Basking In The Good
How you can upgrade your gratitude practice and change your life by reveling in everything going right in the world.
“Acknowledging the good you already have in your life is the foundation of all abundance.” — Eckhart Tolle —
Doyou ever wake up and say to yourself: “Wow. It’s great to be alive today.”
That’s how I felt this morning. It’s Sunday so I didn’t need to spring out of bed to get ready for my workout. I woke up late and don’t have anywhere to be. So I spent some time just basking in the good of everything around me for a little while. I spent some time gazing at one of the paintings in my bedroom. Feeling grateful that I get to benefit from the talent of this artist, his interpretation of the world, how he combines bright, vivid colours and the way he poured his heart onto the canvas.
And then I revelled in the fact that I’m able to gaze at the painting at all. That I could afford to buy it and then have it shipped from Kenya where the artist lives. That I have a flat with space to hang it. That I have an amazing job that allows me all those things and more. Then I shifted my attention to all the other things going right around me in that moment.
How grateful I am for this bed I get to sleep in comfortably every night and for the eight hours of sleep that I got last night which is not a small feat for me. After I got out of bed I reveled in how grateful I am for running water and then hot water as I had a shower. And then how grateful I am for the coffee I’m drinking as a write this. For the moka pot that made the coffee and for the delicous almond milk that complements it. And for the fridge the almond milk lives in once opened. And it goes on and on from there . . .
This isn’t how I start most mornings but I do try to bask in the good as much as I can. It’s been a game changer for me. It takes my gratitude practice to a whole new level and it’s changed my life. I am more aware of everything going right in my life and I take time to soak it in, to bask in the good.
What is basking in the good you ask?
Well, it’s my take on taking in the good which is a phrase coined by psychologist Rick Hanson. If you haven’t read any of Hanson’s books and you’re at all interested in evolving as a human being, I urge you to run, not walk, to your nearest independent bookstore (or wherever you get your e-books). Because they will change how you look at not just your gratitude practice, but your life.
I first read the Buddha’s Brain several years ago. It helped me understand how being grateful literally changes our brain, forging new neural pathways. I already had a practice of a writing daily gratitude list. But I didn’t feel into everything I’m grateful for. It was a writing exercise but not a feeling exercise. That changed when I started to engage with Hanson’s work.
In an article entitled Take in the Good Hanson breaks down taking in the good and why it’s important if we want to change our brains. Because of the environments our ancestors lived in, in which there could literally be a tiger (or another man eating mammal) around the corner ready to make you their next meal, our brains have a negativity bias. As such, we are programmed to be much more aware of the negative than the positive. As Hanson puts it, “the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones”. So, how do you make the positive stick? You take in the good. Hanson describes the process in three steps:
- Turn good facts into good experiences: Good facts include positive experiences, events and things you’re generally grateful for like the coffee I described above. When you notice something good, let yourself feel good about it and try to hold that feeling for 30 seconds. As you take in the good breathe into it and relax your body. I literally think of the good washing over me, enveloping me and filling me with good (technically that’s step two and three). Hanson recommends doing this several times a day.
- Enjoy the experience: Stay with the experience for 30 seconds and try to enjoy it without getting distracted. Give yourself this time just to take in and feel the good. This is important as the longer you hold something in your awareness and the greater your emotion about it, the more likely it is that new neural pathways will be forged (as neuroscientist Marc Lewis says: neurons that fire together, wire together).
- Intend and feel that this good experience is literally sinking into you: This is why I prefer to use the term “basking”. As I described above, when I take in the good I literally feel myself being washed over with goodness and I bask in it. Hanson says this might look and feel differently for different people and can also vary with the same people having different experiences. Sometimes I can literally feel warmth in my body and other times I feel a warm light filling my body. Whatever you do, make sure it feels good and then stay there as long as you can.
And that’s it. It’s simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. You need to make time to bask in the good. But if you do, it will change your life. I promise it will. I’m off to bask in the good of the English countryside. Have a great day!
For more on my work with young climate leaders from the global South find me here. For more on my work on global climate policy find me here.
