APRIL IS FOR AWE!!

HAPPY APRIL! I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS MONTH’S PRACTICE, SEEKING AWE AND WONDER!!

Welcome to April is for AWE! This month we’ll be seeking to be amazed every day! We did a sampling of this practice in our January and February gratitude practice, and I had so much fun with it that I decided to make it the focus for April! Not only is it fun to seek awe and amazement daily, but awe-inspiring moments have also been found to benefit our mental and physical health. I’ve included some snippets from recent research on the benefits of awe-inspiring moments below. If you’re thinking of ways to seek out awe each day during this challenge, it’s simple! Look around your environment daily and find something that amazes and inspires you. One example of something that filled me with awe recently is refrigeration! It came as I was listening to a story on The Splendid Table about the hundred years of cooling advancement that led us to the refrigeration of the foods that we enjoy today and that we now all have this awesomeness in our house and don’t think of how much work it took to get here amazes me!

Another way to find awe is to look up! This month we have numerous planets in our sky, and to see a planet like Jupiter as a bright “star” in our evening sky while knowing that it is a planet that is more than ten times the size of earth amazes me every time I see it. Additionally, any time you’re seeking awe outdoors, you’ll not only find plenty of things to be inspired by (i.e., a flower blooming, a bird next building, ants working together…), you’ll get the added benefit of being in nature and the boost of goodness it provides to your health. So let’s be inspired this April with this awe and wonder practice! See below for recent studies highlighting the greatness of awe and being in nature!

A final note of goodness, as you seek awe this month and experience the wonder of witnessing a beautiful sunset or standing in a forest of towering trees, know that your body will also be releasing hormones to support your health. So not only will you get the fun of being surprised, inspired, and filled with wonder for our world this month, but you also will be participating in a practice that is incredibly impactful on your physical and mental health, making it a great practice to continue well past April!

I’d also love to see what is inspiring you! Please share your pictures of awe-filled moments with the hashtag #aprilisforawe and tag me @groundedpractice on Instagram. I can’t wait to be inspired by you!

A FEW RECENT STUDIES ON THE BENEFITS OF AWE:

1. Awe Motivates Authentic-Self Pursuit. (Jiang & Sedikides 2022)

2. "The Awe-Self Theory" suggests that experiencing awe can promote a self-transcendent mindset, which leads to greater well-being and pro-social behavior. (Shiota et al., 2021)

3. Awe-inducing experiences can decrease feelings of entitlement and increase generosity toward others. (Piff et al., 2015)

4. Exposure to awe-inspiring nature scenes can reduce anxiety symptoms and increase positive emotions. (Sturm et al., 2021)

5. Awe can enhance creativity by broadening our perspective and increasing our openness to new ideas. (Shiota et al., 2017)

6. Experiencing awe can promote a sense of meaning and purpose in life, which can lead to greater resilience and well-being. (Stellar et al., 2017)

Week 3! Minding our Money

Welcome to our third and final week of “Minding Your Money and Making it Multiply!” March challenge! This week is all about setting yourself up to continue the clarity you’ve built upon! We will set up our budget this week based on what we’ve learned in the last three weeks. Take out your Clarity and Expense Tracker pdfs and follow the steps below!

Review your expense tracker and answer the following questions. You can use THIS REFLECTION FORM or jot your notes down on paper.

• REFLECTION + QUESTIONS:

• How you spend your money demonstrates what you prioritize.

• What does your spending say about your priorities?

• Is your spending in alignment with your true priorities?

• If not, what can you change to make your spending more reflective of who you are/want to be?

• Review your assets and debts.

• Do your debts and assets reflect your priorities?

• If you have debt:

• How and where can you reduce spending and shift those dollars to reduce your debt?

• What are the action steps in your Clarity form are you ready to take?

• CREATE YOUR MONTHLY BUDGET

• Utilizing what you have learned from your reflection, use the forms/spreadsheet linked below to complete your monthly budget. Include the following information::

• INCOME: Calculate your total monthly receivables from all sources to determine your income.

• EXPENSES:

• TRACK: Keep track of all your monthly expenses, including fixed costs like rent and variable expenses like groceries.

• CATEGORIZE: Divide your expenses into categories like housing, transportation, food, entertainment, etc.

• REVIEW FOR ALIGNMENT: Continue to check how your expenses align with your priorities and adjust as needed.

• PRIORITIZE BASED ON THE FUTURE YOU! Set priorities based on where you are headed: Reread your notes on your Clarity form about the future you, and prioritize your expenses by focusing on where you are going. Cut back on anything that aligns differently with where you are headed.

• MONITOR: monitor your progress: Keep track of your spending regularly and adjust your budget as needed. Use the tools from this challenge or other apps or spreadsheets to help you stay on track.

• KEEP GOING! It is incredible how we can change our trajectory for the positive when we pay attention to where we are and act as if we are already where we are going!

