A couple of weeks ago I ended my monthly challenge of daily gratitude and no gossip. I use the word ended instead of completed or finished for a reason. While I learned a lot from the month, in no way did I conquer or fulfill the challenge. A big part of the problem was my screen addiction reasserting itself after my 30-day long hiatus the month before last. Some part of me felt I had ‘broken’ my addiction and while still considering it an issue, thought it was on the way out. I couldn’t have been more wrong; in retrospect this seems obvious. However, other problems aside, let’s discuss my successes, struggles, and observations from this previous month.

Daily Gratitude – For this portion of the challenge, I had created 4 specific objectives, which you can review here. The first week of the challenge I happened to be residing at my brother Brian’s house in Bryan, TX. I had intended to just spend the weekend, but Snowvid had other plans. The environment this created (no power, unable to travel, surrounded by kids) was coincidentally perfect for cultivating gratitude. I specifically remember one morning going for a walk and to meditate. On the way back to the house, I became enraptured with a feeling of connectedness. Reflecting on the experience later, I realized that the several inches of snow on the ground completely erased the normal boundaries that existed – between road and field, between field and yard, between forest and clearing – everything was connected on one huge white landscape. It was breathtakingly beautiful and evoked natural vibes of lovingkindness.

This first week was overwhelmingly successful. I expressed gratitude to various members of the group I was interacting with for that week, as well as texting and calling other family members to express gratitude. I loved using the gratitude app I had installed before the challenge and posted several pictures alongside my entries. I was grateful to Nia (my sister-in-law’s lab) for being my walking and meditation partner, I was grateful to Eden for being my yoga partner, and I was grateful to myself – a practice made easier by the introduction of lovingkindness meditation.

However, as all things eventually do, this week ended, the snow cleared, and life returned to pre-snowvid normal. I found myself much less naturally disposed to gratitude, and the renewed use of technology combined with my recently ended ban on screens, reignited my screen addiction.  If there is one thing screens seem to be very effective at for me, it is zapping my instinct or desire to be grateful. I’m not sure why this is, but I definitely notice the more I am around screens (whether productively or destructively) the less prone to gratefulness I am.

For the last 2 weeks of the challenge, my commitment remained very low. I would think about gratitude usually several times a day, but actually using my gratitude app or sending a thank you text to someone or just noticing and appreciating beauty in my life was a huge struggle. When I did push through the resistance, I experienced great rewards, namely an enhanced sense of well-being and a feeling of connectedness with not just the person or object of my gratitude but people and objects in general.

No Gossip – This part of the challenge I was much more successful at fulfilling. Because it involved a negative action rather than a positive one, it proved less difficult to maintain in my more depressed state of mind. The gist of this part of the challenge was to not talk about people who were not present in the conversation. I was mostly going for avoiding rumors that cast those discussed in a negative light, but was more broadly trying to make conversations exclusively about the people involved, not random third-parties.

The biggest lesson I learned about gossip is that it takes the focus off of enjoying conversation with another human being and converts it into a festival of judging and flattering. I noticed that whenever I felt the urge to gossip, it was usually because I was uncomfortable, bored, or empty and wanted a quick fix for that. Generally, however, my previous feelings would simply be converted into self-righteousness, frustration, or pity. To use Buddhist language, I had moved from aversive energies to explosive energies. Neither are optimal.

What am I going to continue moving forward?

• Gratitude app – I plan on continuing to use my gratitude app on a daily basis. I am also exploring some of the other features on the app – affirmations, daily zen, and vision board.
• Gratitude days – Once a month, I would like to have a ‘gratitude day.’ During the course of the day I will purpose to have a grateful mindset and express gratitude to as many people and in as many ways as possible.
• News only on Philosophical Appointed Times (PATs) – I definitely found being more disconnected to news and politics seemed to correlate with increased gratitude and less negativity. While I like staying up on current events, I think I can adequately do so even if I just follow or listen to news on weekends.
• Limiting “positive” gossip – Only positively speak about other people not present in the conversation once per day
• Justifying “negative” gossip – Never negatively speak about other people not present in the conversation unless absolutely necessary and ultimately for the purpose of edification

May my life be filled with gratitude. May I live in peace with others.

Namaste.