My Gratitude Challenge

Let’s talk about stress

Anna Stando — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 13:34:37 +0000

Reducing stress doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming to be effective.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed and negative, I take a few minutes to write in my gratitude diary and it works every single time.

Gratitude doesn’t eliminate my challenges or minimize them, but it stops me from spiralling down into depression. It calms me down by reminding me of all the good in my life, and by the time I’m done writing, I feel stronger, and I’m ready to face whatever is coming my way.

It’s been a pleasure to talk to Hannah Holden, host of “Let’s Talk About Stress Podcast” about how a consistent gratitude practise can help you to deal with short- and long- term stress, making you more resilient. You can listen in on our conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

IN THIS PODCAST YOU’LL LEARN:

How negativity bias increases your stress level and why gratitude can help you to offset some of that negativity
The many other surprising benefits of gratitude – pick your favourite!
A simple exercise that you can start doing right now – and involve your loved ones too!
Why showing appreciation at work is important and why most companies get it wrong
How to review your year through the lens of gratitude – and here’s your free template to do so
My own experience with gratitude and what led me to creating my online program “My Gratitude Challenge”. If you’re thinking of joining the next round starting on February 6, tune in to find out why, what, when and how!

About Hannah

Hannah and I met through an entrepreneurial mastermind group, and I’ve been watching in awe as she builds her business. Hannah is an ex-Management Consultant turned wellbeing coach and on her podcast dives into personal experiences, scientific research, and professional insights to help you get comfortable talking about and managing stress.

She also has a great episode about New Year’s resolutions and how to “say goodbye to resolutions that end in failure and self-flagellation and say hello to feeling inspired by the person you are becoming!” You can also get a free meditation and workboard that goes with it here.

Want to go even further? Join my upcoming Vision Board Workshop on January 12, for an extra motivation to keep up with your resolutions and make your dreams come true in 2023. Learn more here.

Happy New Year! May it be a year where stress doesn’t consume us but motivates us to give our best!

With love,

Resources mentioned in the podcast and the blog:

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10 questions to review your 2022 through the lens of gratitude

Anna Stando — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 17:15:16 +0000

I’ve got something for you ⭐

A Year In Review

2022

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS

Grab a pen and a warm drink, print this FREE template, fill it in, and give thanks that you’ve had another year to live, love and learn ❤️

This is a perfect exercise to pause and reflect on another eventful year and to dial up your gratitude practice, just in time for 2023.

I absolutely love this time of the year and taking a minute for myself to look back, to appreciate the good and to reflect on the silver linings in the hardships. It helps me to make sense of the past and to prepare myself for the future. It cements my learnings and highlights my blessings. It allows me to close this chapter of my life and it frees space in my head for the new and exciting.

Set aside 30 minutes and write it all out ✒️

It’ll be worth it. These 10 self-reflection questions are a great way to appreciate what you have and to make peace with the past before moving on to planning a wonderful 2023.

When you’re done writing your answers, you’ll feel happier, centered, and hopeful about the future, and that’s a promise. I know I did after completing this exercise.

Let me share with you what came up for me when I thought about the first question.

When I think about 2022, this is what I’m most grateful for:

The health of my family members.

My daughter was seriously ill this summer and my heart is filled with gratitude that she has recovered so well. She is running around again, singing songs, making puzzles and making us laugh.

I’m incredibly grateful to all the fantastic doctors who have been taking such a great care of her (and frankly, also us – parents -, through this emotional turmoil) with compassion, kindness and patience. I’ll also forever remember the support of my family and friends who were taking care of my son, cooking us meals, supporting us through every surgery, sending us gifts, visiting her and checking in on her recovery and our mental health – you know who you are ❤️

Heck, I’m even grateful to have paid thousands and thousands of francs for health insurance over the years! Not only did she get splendid care, but we also didn’t get a single bill. How different and more stressful would it have been if we were in a different country?!

What about you? Wat are you most grateful for when you think about 2022?

Let me know in the comments. I would absolutely love to know what stands out for you and why.

Answer this and the other 9 questions I’ve prepared for you and gain a new appreciation for all your experiences in 2022. It’s worth reminding yourself of all the good in your life over and over again, and especially if this year has challenged you beyond anything you thought possible.

Here’s your template.

In 2023, make it a habit to regularly practise gratitude. Your capacity to deal with stress will increase, your mental health will improve, and you’ll stay healthy, joyful and calm – even when your outer world is in chaos.

Have a friend who loves journaling and would like to do this exercise with you?