YOUR TOOLS

CLARITY - MONTHLY BUDGET PDF

CLARITY - MONTHLY BUDGET FILLABLE PDF

CLARITY - MONTHLY BUDGET PRINTABLE PDF

MONTHLY BUDGET SPREADSHEET

Connecting to your future self

As part of this week’s challenge, we’re envisioning where we’re going and working to embody that version of us now. I originally learned about this type of goal setting from Dr. Joe Dispenza. I highly recommend listening to his work and trying some of his strategies. If you are completing this week’s tool/pdf and working to understand how to better connect with or envision your future self, here are some of the steps I have learned from Dr. Joe Dispenza:

1. CREATE YOUR VISION: Be clear on your vision: Spend time clarifying where you want to go, what you want to achieve, and how you want to/will feel when you get there. Write it down and make it as specific as possible.

2. VISUALIZE YOUR FUTURE DAILY: Create a daily visualization practice: Set aside time each day to visualize your future self as if you have already achieved your goals. Use all your senses to make it feel as real as possible. Really picture it and focus on the FEELING of embodying future you.

3. AFFIRM YOUR BELIEF IN THIS FUTURE: Use affirmations: Incorporate positive affirmations into your day to keep your mind focused on what is possible and achieving your vision..

4. LET GO OF BELIEFS THAT KEEP YOU FROM GETTING WHERE YOU ARE GOING: Let go of limiting beliefs: Identify and let go of any limiting beliefs or negative self-talk that may be holding you back. Replace them with positive affirmations and visualization of the future you.

5. ACT: Take inspired action: Use your visualization practice to inspire action towards your goals. Take small steps each day towards your vision and celebrate your progress along the way.

March is for Minding Our Money and making it multiply!

Between St. Patrick's Day's Rainbows with their Pots of Gold to my affinity for alliteration, the next three weeks are devoted to money! And we're starting today! This week our focus is CLARITY. And the best way to have clarity around our money is to know what exactly what we have and where. Once we clearly understand where we are with our finances, our goals and growth can continue to be identified and improved upon. Please note that I am not a financial advisor nor a money expert! But as someone who wants to utilize money in powerful and beneficial ways, I love to dive deep into how to manage and bring in money!

So, let's get real and focus on what we currently have!

This week's challenge: CLARITY - BEING CLEAR ON WHERE I AM CURRENTLY WITH MY FINANCES (and where I want to go)

Again, the best way to have clarity around your money is to understand your finances. This "understanding" means knowing exactly how much money is in each account (checking, savings, your accounts), how much you owe to others (debt), and where you want to go in the future (investments). This week is just about getting honest with everything, and the pdf below will help you do just that! (without fear or doom!) I'm excited for us to get after this and have financial freedom and abundance in 2023!

Where I am Right Now; Where I am Going

THIS WEEK’S RESOURCES FOR YOU!

CLARITY PDF

FILLABLE - CLARITY PDF

PRINTABLE - CLARITY PDF

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude!

What an 8 weeks! Thank you for joining me on this journey. Below you will find all of our gratitude prompts, affirmations, and quotes for our challenge. Revisit them anytime! Let’s stay in touch! I am so happy that so many of you will continue to join on March’s grounded practice - of March is for Money Management! Over three weeks we’ll review our thoughts around money and receive practical practices to manage it effectively. I will share resources from money experts in my life as well as other resources I’ve enjoyed. Like this challenge, those that join us for the March challenge/practice will receive a digital money management journal! For more info on this, click here. But back to our gratitude. I am so, so grateful for you!! Sending you so much love!

We did it! Welcome to the final week of our gratitude challenge!

What an experience! I am so happy we took this challenge together and started 2023 with gratitude as our practice. A few things I have discovered through this process:

• There is so much I am grateful for.

• The world is filled with awe and beauty.

• Gratitude does not take away from what we need to work on or things we would like to support the change of; it just helps us be in the moment and celebrate what we do feel grateful for and in awe of while we work towards that which we want to change

• I am grateful for this community.

Enjoy this final week! I’m so thankful to you!

this week’s words, affirmations and prompts

For this week of love, share some love With yourself.

It’s Valentine’s week, and while I think this holiday is pretty commercialized and sets up crazy expectations for demonstrating love (I mean, I am way more for the calm, consistent, daily expressions of love than the big gestures.. but that’s just me). Either way, I love the idea of sharing LOVE. And gratitude is the perfect way to share love with yourself and others. This week’s quotes, affirmations, and words of inspiration following. I am grateful for you!

Gratitude Journal Prompts:

• Recall a moment that made you feel inspired.

• Recall a moment that made you feel alive.

• Appreciate a moment of harmony, write down what happened and how it felt in your body.

• Express gratitude for a moment of connection.

• Write down something that made you feel safe.

• Reflect on a moment that made you feel supported.

• Identify a person who has encouraged you.

Gratitude Affirmations:

• I am grateful for the joy of sharing my gifts with others.

• I am grateful for the moments of stillness and peace.

• I am grateful for the moments of clarity and insight.

• I am thankful for the beauty of life, in all of it’s forms.

• I am thankful for the power of positive thoughts and intentions.

• I am thankful for the ability to forgive and move on.

