Hello, and welcome to the next lecture in the course, this lecture covers quick win number three. And we're using different strategies that you can put into practice right away to see the benefits of gratitude in your life. And so this one helps to transition you from the practices of gratitude that we just covered in the previous lectures to the next lecture, where we talk about how do you make gratitude an enduring trait in your life? How do you make it actually change the outcomes in your life, because the only way to do that is to keep the practice going. And so it's human nature, I think, in a perverse kind of way, to basically want to resist something that helps us and so prep. You know, practicing gratitude requires discipline, time and effort, and there's no easy workaround for reaping the benefits of gratitude, when it comes down to is that you have to do the work.

And, you know, like I said, it's a perverse human habit to Resist what is good for us and do what we know would make us happy. I'm really bad about that I get pulled away very easily from things. But I come back, I go away, I come back, I go away, I come back, it's human nature to a degree, don't beat on yourself for doing that. I've learned not to beat on myself as much, because it doesn't accomplish anything. There's no point in beating on yourself, you just come back to it and you get back to what you needed to do. And so, you know, it's that why do we Why do we resist what's good for us?

Well, I have some theories, there's probably several, maybe you experienced these at the same time or different combinations of these. But one reason is not believing we deserve good things. And so we'll resist doing what will make us feel better, as strange as that sounds, and then being lazy, straightforward, just being lazy. Fearing discomfort and uncertainty is another one. It's our human nature to stay with what makes us comfortable and in our comfort zones, and going numb, simply going numb to the situation and forgetting what's Important. And so I find myself easily pulled away distracted.

And so it's a constant struggle to find the time, energy and focus and willingness to prioritize. And even when it's the most important thing, it's almost like I forget, and it doesn't even come to my mind after a while. And so human nature can be strange. But this exercise gives you some workarounds in order to be able to override that and to keep your practice going. And so someone wants told me that when you have lots of priorities that demand your time, energy and attention, look at your priorities and responsibilities as sand and rocks. And what that means is just picture your capability.

During the day your capacity of what you can do in a day in a jar, picture of mason jar or whatever kind of jar you want to picture, a clear jar, and you have to decide what priorities are the most important. Those are the big chunks that are important. The rocks, the rocks are the big things. And so the big blocks that start at the top of your priority list and work their way down and get bigger to smaller, and you must make wise decisions about what your rocks are, and perhaps put different rocks in your jars each day, you could almost see each as an assembly line in different jars. And so you could actually shift your priorities each day. And you would have rocks in each jar each day.

And then those are the rocks, the big blocks, like I said, and then that would give you a priority list for each day to create power in your life. If you set clear goals, once you know what the rocks are in your jar from biggest to smallest and realistically which ones will fit in the jar. The jar is not bigger on any given day than another it's the same every day, every day. Whether it's writing time with your family, prayer time, meditation, reading, playing tennis, going to the gym, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever, but it must be the rock overall Other things. And then once you've taught down those priorities and throw out a few rocks, and no, you can't do those that day, you be realistic, you still have other responsibilities and the sand that flows around the rocks in the jar, but you know what is constant and important, those are the rocks, they are stable, they're static, they don't move because they are your top priorities.

And they are the most important. And if something has to get thrown out of your jar, it will not be those. And so the sand is the things that are flexible, and that can go under and around the rocks and they're thrown that are thrown out of the jar. You know, sometimes the same can be thrown out of the jar altogether. And so for me, the rocks in my jar are to lower my stress levels, since I tend to be prone to anxiety and depression and to work towards more enjoyment of my life. For me that's finding time for my spiritual life, my writing my exercise, getting out with nature, resting and being with my family and friends, as well as work So when I started putting myself first and doing rocks in a jar, whether it was in my mind or writing it down, I was able to serve my students that I was teaching in my job better as well.

And without a morale, a positive morale and something to work towards. You can't be a good teacher. And so by putting myself first I was actually helping my students because I was better at functioning and more genuinely happy. And so when I did go back to work and work on things, I was more functional because of switching my priorities ironically, and so the rocks are the rocks, the sand is the sand. You can't let your rocks or your top priorities degrade into sand, because that means the decay of your well being and the sand cannot become the rocks or your life will get crowded out and you will never accomplish your goals. And so you will be overworked which will lead to self neglect low morale problems in real life.

And shifts and health problems, less reasons to be grateful. And so your abundance is the space in the jar. Your abundance is the choice of the rocks, your abundance is the fluidity of the sand. And so make cultivating gratitude a priority to increase your abundance. Pick your rocks carefully, make it one of your biggest rocks and guard your rocks carefully and keep your sand fluid and the jar will give you a cup full of life each day. And so if you pick your rocks carefully, and then have a certain firmness with that, and then have a flexibility with the other things, you will find that practicing gratitude can be in stay a higher priority in your life.

And so that's the end of Section three, which was about the practices of gratitude and how it can bring more abundance into your life. Now we'll be moving into section four the transformative power of gratitude how gratitude can improve the outcomes and relationships in your life. I'll see you in the next section.