Forward them blog post, encourage them to fill in the template and next time you meet – compare notes. I’m sure that you’ll have the most beautiful conversation.

Now you’ve waved an affectionate goodbye to 2023, are you ready to start dreaming big in 2023?

Last year I ran a Vision Board Workshop exclusively for the Alumni of My Gratitude Challenge, but I’m excited to share that I’m opening it up this year to anyone! I’ll share more details very soon.

With love,

The post 10 questions to review your 2022 through the lens of gratitude appeared first on My Gratitude Challenge.

Can 15 min of gratitude make you happier and calmer?

Anna Stando — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 14:22:18 +0000

One of the questions I often get about gratitude is this one: can just 15 min of gratitude really make you happier and calmer? 🧐

The short answer is: yes but…

The long answer is: dedicating 15 minutes a day to appreciate all that is good in your life can help you to deal with whatever comes your way in a healthier way. May it be tackling your never-ending to-do list or dealing with life shuttering events like loss, illness or heartache…

When things go right, it’s easy to fall into the trap of taking them for granted.

When things go wrong, it’s easy to get hyper-focused on the negative and to lose sight of all the goodness in your life. And to spiral down into depression.

Wherever you’re now, learning how to find gratitude in everything that is unfolding for you, is the first step to becoming more resilient, happier and calmer.

In just 15 minutes, gratitude helps you:

to focus on what’s good in your life, not only on what’s wrong (that’s the easy part)
to find a silver lining in any difficult situation, making it easier to work through it (half the challenge in any problem is our mindset!)
to ground yourself, calm your nervous system and gain perspective on your life
to be here and now and to slow down
to give meaning to your life and the trials you’re going through

Here’s the BUT:

Doing it once can be a quick mood-booster, but it will not result in any long-term benefits like better mental health, increased overall wellbeing, greater ability to cope with short- and long-term stress and it will not make you more resilient.

It takes time to re-wire your brain for positivity.

If you want to see the benefits, you need to stick with it.

Like with any other habit, learning to be grateful no matter what, takes time and practice. And as the habit guru B.J. Fogg said in “Tiny Habits”: “No behaviour happens without a prompt.”

Let My Gratitude Challenge be your daily prompt. 28 times.

“My favourite thing was the “handholding” nature of the program, meaning that Anna was always there for me, on a daily basis, and she helped to keep up the spirit.”
– ZOLTAN –

Wake up, do whatever you need to do first thing in the morning and then sit down with your morning cup of a tea and start the cold, rainy, grey November day with a short video from My Gratitude Challenge. I promise that it will make you smile.

Give yourself the luxury of starting slow and on a high note. Taking the time to watch the video and to do your daily task will raise your vibrations, shift your perspective and help you to stay calm during the day, no matter what. Do that for 28 days in a row and it’ll become second nature and something that you’ll benefit from for a lifetime.

My Gratitude Challenge starts on November 7

(and the registration closes this Sunday, October 23).

You only need to invest 15 minutes each day to reap the benefits, but I’ll bet my favourite sweeties that you’ll love certain tasks so much that you’ll gladly take more time to do them. Good for you! You deserve the time to take care of your mental health and wellbeing. Plus, I think you’ll love coming back each day:

“I’ve participated in a few challenges before, but none has kept me hanging in there as much as My Gratitude Challenge!”
– KATRIN –

This is your last chance to do the program in 2022.

“I already feel how my newly acquired attitude of gratitude is making me a more balanced person”
– SABRINA-

“Everything that I’ve learnt through My Gratitude Challenge adds to my general happiness and improves my mental health”
– KATRIN-

“My Gratitude Challenge made me feel calmer and happier! It was re-centering”
– MAYA-

“I’ve learnt through the Challenge to be more conscious about the many beautiful things around me and it helps me not to lose hope when life isn’t perfect”
– PAULA-

This could be you:

“Life changing! The videos were so comforting and I loved putting them on around 8:30 each morning, starting my working day and listening to Anna’s wisdom. The Challenge wrapped me in a soft blanket of gratitude. My whole house is now full of reminders to be grateful for all the good fortune in my life and weeks later, I’m keeping up with the good habits. I’ve recommended the Challenge to many people, and I gifted it to a friend too. Bottom line: I loved it from A to Z! Very, very, very well done!” ❤️

Are you ready?

JOIN MY GRATITUDE CHALLENGE

With love,

The post Can 15 min of gratitude make you happier and calmer? appeared first on My Gratitude Challenge.

