Gratitude saved me from a nightmare. I was in Oxford, England, at a lovely inn. After an evening in town, I went to bed around midnight leaving the window open for fresh air. At 3:30 am, I was awoken by a loud mockingbird at the window. Being completely irritated, I decided that I’d have to shut my window. I turned on my light and looked at my pillow.
There was a bug. I grabbed my phone and googled it. It was a bedbug. That’s where the possible nightmare started.
I jumped out of bed and was in shock. Quickly I looked through my sheets and saw five more bedbugs. I didn’t see any bites on myself, but I knew I was entering an absolute emotional nightmare or I could choose a different path. I choose a different path.
How did I not enter this nightmare? I Faced the situation head-on with gratitude. I started to thank the mockingbird over and over my head. I went through everything that I was grateful for at the moment. I was grateful that I only slept for 3 and 1/2 hours in that bed. I was grateful I had a small backpack, not a large suitcase. I was grateful that the mockingbird woke me up. I was grateful to have access to a shower, which I jumped into as quickly as possible. I was grateful that I knew I had a choice and the skills to avoid the emotional meltdown.
After showering, I grabbed my stuff and went down to the lobby. No one was there. It only being 4:30 in the morning I knew I just had to wait. So I meditated on gratitude. I wanted to maintain my sense of balance and appreciation for my vacation. I knew by acknowledging and appreciating the things I was grateful for; I activated positive emotions in my brain. These emotions counteract the stress responses and help me regulate the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol. I just repeated the gratitude statements until 7:00, when I could talk to the innkeeper.
Was I upset? Yes. But I knew nobody did this to me. The innkeeper was horrified. They refunded all my money and gave me directions to an industrial dryer—more reasons to be grateful. I was able to easily walk to and throw everything I owned in the dryer. My shoes, backpack, and clothes were put in the dryer on high for 40 minutes. This was the only way to ensure I would not take the bugs or eggs home with me.
I threw away the clothes I was wearing and changed into my clothes that were now toasty. I jumped on a bus, went to London, and enjoyed the Chelsea Flower Show. (Even on 3 and a halfhours of sleep.)
Gratitude allowed me to beware of my situation without being overwhelmed by my fight, flight, and freeze response. I was able to Face the situation; I used the tool of gratitude to Focus on a solution instead of getting lost in the problem. With a calm-centered mindset, I was free to direct my energy and mind where needed and did not enter blame, shame, worry, or anger. With the Stress Shifter Skills of Facing, Focusing, and Freeing, I could walk into the Flow of my vacation.
I was so grateful that I was able to enjoy my day. After the Chelsea Flower Show, I went and washed my clothes one more time. Using the method of Facing, Focusing with gratitude, Freeing, and Flowing I did not live a nightmare of anger, chaos, or sadness. , I remembered a gratitude can enhance my resilience by reminding me of the resources and support I have in my life.
Have you ever used gratitude as a tool that shifted a stressful moment? Please share your story with us below.
We are GRATEFUL.
Comments 4
Linz
Thank you 😊
lb
Lindsay, your classes have taught me how acceptance and gratitude can calm the emotions and enable clearer thinking to handle a stressful situation for a better and quicker solution. Acceptance alone will bring focus, but gratitude will enable you to calm down even more so as you realize how much worse a situation could have been. The result: your self esteem will grow as you see the whole picture more clearly. Now that is something!
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Comments 4
Thank you 😊
Lindsay, your classes have taught me how acceptance and gratitude can calm the emotions and enable clearer thinking to handle a stressful situation for a better and quicker solution. Acceptance alone will bring focus, but gratitude will enable you to calm down even more so as you realize how much worse a situation could have been. The result: your self esteem will grow as you see the whole picture more clearly. Now that is something!
What an incredible, wonderful inpiring story!
Wow, marvelous weblog format! How long have you been blogging for?
you made running a blog glance easy. The full look of
your site is wonderful, let alone the content material! You can see similar here sklep internetowy