Episode 131 - I Learned Gratitude From The Sex Criminal Who Stopped A Mass Shooting
If you’re forced to fight for every penny it’s hard to feel grateful - even for your health. So today we’ll train ourselves to practice gratitude step-by-step, like it’s an olympic sport.
Joe’s sister got lucky. Impossibly, cosmically lucky. She left the hospital mid-recovery from life-threatening sepsis to attend her 9-year-old daughter’s birthday. That’s when she made a quick stop at Safeway for some birthday goodies. Specifically, the Safeway in Bend Oregon...just minutes before the Safeway Shooter arrived with an AR-15 and a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun.
On this episode Joe (cynic and curmudgeon) learns three gratitude practices. Specifically, techniques designed to force yourself to recognize the gifts life has given you - even if you can’t be bothered, or you literally don’t believe in gratitude. Then we’ll explore these three serious cynic-busting practices that can hyper-train your sense of gratitude like appreciation power-lifting. We’ll start with a daily 15-minute exercise that’s scientifically proven to make you more grateful (and thus healthier). Followed by the practice of posting “gratitude stopsigns” around your house. Finally we’ll end our show with a mantra that’s guaranteed to remind you that while life can be a merry-go-round of awful, the sun rises for everyone. This is an episode you don’t want to miss. The practice of gratitude isn’t just for your overall happiness - it’ll save your life.
Show Corrections: The Youtube video of David Steindl Rast we referenced has less than 100,000 views. However, the official TED video of David Steidl Rast has over 8.7 million. Watch his incredible video in the links below!
History Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend,_Oregon_shooting
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/us/safeway-shooting-bend-oregon-what-we-know/index.html
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/01/bend-oregon-shooting-hero-surrett-criminal-record/
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/08/30/bend-oregon-safeway-shooting-donald-ray-surrett-employee-killed-active-shooter-situation/
Science Links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/11/27/expressing-gratitude-has-physical-health-benefits-as-well-as-emotional-benefits/?sh=71ee5c762559
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/can-expressing-gratitude-improve-health
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful?language=en