The #1 reason why I practice gratitude

Anna Stando — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 03:00:00 +0000

I looked up from my phone and realised that 30 minutes have passed…

I only wanted to quickly check the news but before I knew it, I went down the rabbit hole and into a downward spiral of fear, anger and helplessness.

Wars around the world, natural disasters, discrimination and oppression, mass shootings, nuclear weapons, hunger, poverty, recession, scary diseases, people in power who shouldn’t be in power. The list goes on and on…

I closed my news app and sighed. I could feel the fear in my heart.

With all that is wrong with the world, it’s easy to get caught up in negativity.

I know I’m prone to it. Two years ago, when the pandemic was raging, the US presidential election were in full swing and I was highly pregnant and not at my best, I worked myself into a permanent state of anxiety. On some days, it was hard to get out of bed and I wasn’t recognising myself anymore.

I started practicing gratitude to counter-balance all that negativity that was coming at me. And it really helped.

Till today, this is the #1 reason why I practice gratitude.

Even though rationally I know that not everything is bad, if I don’t look consciously at what is good, the fear takes over, my mental health deteriorates, and my mood goes down. I know now that practising gratitude every single day creates a protective layer around me that keeps me safe and well.

It’s not about sticking head in the sand and pretending that all is well. It’s about not losing sight of all these beautiful moments in our lives and acts of kindness around us, even when things are far from perfect. Our brain is primed to look for negativity and danger, so if we let it run wild, it can take us dark places we would rather not be.

I shortened the time I allow myself to read the news to stay informed. I extended the time for giving thanks. It works: I don’t get so caught up in negativity anymore. And if I do – I know the antidote.

Next time you’re feeling down, take a few deep breaths and spent a few minutes giving thanks for all that is good in your life and around you. Don’t rush it, make sure to specify WHY you’re grateful for them and let your heart swell with gratitude. And if you give your best – you might even feel a little smile forming on your lips 😊

Easier said than done?

For extra guidance on how to make gratitude a part of your daily routine, sign up to the next round of My Gratitude Challenge. Every day I’ll share something interesting about gratitude, give you tips on how to practice it and I’ll give you your daily prompt to do so too. The Challenge lasts 28 days and starts on November 7. You can register between now and October 28. Find out more here: mygratitudechallenge.com.

Do you know anyone who worries a lot?

Forward them this blog post or suggest doing the Challenge together. Keep each other accountable as you learn to look at the bright side more often than at the dark side.

Breathe. Smile. Count your blessing and carry on.

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World Gratitude Day 2022 and 3 ways to celebrate it

Anna Stando — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 04:06:00 +0000

Did you know that September 21 marks the World Gratitude Day? I didn’t but give me any excuse to strengthen my gratitude muscles and I’ll take it! 😊

Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual teacher, is credited with ‘inventing’ this day at a Thanksgiving dinner in the United Nations’ meditation room back in 1965. Already a year later, many countries celebrated it for the first time.

It’s a day to raise awareness around the benefits of gratitude and to take the time to practice it.

Here are 3 ideas for celebrating the day:

1. Make a mental list of 10 good things in your life

Do it directly after you’ve finished reading this post. You only need 2-5 minutes. Close your eyes and think about everything that makes you happy. Give thanks that it’s part of your life. When listing your blessings, add ‘because’ to make it tangible and to deepen your feelings of gratitude, e.g.:

‘I’m so grateful to have my mom in my life because she’s such a great role model to me.’
‘I’m so grateful for my dog, because he makes me laugh every single day’.

Nothing is too big or too small to go on your gratitude list. It’s your list.

Your turn:

‘I’m so grateful….. (to whom / for what) because…. (the impact it has on your life). Thank you!’

2. Make a phone call to say ‘thank you’

If you’re not used to expressing gratitude verbally, it might feel awkward at first but that’s OK.

Remember that it’s not a public speaking contest and that you don’t need to do it perfectly – you only need to do it. The good news is that not only the person receiving your gratitude is going to be delighted, but you’re going to feel happier afterwards too!

So tell me, whom are you going to surprise today with a gratitude call?

Is it a friend, a parent, a chid, a sibling, a cousin, a colleague, a teacher? Think about all these amazing people and why you’re grateful to have them in your life. Don’t overthink it.

If you need an excuse to make that call, say:

‘Did you know that today is the World Gratitude Day? It made me think of you so I’m calling to say how happy and grateful I’m to have you in my life because….’

Go make somebody happy now. It’s worth it 😊

3. Design your own gratitude jar (also great if you have kids!)

Feeling creative? You’ll love that one!

