GRATEFUL FLOW! A Quick, Daily Practice to Reduce Negative Thinking and Increase Joy!
We first read about Grateful Flow in GOOP and were smitten by this short, simple practice with both immediate and long-term benefits. Psychotherapists Barry Michels and Phil Stutz's Grateful Flow meditation is based on research that has shown that gratitude is the true antidote to negative thinking. They explain that while our minds default toward negativity, practicing gratitude restores our peace of mind. Michels and Stutz further explain that when you feel gratitude, or the appreciation of things that are given to you—things you couldn’t have created on your own—you are automatically put in touch with something greater than yourself, a beneficent force (the Source) that’s interested in your welfare. The two have developed a tool called the Grateful Flow to help people easily access gratefulness—particularly when worry or negative thinking is starting to take over.
Here’s the tool as originally outlined in GOOP's Rx for Negative Thinking article (link above):
1. Start by silently stating to yourself specific things in your life you’re grateful for, particularly things you normally take for granted. (You can also include things that you are grateful are not in your life.) Go slowly. Feel the gratefulness for each item. Each time you use the tool, try to come up with new items for the list.
2. After about 30 seconds, stop thinking and focus on the physical sensation of gratefulness. You’ll feel it coming directly from your heart. This energy you are giving out is Grateful Flow.
3. As this energy emanates from your heart, your chest will soften and open. In this state you will feel an overwhelming presence approach you, filled with the power of infinite giving. You’ve made a connection to the Source.
