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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how practically to build a gratitude

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Speaker 1: practice well. It's easy to get distracted by what's hard

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Speaker 1: or frustrating. Things tend to go better and we tend

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Speaker 1: to be happier when we focus on what's going well.

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Speaker 1: In his book Flourish, psychologist Martin Seligman, one of the

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Speaker 1: founders of the field of positive psychology, proposes a daily

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Speaker 1: routine he calls what went Well or the Three Blessings.

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Speaker 1: Every day, he advises write down three things big or small,

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Speaker 1: that went well. Some examples might be things like my

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Speaker 1: top choice candidate accepted our job offer, I had a

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Speaker 1: great lunch with a new colleague, and my spouse offered

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Speaker 1: to handle the grocery shopping for the cook out we're

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Speaker 1: having with neighbors this weekend. The second part of the exercise,

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Speaker 1: which Seligman says is essential, is to articulate why each

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Speaker 1: of these things went well. So, for example, you might

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Speaker 1: note that the top choice candidate accepted the job offer

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Speaker 1: because she valued the mentoring your firm offers. As for

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Speaker 1: that great lunch. It happened because you appreciated spending time

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Speaker 1: with colleagues when you were new, so you make sure

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Speaker 1: to invite new hires to things, and your spouse offered

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Speaker 1: to handle the grocery shopping because he values your time

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Speaker 1: well and because he loves a reason to go to costco.

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Speaker 1: Writing down what went well helps us focus on all

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Speaker 1: the things that we have to be grateful for, and

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Speaker 1: talking about why these things went well helps us acknowledge

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Speaker 1: the positive role others play and making things go well

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Speaker 1: in our life, like the spouse who values and equal partnership,

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Speaker 1: or the colleagues who welcomed you when you were new.

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Speaker 1: We pause and appreciate these people rather than taking them

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Speaker 1: for granted. Writing down why things went well also helps

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Speaker 1: us notice what we ourselves do to make things turn

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Speaker 1: out well, like paying attention to what a job applicant

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Speaker 1: wants and highlighting how our firm offers it. What we

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Speaker 1: do in our lives matters, and connecting our past actions

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Speaker 1: to positive outcomes builds our sense of agency and our

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Speaker 1: motivation to make smart choices in the future. Now, obviously,

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Speaker 1: it makes the most sense to write down what went

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Speaker 1: well as an end of day ritual. The whether that's

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Speaker 1: the end of the work day or the end of

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Speaker 1: the actual day is up to you. You could make

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Speaker 1: something like this a daily ritual in your family, with

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Speaker 1: everybody logging what went well in a family notebook as

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Speaker 1: you're gathering for dinner or to say goodnight. Today is

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day in the United States, in which the whole

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Speaker 1: day is theoretically focused on giving thanks and that's great,

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Speaker 1: but it's noticing the day to day good stuff of

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Speaker 1: life that really makes us happier and ultimately more grateful.

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Speaker 1: So by all means, count your blessings as you cut

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Speaker 1: the turkey, but take a moment to notice what goes

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Speaker 1: well tomorrow too, and the next day and the next day,

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Speaker 1: and pretty soon you'll be seeing a lot more of

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Speaker 1: these positive things. In the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: Podcast at I heeart media dot Com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H