages from this lesson are as follows:
What we pay attention to impacts how we feel and behave
Our natural tendency is to pay more attention to negative or bad aspects of ourselves, others, and the environment than positive aspects
Negative confirmation bias refers to getting stuck on paying attention to negative and stressful experiences while tuning out, ignoring, and missing the positive
With effort and intention, we can purposefully choose to focus on more positive aspects of our lives, others, and daily experiences (that is, finding the silver lining, paying attention to the positive in others, and developing positive go-to staples).
Gratitude is a special type of positive attention that involves recognizing and acknowledging what and who we are grateful for in our lives
Specific ways to practice gratitude include:
Gratitude journaling
Thank You Notes
Gratitude letter
Gratitude visit
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Participation Week 6 Part 2
Which gratitude practice are you going to try out this week?
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Mindfulness
Participate
Drawing a tree with your non-dominant hand
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How HAPPY are you feeling in this moment?
Rate yourself! 1-10
Observe what the emotion you are feeling right now.
If you aren’t feeling happy…notice what emotions are you feeling
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Group Activity: Gratitude Circle
Everyone will go around and name one thing they are grateful for that someone else has not yet named.
Keep going around the circle multiple times, again making sure items/statements are not repeated.
When someone says something that already has been said, that person is out.
Keep going until only one person is still in OR you reach 20 minutes doing the activity.
Split into groups of 15-25 (so combining multiple family groups)
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Observe your emotions again…..
Rate how happy you are feeling NOW.
Group Discussion Remember: aim to participate effectively
Did you observe a change in your emotions after our gratitude practice? Why or why not?
Did the group identify things to be grateful for that you hadn’t thought of before? What?
How might you integrate this type of gratitude practice into your own daily routine?
What gratitude practices do you think would work best for you?
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Watch video. Warn them it’s a tear jerker!
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Homework Post “Class Activity Reflection” Directions
At home, write a gratitude letter and share it with the person
Use your observe and describe skills to observe your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations while writing the letter and sharing it with the person you wrote it about. Summarize these observations in your post! - *do not post the letter itself*
Lavf54.63.104