• I am grateful for the strength to overcome adversity.

Gratitude Quotes:

• “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” - Eckhart Tolle

• “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar

• “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘Thank you’, that would suffice.” - Meister Eckhart

This week's prompts, affirmations and words of inspiration

Week three, and we’re going strong! How is the journaling for you? I love the feedback you all are sending! I got this from one of our Gratitude Challenge participants who said I was welcome to share.

“I loved the awe walks last week. Both the report and the quote about getting more the more we’re grateful really resonated with me. It’s like the old addage, the more you give the more you get. I have definitely found this to be true and I am so grateful for this whole practice! Thank you!”

I am finding the same, thank you for sharing!

This week’s prompts, affirmations and quotes can be found below.

This week’s Gratitude Journal Prompts:

• Reflect on a time you were lifted in love.

• Identify a person who has believed in you.

• Share a memory of a time you lifted someone in your love.

• Reflect on a moment that made you feel accepted.

• Think of a moment that made you feel creative.

• Reflect on a quote that inspires you.

• Write about who makes you laugh the most.

This week’s Gratitude Affirmations:

• I am grateful for the kindness and compassion I receive.

• I am thankful for the joy that comes from doing what I love.

• I appreciate the little moments of happiness in my life.

• I am grateful for the strength I have to overcome hard times.

• I am thankful for the people in my life who support and care for me.

• I am thankful for the ability to learn and grow each day.

• I am grateful for the opportunities and knowledge I’ve gained.

This week’s Gratitude Quotes:

• “Gratitude is the heart’s memory” - French Proverb

• “Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.” -Henry Van Dyke

• “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” - Anne Frank

• “Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” - Jacques Maritain
  

A week of Awe

We are at week two of our gratitude journaling. In addition to utilizing the prompts and inspiration below, I am working towards moments of AWE this week. I recently listened to a report on a study of people who went on walks daily in nature. [you can find an article on the study here] In the study, one group photographed something that inspired awe, while the other group just enjoyed their walk in nature. They also were directed to take a selfie following each of their walks. A remarkable realization was how the people documenting awe continued to find more and more to be in awe of. The other finding I loved was that in their selfies, they took up less of the selfie as the project went on. Their pictures started to include more of the nature around them. We are interconnected, and the awe we find in nature we can also see in ourselves. So this week, I’m on an awe hunt. I’d love to hear some of your awe-mazing finds too! Holding space for you!

Gratitude Journal Prompts, Affirmations, and Words to Inspire your Week.

Last week a few people also requested the prompts; affirmations and quotes to be typed directly into the blog post so they didn’t have to print or zoom in on the image. I’ll begin including them each week below the photos. These weeks are here:

Gratitude Journal Prompts:

• Reflect on a connection that is special to you.

• List the smallest thing you saw today that made you smile.

• Write down something that brings you heart-bursting joy.

• Close your eyes and think of what you are grateful for. What did you see?

• Reflect on what you love most about yourself.

• Write, or draw a picture, of how you feel being embraced by the person who makes you feel the safest.

• Share a time that what felt like a failure became a lesson that propelled you into a better situation.

Gratitude Journal Affirmations:

• I am grateful to have hands to reach out in need and in support

• I am grateful.

• I am grateful for the blessings shared today.

• I am grateful for the people in my life who always greet me with a smile.

• I am grateful for the sun’s warmth on my face.

• I am grateful for all of the times I remember that it will be okay.

• I am grateful for the moments I get to spend in nature.

Gratitude Quotes:

• “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy.” - Proust

• “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” - Thorton Wilder

• “Gratitude helps you to grow and expand” - Eileen Caddy

• “Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others, belong to us as well.” - Voltaire

• “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” - Zig Ziglar

• “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” - unknown

• “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.” -Cicero

Gratitude

This month’s Grounded Practice: GRATITUDE

For January and February GRATITUDE is the focus. Gratitude nourishes our body and mind while also connecting us to the positive flow of our life and connections. Numerous studies (I have linked a few below) highlight the benefits of focusing on things you are grateful for each day. I love this practice because it can be done anywhere at any time and takes hardly any time at all. For example you can commit to waking up and thinking of one thing you are grateful for, or you can spend time journaling gratitude. Both accomplish the connection and positive emotions that are supportive of our body and spirit. Sincere gratitude is the focus, this article from NPR highlights the many benefits of a gratitude practice. It also notes that at times individuals can struggle with finding gratitude and seeking it creates feelings of guilt and/or imitation. It is important to remember with all of the practices shared here, and with life in general, that each of us navigates our life in the way that best resonates with us and finding what truly brings us motivation, contentment and hope is the best practice.  My hope is that some of these practices resonate with you and support you in finding peace and ease in your life. In lovingkindness, Emily @groundedpractice 

A few articles highlighting the scientific benefits of gratitude:

• Harvard Health: Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier

• NPR: If You Feel Thankful Write it Down

• Greater Good | Berkley: How Gratitude Changes Your Brain

• Research,com: 35 Scientific Benefits of Gratitude: Mental Health Research Findings