If you want to practice gratitude beyond today, making your own gratitude jar is a great way to do so. Pick a jar (glass, plastic, whatever you have at home) and make it your ‘designated’ gratitude jar. You can decorate it to make it as pretty as you wish. If you have kids, they will love getting engaged too. You can use the activity to introduce them to the topic of gratitude and to invite them to practice it with you.

Find a place at home where the jar will live and put some colourful paper notes and a pen next to it. Write down at least one thing that you’re grateful for every single day and put it in the jar until it’s full. Once full, take it all out to read through and feel the good vibes!

Tip: this is a fun family activity just before or after dinner. It’s a great conversation starter too!

WANT MORE?

I’ve created a short video with three other ideas that you can implement in your daily routine. You can do them all ‘on the go’. Grab it for free here.

WANT EVEN MORE?!

Would you like to learn how to use gratitude to feel happier, calmer and more balanced, even when your outer world is in chaos? Join the next edition of My Gratitude Challenge starting on November 7! In this 28-day Challenge, you’ll move away from complaining and being negative to smiling more and noticing and appreciating with ease all that googness in your life. Registrations are now open. Read more and register here.

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Sceptical about gratitude? Read this

Anna Stando — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 06:38:41 +0000

There’s a lot of talk about gratitude having a positive impact on our general health and wellbeing so you might have been tempted to give it a go but found it harder than expected.

Despite your best intentions, you couldn’t come up with more than 5 things to be grateful for: your home, your partner, your health, your parents, your cat… You felt like it wasn’t doing anything for you and stopped. Understandable.

We’ve learnt to look at what’s wrong with our lives, and not at what’s right.

We can get incredibly annoyed by traffic, but we don’t get ecstatic when the roads are empty and the traffic lights are always green. We barely notice it because we’re probably thinking about our never-ending to-do lists or rehearse imaginary conversations in our heads instead…

If you’re a bit sceptical about gratitude or just can’t make it work for yourself, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

It’s been an absolute joy to talk to the co-hosts of ‘So Freakin’ Healthy Podcast’ Danna Levy Hoffmann and Megan McCrory. We’ve covered so many different topics, shared our experiences and had a good laugh too!

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

If there’s something wrong with you if you find it hard to be grateful

What to do if you can only find a few good things in your life

How to help yourself when you’re going through something difficult

What are the health benefits of gratitude

Danna’s great tip on how to remove ego from your gratitude practice

What Megan realised when talking about her religious upbringing

How to sprinkle gratitude through your day and practice it with your family

What’s “My Gratitude Challenge” and how to take part

Bonus: what’s the matter with my name – Anna / Ana / Ania?! 😉

If you’re keen to live a happier, healthier life, make sure to listen to other episodes of ‘So Freakin’ Healthy’ as well! Danna and Megan are both health coaches and they bring interesting guests to look at the topic from various perspectives. I love how educational and often funny those episodes are! Do use headphones if you listen around kids though 😉

WANT TO SEE WHAT GRATITUDE CAN DO FOR YOUR HEALTH?

Sign up to My Gratitude Challenge before August 21.

The next 28-day Challenge starts again on September 5, 2022 and I’ll show you how to see the glass always half full despite your circumstances. Every day has a theme, a 5-minute video and a task that will help you to develop a more grateful mindset. I’ll be by your side to help you find the good in your life and to put up a smile on your face 😊

Oh, and have I mentioned gifts…? The Challenge comes with a Gratitude Box full of delightful surprises that will help you to execute on your tasks, making the entire program not only impactful but also light and fun!

Learn more and register here.

Thanks for reading!

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My Gratitude Challenge is 1 today!

Anna Stando — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 19:09:29 +0000

DO YOU BELIEVE IN COINCIDENCES?

The first round of My Gratitude Challenge started exactly one year ago, on August 2, 2021. I was just back at work from maternity leave and today, I’m literally just out of work. My official last day was July 31. There’s something magical about this “coincidence” that I truly love ❤️

FROM IDEA TO A COURSE…

My Gratitude Challenge is a 28-day online program that helps you to improve your general wellbeing, build resilience and find joy in unexpected places. It started with 6 persons: my closest friends, our au-pair and somebody I didn’t know well but had a very good feeling about.

I had the entire program laid out on paper (or better said – on a GIANT cork board) and I had 7 out of the 28 videos recorded when Day 1 started. I was running the program and I was creating the program at the same time while managing return to work, a toddler and a baby.

