30 Days of Thanks, Praise and Mindfulness - 10 Years On
I distinctly remember being excited about starting Thanks, Praise and Mindfulness over 10 years ago. Activity One was quite challenging and required me to focus more on my appearance than I really liked to. I felt that having an activity that placed my focus back onto other people would be a great circuit breaker - I was right.
Based on three talks, you can read the activity outline here, the crux of this activity was getting better thanking and praising others - while also getting better at accepting praise myself. I wound compassion and trying to have a positive effect on people's lives into the activity as well.
How this has evolved
I do feel that I am quite a compassionate person. Like most people though, when my stress levels go up, my ability to retain a positive and compassionate approach to everyone does suffer. But I feel this is part of my personality that has grown since doing this activity. Now, the fact that I work from home and don't have to deal with the daily crap in an office space might have an impact on that. But I still get my fair share of challenging interactions and working with other people.
I have gotten better at receiving thanks and praise, and even better at asking for it the way I would like it. As I mentioned during the activity though, I am not a person who seeks a lot of praise, so asking for it seems a little strange. I think that since I've started the graphic scribing and illustrative work I do seek more validation from others about the work I produce. This likely comes back to confidence about the work, but it is interesting to see that shift.
Overall, I strongly encourage everyone to spend a month focusing on thanks and praise and practising the golden rule. It's a fantastic reset to help you realise where you are at in connecting with others and being a compassionate towards them. Reflecting on it has definitely been a nice reminder. It has prompted a couple of quick resets in mindset over the last couple of weeks.
Thanks to all three speakers, you all gave me something simple to include in this powerful activity.