Gratitude
In recent years, having a gratitude practice has gained widespread popularity, driven by a growing interest in positive psychology and holistic well-being. Numerous studies highlighting the mental and emotional benefits of gratitude have captured public attention, contributing to its adoption in various lifestyle trends. The rise of mindfulness practices and wellness movements has further propelled gratitude into the mainstream. You can't walk into a newsagent or book store without seeing a fancy gratitude journal for sale. Gimmicks, inflated benefits, consumerism, social media influenced validation aside, let's take a look at the reasons for its growing popularity and how you can simply and practically apply gratitude to boost your mental health and sporting performance.
Personally, I have adopted a gratitude practice semi-consistently for the last several years. I am far from perfect and generally do it consistently for several weeks. I will inevitably fall out of practice with it, because hey I am human too. But I do make a note to pick it up again when I notice myself becoming less optimistic or focusing too much on the negative. I also make sure I am doing it regularly if I have an upcoming race. Just as we want our physical skills sharp leading into a race we also want our mental skills primed and ready for use. I have found it a great tool to have at my disposal deep in the depths of a hard trail running race or session. More on that in a second.
In our fast paced and information overloaded society, people are increasingly seeking ways to manage stress, enhance mental health, improve performance and overall life satisfaction. When we look at the evidence for utilising gratitude as a tool it's easy to see why this simple practice has gained popularity.
Practicing gratitude has scientifically validated benefits, including improved mental health (anxiety / Depression), reduced stress, enhanced emotional wellbeing, increased resilience, stronger social connections, better sleep, heightened motivation, and a more positive outlook. All things consistent with high performance!
When we specifically look at high performance, I often ask my clients if they have ever seen a pessimistic high performer. If you find one let me know because I am yet to see it! Successful athletes typically score high on optimism scales, which just so happens to be one of the benefits of a regular gratitude practice. If we look at how our minds have evolved they’re also hard wired to notice threats, which then gets reinforced culturally from news sources, general conversations and concerns we all have as humans. Thus it becomes of even more value and importance to compensate for the default setting of our evolved minds.
Gratitude has also been associated with improved cognitive flexibility and decision making. Ultramarathons and other endurance events often become challenges of regular problem solving. The individual that can quickly and effectively adapt to solve whatever problem comes their way will have a distinct advantage. I believe gratitude can play an important role in this process.
For example when deep in the pain cave, several hours into a trail run and your legs feel like led, you have chaff in places you wish you didn't, your stomach has gone south and the blisters on your feet shot pain up your legs every step it’s easy to be overcome with pessimism and negativity. Our mind can quickly turn small problems into what can feel like insurmountable obstacles. We spiral and our race can very quickly implode and result in a performance lesser than what we are capable of or worse a DNF. I have found gratitude a reliable and helpful resource in these exact situations.
To have the capacity to switch to a more optimistic and positive mindset in these moments is not easy. Yet if we can just find something to be grateful for in that moment it can buy us time to work through rough patches, improve our decision making and problem solving capacity and boost our mood to get through these tough periods.
Examples i have used in these situations include:
Being grateful for my body to do hard things.
For my body to take me to the edges and beyond what I thought I could achieve.
Gratitude for the volunteers, for the race organisers, and everyone out on course or that has helped me get to the start line.
Gratitude for the human spirit and the amazing people that have the courage to take on epic endurance feets.
Gratitude for the opportunity and privilege to be in this difficult situation.
Gratitude for nature and the beautiful scenery, trees, and landscapes.
The list could go on, and you will find your own situations to give thanks too.
This isn't a miracle solution to our suffering and problems in these moments. However it can change our perspective and boost our mood even if ever so slightly. Thus, providing a small space in our thought process, a critical stop gap decreasing our chances of going into a negative spiral. It can also pull you out of the depths of despair, very handy. Therefore, if we can feel-into the feelings of gratitude and related positive emotions it can help us more easily navigate a rough patch in training or racing.
It's important to practice this to become more proficient at this skill. It is a skill we can develop and enhance. Practicing this first in low stress environments, upon waking or before bed will give us the capacity to apply this skill in more difficult situations when we need it most, i.e hard training, or race day.
There are many creative methods to practice gratitude. However, my go to practice is as follows:
I list 10 things, (3 is a good start), yet 10 is a challenge at first and enhances our capacity to train this skill.
I will then pause briefly for 5-20 seconds after each item and just allow myself to feel the positive emotion of each item. Thats it simple, effective and powerful.
If you’re like me, as you practice gratitude more you might just start to notice that you suddenly become more attuned to the small, incidental, yet meaningful positive interactions and experiences you encounter throughout the day. By practicing gratitude we prime our minds to more consciously notice the things we’re thankful for and that can’t be a bad thing.
Give it a go and see how it works out for you. I would love to hear from you and your experience. Happy to answer any questions you might have. Here is to improved mental well-being and another mental tool for you pack during your adventures.
Comments