I gave this short speech at the October 6, 2022 Oregon Realtors Fall Convention Board of Directors Meeting, which was held in Seaside, Oregon on the beautiful Oregon coast. I was asked to provide the Moment of Inspiration at the start of the meeting. I selected "gratitude" as my topic. Here is the speech:
Over the years I have worked with hundreds of Realtors as a managing Principal Broker. Each person is unique, but the one persistent character trait that I have seen that most contributes to their overall happiness and business success is an attitude of gratitude - and there are reasons for this.
Medical and psychological studies have shown that consistently grateful people have an increased production of dopamine and serotonin which act like an anti-depressive and activate the feel good section of the brain. Grateful people can have:
- Increased happiness, a reduction in depression and strengthened resiliency
- They can experience reduced blood pressure, less chronic pain, increased energy and even live longer lives.
- They may have higher self-esteem, are more likely to help others and even sleep better
With all these positive results, shouldn't we all want to be more grateful? So how can be bring more gratitude into our lives?
- We need to recognize that you can't hold anger and gratitude in the same brain at the same time.
- We choose the attitude we have. As Latasha Beal said so well at the spring Board of Directors' meeting, "she chooses joy."
- We need to make gratitude a core mindset and express gratitude to others.
- Share the love...tell people what you appreciate about them...it may make their day.
- Be more kind - gratitude is the language of the heart.
- Find daily things to be grateful for - perhaps document these in a journal or on a slip of paper you put in a jar. At the end of a year, review these and be amazed at all the grateful things you experienced.
On a personal note, my father-in-law died two weeks ago. Immediately my brother-in-law dropped everything and flew out the same day from the east coast to help my husband and me be there for my mother-in-law in Bend and to take care of all the things you have to do when someone dies. During his time here, he received word that his best friend from childhood died of pancreatic cancer and last Thursday, he found out that his home in Fort Myers was destroyed when Hurricane Ian struck Florida. Despite all these blows, my brother-in-law is grateful his immediate family in Florida are all safe and that he can provide assistance to comfort his mother at this time of her life. And my husband and I are so grateful that he will remain in Bend for an indeterminate time while we get my mother-in-law settled.
Gratitude is a mindset. We can find things to be grateful for in the most difficult situations as well as in our normal daily lives. So will you have an attitude of gratitude? My challenge for each of you is to not let anyone "outgrateful" you today.
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