Hello Friends!
With the 5 year anniversary of our shop opening coming up this Saturday (11/30), I can't stop crying! Because I keep thinking of all I've and we've been through here at the shop, and how grateful I am for everyone who has helped me/us along the way!
I'm literally crying as I'm typing this.
I wouldn't be here, 5 years later, without so many of you. People stepping in to help me open, to keep me going during lockdown, and every day since the first day. I am so grateful, I can't actually put it into words. Especially because I'm not great at asking for help (even though I want you all to ask when you need help!), and most of this help came to me without me asking. It came to me because some people are just so good to each other.
(I had to actually get up and walk away for a minute after writing that, because I don't want to me crying too much if someone walks in the door!)
I'm trying to hold back on posting too much mushy content until I can get a little more of a grasp on my overflowing emotions and be able to express them in actual words and not just tears, but there is something I wanted to share with you, because I found it so interesting!
I wear a WHOOP fitness/health tracker. I got it in 2020 after a friend recommended it, at first so I could stop tricking myself into thinking I was handling the stress just fine (I wasn't), but I ended up loving it and continue to use it years later. It's designed more for athletes, and it has a relatively high monthly fee, but it helps me in so many ways, I prioritize using it.
I love measurable data, and I love seeing how certain activities affect my health, even when I can't always feel it (and I love the validation from the data when I can feel it).
One of the things it tracks is HRV rate. Without getting technical, generally the higher the number, the better our nervous system is in balance and the better we are able to adapt to stressors. A higher number is generally better for us overall.
Everyone has a different normal, and my current normal is usually somewhere in the mid to upper 40s. It spikes higher when I get good rest, and drops lower when I'm more stressed (or drink alcohol!), but my current average stays in the same place.
Over this last week, I've noticed the daily number go up up up. The only change in my lifestyle (food/drinks/sleep) is that I'm OVERWHELMED with how grateful I'm feeling! I think it's the overwhelming feeling of gratitude that is literally making healthy changes in my body!
My science mind is saying, "you have no way to prove that"
But my spirit mind is saying, "heck yes, gratitude! the numbers don't lie!"
(especially because I went to bed last night feeling stressed instead of grateful, and my HRV dropped back down to my usual. I can't wait to see what it says tomorrow!)
I wanted to do an experiment for the rest of the year. Will you join me? Measure with your own tracker, or just with how you feel every day.
Sit with gratitude every day from now until the end of the year. However feels good for you. Maybe you already do this! Lots of us have practiced gratitude at one point or another, or practice it in small amounts daily. I know I'm not the first to say that gratitude is good for us, I'm just so mesmerized by my actual HRV rate increasing so much over these full days!
If you don't currently have a gratitude practice, start today, and if you do, double it today! Just until the end of the year (you can always go longer, but commit until the end of the year). Practice while keeping the experiment in mind. Practice with the curiosity of seeing what the results might be.
Sit with gratitude through journaling, or meditation (I like tapping/EFT! look into it), or just sit and think about all the goods things that have come to you this year, or in your whole life. They can be seemingly small things like a random compliment or interaction with a stranger, or large life changing moments. If you haven't practiced before, or it's been a while, just like all things, it's actually *practice*, where the more you do it, the better you are! Practice until you can feel it fill up your whole body.
Practice gratitude every day for the next 4-5 weeks and see if you feel different by the new year. And let me know!
Xo,
Lisa