Till today I credit this insane set-up with finishing the course. Having real people counting on me to deliver the content and having very limited time to do so, made me curb in my perfectionist tendencies and get it done. My enthusiasm for the topic made the work mostly fun and challenging in a positive way (minus the moments when I was desperately pulling my hair when recording the same video for the hundredth time! ⬇️ )

THE IMPACT

I’m so glad I stuck with it regardless, because comments like the one from Lisa below, make me want to run the Challenge over and over again:

“Thank you, Anna. You’re doing such a wonderful thing for all of us with this challenge. I wish everybody would know all the great insights & tools you’ve packed up in these videos & emails. The world would be a better place 💛”

My Gratitude Challenge has run 5 times already and has put a smile on almost 100 participants from 6 countries. It has had a profound impact on my own life and the lives of many others. I’ve learnt that practising gratitude has a huge number of general benefits but that how they play out for individuals is very unique:

Dominique believes that the Challenge helped her to take better care of herself, her body and her soul and to do more of the things that make her happy
Monica feels inspired to co-create a culture of gratitude in her team
Ana Maria feels more energised and creative
Ola is now able to find many great moments in her everyday routine
Sharon sees life experiences now in a different, brighter light
Irina feels happier and less stressed
Joanna says that the Challenge was the highlight of the year and that it helped her to survive one of the harshest moments of her life
Somaia has found hope that the best is yet to come after life shuttering events

REFLECTIONS

What I take away from it is that gratitude truly has the power to transform our lives for the better, and that we often don’t know what it can do for us until we start. I started practicing gratitude to ‘feel better’ and it made me more resilient. It became my ‘go-to tool’ during difficult times. Surprisingly, it also gave me the confidence to teach, and it connected me with wonderful people from around the world. And it has started a chain of positive events in my life that ultimately led me to build my own business.

What I also take away from running My Gratitude Challenge for a year now, is that we all have something to teach. We only need to be one step ahead of others to provide value and the sooner we start sharing our passions, the sooner we can positively contribute to other people’s lives. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be impactful. We can make improvements as we go along, as I do with every round of the Challenge. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be just a conversation, or it can be a business. What it does have to be is to come from the heart and with the intention of sharing the good you’ve found with the people who are searching for it.

How are you sharing your life wisdom with others? ❤️

COMING UP!

The next round of My Gratitude Challenge starts on September 5 and the registrations are now open! This time, there are only 16 seats available and I’m excited to share that some of them are already taken. If you would like to experience the power of gratitude in a fun and engaging way, then My Gratitude Challenge is for you. Read more about the Challenge here or sign up directly here. The registrations close on August 21 or earlier if sold out.

Thanks for reading!

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How I reclaimed my creativity, and how you can too

Anna Stando — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 12:00:42 +0000

I suffered from a huge imposter syndrome when speaking with Cathlene Bell for her podcast “Create Imperfect Anyway”. I’m laughing nervously a lot and I’m stumbling over my words at first but I want you to listen to it anyway.

I’m not an artist…
I’m not a painter, not a writer, not a musician…

The only things I ever crocheted (badly) are two wool blankets for my children before they were born. I am not even creative in the kitchen. If I needed to cook, it would be pasta pesto in our home every day.

Cathlene on the other, that’s somebody whom I call Creative with a capital ‘C’. She sings beautifully, she plays instruments, she writes, she paints, she always has a DYI project going on and she’s a storyteller at heart. Bloody intimidating. Oh, and have I mentioned, she produces her podcast herself?!

So to tell you the truth, it didn’t feel like I belonged on that podcast at first. But by the end of it, Cathlene made me to call myself (on air!) ‘creative’ and there’s no turning back.

Listen now

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

How I reclaimed my creativity and how you can too
Why the saying “If not through the door, then through the window” describes best the Polish approach to overcoming obstacles and why I used to say it with mixed feelings of pride and shame
My two life mantras that I repeat in my head when I’m frustrated about not having enough time to do something absolutely perfectly (=always). They have saved my sanity and helped me to show the world “My (Imperfect) Gratitude Challenge” that has now helped almost 100 people
How I caught ‘the creative bug’ and where you can get it too (leave your mask at home)

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Are you creative in the traditional, artist-like way, or are you an outside-of-the-box thinker? Or do you feel like the last creative thing you made was when you were 7…?

In the comments below, tell me about your relationship with creativity and share your main takeaway from this episode. I’d love to hear from you.

Love,

The post How I reclaimed my creativity, and how you can too appeared first on My Gratitude Challenge.