The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

With over 90% of your thoughts on repeat, shouldn’t they be GOOD ones?

www.grateful4.org

Gratitude

Intention

First

Things

The G.I.F.T. Today

Grateful-for knowing I am in a new growth phase and shedding some limiting beliefs. Watch me

Intention-today I shall radiate that which connects all of us

First-clutter removal

Things-connect on Sherpas today fo sho

Morning Platitude from The GratiDude

You would think that growing up and watching sports all the time I would have noticed all the great athletes talking to themselves during competitions to elevate their personal performance.

My father was a huge fan of Muhammad Ali and had a thick biography book hardcover that I used to flip through because in the back it had a record of all his opponents and fights going back through his amateur career.

I could not believe how many times Muhammad Ali fought, and one when I looked at that appendix that showed his actual fight record.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee that’s why they call me Muhammad Ali.

I wake up with this above my head every single day as a reminder of the importance of self-talk to achieve my own personal greatness.

And for the record….

I

Am

The

Greatest

You see how that works?

Yes, athletes frequently use self-talk as a strategy to improve their performance, with research showing that positive self-talk can enhance focus, confidence, and overall athletic ability by helping them navigate challenges during competition and maintain a positive mindset.

Key points about self-talk in athletics:

Positive impact:

Studies indicate that utilizing positive self-talk can lead to better performance in various sports, including tennis, basketball, and running.

Mental preparation:

Athletes use self-talk to mentally prepare for competition, focusing on specific actions or goals to stay focused and motivated.

Overcoming challenges:

During difficult moments, positive self-talk can help athletes overcome setbacks and maintain composure.

Self-confidence boost:

Repeating positive affirmations can enhance self-belief and confidence, leading to better execution.

And the reality of the matter is that even adults, let alone kids have no idea of the proven neuroscientific impact of positive self-dialogue, and audible self-talk on your organism, your thought processes, and your subsequent activities.

All our kids across the world hear adults say negative things to themselves make a mistake and call themselves stupid and tear themselves down subtly and consistently through their internal dialogue, which is neglectful at best and downright abusive at worst. I would like to see a kindergarten or a first grade where every kid must have a one sentence mantra about themselves just like they say “here!” during attend attendance..

One thing they love about themselves so attendance would change and would sound something like this:

“Kevin Carpenter?”

“Here! I love that I consistently seek out opportunities to uplift other people”

“Bob Dugan?”

“Here! I love that I have embraced my faith and that I am comfortable and open with sharing the wonders of my relationship with God with others.”

So, it would go, reinforcing the fact that every time you show up, you need to participate in self-talk and self-love wherever you go every day.

Building that neuroscientific proclivity towards self-love and forgiveness growth and a positive outlook within our talk track between our ears.

This past summer on the way up to Asheville I stopped into a small town in South Carolina that I’ve never visited because from the highway it touted a historic town center dating back to the 19th century. I thought there might be some cool buildings and interesting shops to check out and break the trip up and I was not in any rush so I thought what the heck?

The town was sleepier than I anticipated and underwhelming in every aspect, but I still gave it a stroll and looked for some people to chat with which I found inside an ice cream shop that was being run primarily buy some teenage kids.

There was an adult present, but the teenage kids were out front behind the counter interacting with the customers, and even lower behind the counter was a little brother of one of the teenagers that was working there. He appeared to be about nine or 10.

I ended up asking the kids about Superman and gratitude, which is my set up to tell my story.

Mind you these kids are young, so I had to sugarcoat my story a little bit but still delivering the major high points in hopes of capturing their attention for just a couple of minutes before they would get back to their phones.

I used the young boy as my main target of my talk and when I gave him my poker chip and told him that he must now say “I’m going to bet on myself” to keep the chip, it was his decisive moment.

When he opened his mouth and said “I’m going to bet on myself” it was a bit quiet, and it just wasn’t very convincing, and I couldn’t let them off that easy.

I told him that I’d only once had to take back a chip and I didn’t want to take back his chip because he seemed like such a good kid. I was going to give him a second chance to please say “I’m going to bet on myself” like he believed it.

Well, holy crap, when that kid shouted at the top of his lungs, “I’m going to bet on myself” the entire ice cream shop stopped, and a smile came over his face that almost wrapped around his whole head.

I asked him how it felt and he said it felt good.

And here’s the kicker when I was getting ready to leave he told me that he didn’t even know that it was OK for him to talk to himself like that, and to say positive things out loud.

He didn’t know it felt so good.

Right before I left he told me “ I don’t think I’m going to forget this day.”

I looked him dead in the eye and told him “I know I won’t forget this day or forget you, thank you”

And if possible, his smile might’ve gotten even a little bigger.

I checked my wallet when I left, and as it turns out what I just did cost me nothing to share that love in my heart, and I still have the same amount of money in my wallet.

It was like the Grinch during Christmas as my heart might’ve grown three sizes though.

And I will continue to be the Johnny Appleseed of gratitude, planting the seeds wherever I go and not worried about coming back to sit under the tree down the road.

Everything starts with the work that we need to do inside ourselves, it’s not outside. The answers aren’t in some books, the answers are in the stillness right here where we live.

You must be willing to slow down and connect to your breath and learn to identify your thoughts and do your best to measure whether a particular thought is serving you in terms of providing a beneficial, emotion or triggering actions or behaviors that are healthy and welcome in your world.

If they are not serving you, if they are perhaps fear based or coming from a perspective of scarcity, you have to ask yourself is this fear truly protecting me and making me more safe in my day-to-day life, or is it more likely limiting my ability to freely express myself and or pursue my own dreams or the pursuit of my personal greatness? It is the latter, as we live in safe societies, and we know in general where danger may lurk a constant state of fear is not required in modern society.

If we had the ability to capture your face before and after positive self-talk, your face would look very much like maleficent the dog here after a “Good Boy!” so what are you waiting for, puppy?