GINA MORGANO:
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Hello, and welcome to The Practice Parlour. I'm your host, Gina Morgano and today we are going to be talking all about gratitude and the gifts you've already been given. So Thanksgiving is right around the corner and the holiday season is here upon us. It's really easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle, to get consumed with the shuffle of holiday shopping and having family over and cooking and doing all of the holiday activities. We have concerts as singers and musicians and there's just so much to do, and so much to get. It's also known as the season of giving and there is so much that we want to give as well. But what I want you to think of today is what you have been given, all of the gifts that you have received. I want you, in this episode, to focus on the magnitude of your enoughness. I'm sharing three gratitude exercises and practices that you can employ to increase your self esteem and to help you use your gifts and appreciate your gifts to the fullest, right now in this moment.
(3:34) So as I mentioned, we are often focused as performers on getting, on everything that we are chasing from auditions, to performance opportunities, to new people that we want to meet and collaborate with. There is always so much to go after, to get and it can become all consuming. We can really be kind of narrow minded on our ambition. On the flip side of that, artists are generous people and I know that you want to give, I know that you want to share your gifts and help others with them. So sometimes we can get caught up in our generosity and giving, giving giving. But there's a third part of all of that and that is receiving, that is really taking in the gifts that are given to you and fully appreciating them and fully realizing them and taking your time with them and getting to know them and getting to use them well. As we approach Thanksgiving, I want you to focus on all that you've already been given. We're often taught to desire abundance to desire more than enough because we want that energetic flow, we want the margin that allows us to be generous without hesitation. But what if instead, we focused on contentment, we focused on being, having, and doing enough right now? Because the truth is that chasing abundance is exhausting. I'm tired feeling like there's always more to do, there's always more to have, there's always more to be. It seems that we can never do enough or reach more than enough. But what if we already are and have enough just as we are right now. Of course ambition and goals, these are all wonderful things. But how can we balance the desire to get and to give and to be future focused with being present and having the contentment of receiving and focusing on the gifts that we are given. So here are three gratitude practices to help you to pause and take a break from what's next, in order to truly appreciate all that you are, and all that you've been given in the here and now.
(6:24) So exercise one is have a yearly gratitude practice. There are many ways to do this. Right now I am getting daily texts that prompt me to think of something that I'm grateful for every day. So one day it might be practice gratitude for something that you tend to take for granted. Another day, it might be to thank someone important in your life. Some people like to journal every day three things that they're grateful for, or to post on social media throughout the month of November, something that you're grateful for. But for me, my most important gratitude practice in November is on Thanksgiving Day itself. My family has a tradition of gathering around the table, we have our place cards with our names on them and we write down what we're grateful for throughout this past year. Everybody reads them aloud after we've collected them. But the really cool thing is that not only are you able to see what you're grateful for this year, but we save those cards from year to year so that everybody can look back through the years and see what they were grateful for in years past. I know some people have a tablecloth that you can write on, and everybody writes down what they're grateful for. But I think there is something really special about sharing out loud, and in a visible, audible way, what you are grateful for in the company of your dearest family and friends. Being able to reflect on the past year as a whole and on past years helps you to see all that you've been given and in all the ways that you have grown. So the first one, as I mentioned, is having a yearly gratitude practice.
(8:25) The second exercise is to sit in the receiving. I have 20 questions that I want you to ask yourself about gifts that you've been given. So I want you to think of a random physical object that you received as a gift, something like a sweater or a candle. It doesn't matter what it is. You can think of multiple gifts, think of gifts that you've loved receiving, and think of gifts that maybe weren't your style. Then I want you to go through these questions again and think about your intangible gifts, your vocal gifts, your creative gifts, your artistic opportunities and experiences, your personality strengths, skills that you have developed and perhaps taken for granted, and people who have come into your life. So you can do these 20 questions with any gift but I really want you to look at your intangible gifts as if it was a physical gift given to you and I want you to examine how you reacted to receiving it.
(9:43) So the first question is, how did you receive the gift? Do you treasure and truly appreciate every moment of the experience of receiving? Did you take a moment to appreciate the giver? Did you put it on a shelf for someday-maybe use? Did you open it ferociously and put it to work immediately like a kid on Christmas morning? Did you toss it aside? Did you forget about the gift? Did you regift it or find a way to share it? Did you try to use the gift? Did you try to refuse the gift? Do you feel guilty, bashful or undeserving? Did you turn your nose up at it? Did you meet it with entitlement? Did you wonder how to use it? Did you meet it with patience like a fine bottle of wine? Did you savor it? Did you hesitate to embrace it? Did you let it expire? Did you use it thoroughly and fully? Did you trust that there will be more coming? Did you write a thank you note?
(11:04) So these questions are easier to answer with a physical gift right? We know if we use that candle or if the candle is still sitting unburned in our closet somewhere, or if we re-gifted it. But when it comes to intangible things like your voice, like your kindness, like your compassion, I think these questions are going to be more challenging to answer. I think they will be very, very illuminating for you and help you to discern which gifts really mean the most to you and which gifts perhaps you are pushing down or resistant to allowing to really shine. So I really want you to focus on the act of receiving. Sit with the gifts that you have already been given and fully receive them and see what you can do with them.
(12:10) The third thing I would love for you to do this Thanksgiving is to look ahead to Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is a day where all of the nonprofits send out solicitations for donations and oftentimes gifts are matched. So if you are looking to financially donate this year, Giving Tuesday is an amazing day to do that. But we often think about paying it forward. And yes, giving is an wonderful way to pay it forward. But what about paying it back? Not because you owe a debt, not payback for something, but as an act of community and gratitude and mutual support. So many arts organizations are struggling right now. Many have folded and so many are on the brink of folding. If you're listening to this podcast, I know that you support the arts. So I want you to think about the causes that you care about and the causes that have given to you, the organizations that you have received from. For me, some of the organizations that I adore are National Chorale, the only professional symphonic chorus in New York City, The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, which sings with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the National Opera House in Homewood, which is in the midst of an enormous restoration project, Agarita in San Antonio, which is a string quartet created by my childhood best friend, Sarah Silver Manzke, and so many more. But these are a few organizations on my heart. Some others that come to mind are Sing for Hope, and Vocal Ease in New York. These are organizations that provide free music for senior centers, nursing and elderly homes, veteran centers, hospitals and hospices. So what are the organizations that have lifted you up, that have brought joy to your days, that you have attended a concert for or an event for? What are the organizations in your local community that you want to prosper. See how you can pay it not only forward but pay it back because I truly believe that the world thrives on collaboration. It is not about one person taking and one person receiving, but a mutual giving and receiving.
(15:06) So this Thanksgiving, remember to focus on contentment, on knowing that who you are is enough. You don't need more than enough, you only need all you are right now. I hope that these exercises help you to see all of the wonderful gifts that you have and to use them to their fullest. Please reach out. I would love to have a conversation with you if you are struggling to see your creative gifts if you're struggling to know how you can use your voice to give, if you are struggling to receive all of the compliments and the wonderous facets of your voice and recognize them for the gifts that they are. I would love to have a chat with you so that you can finally stop comparing and feel enough just as you are. There are a few other resources I have for you. In Season One of The Practice Parlour Episode 18, I spoke with Jenny Clift, and there's an awesome exercise she does tapping into gratitude and she will walk you through a tapping gratitude practice. I also have a blog post, 11 Ways to Practice Gratitude and those will be shared in the show notes. So please have a joyful, blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving Day. And have a beautiful day. I'll see you next time!
