Frappe Break: A Lesson in Gratitude, Greatness & Grounding

Frappe Breaks are little doses of creativity that can be injected into your day at any point. They’re meant to inspire, wake you up, and put some fire under your feet! They’re just as potent as any cup of real coffee (or in my case, a good ‘ol frappe), just without all the jitters, and possible midday energy drains.

Brief:

Today’s frappe break comes from a brilliant barista that I recently crossed paths with. Ok, he’s not a real barista, but for my coffee/frappe theme, he’s going to be one today. Haha! Anyway, the creative nuggets that are infused in today’s frappe will focus on “gratitude, greatness, and grounding” as they relate to you! Be sure to reach out and tip (aka give a compliment to) Cameron Mutter for inspiring this post, as well as sharing his ideas surrounding thankfulness, manifesting success, and positivity through daily journaling!

Deliverables:

So whether you’re reading this at the closing of a decade or in the middle of the year, these are tools that you can implement right away.

Start off by grabbing a notebook of your choice, or go digital with a journaling app, like Journey. Begin by writing down these labels: “Gratitude” “Greatness” & “Grounding.” Make sure that you leave space between each header so that you can fill in your daily reflections. Try doing this exercise in either the morning as soon as you wake up or at night before you go to sleep.

Gratitude

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful; and readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

Start off by listing 5 things that you’re grateful for. You can take your time (but not too much time) and list these out, or you can list the first five things that come to mind.

A Step Further: Once you’ve gotten the hang of listing the things that you’re grateful for, try returning the favor. I found this handy article on ways that you can show your gratitude! If you do any of these things, be sure to reflect and document them in your journal as well.

Greatness

Greatness is the quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent.

If this is your first time doing this exercise, write down your top 3 goals for the year. If you’ve already done this exercise before, rewrite your 3 goals for the year. Continue to do this every morning or night. Not only does this remind you of your goals and help you stay focused, but it also helps with manifesting greatness!

A Step Further: Once your top 3 yearly goals start to sink in, you’re going to want to develop a plan to get those done. Or heck! As life gets to you, your goals will probably start to evolve and change.

Use this time to write down 10-20 goals, and then circle the 5 most important ones. As I mentioned above, this can be related to your concrete yearly goals, or they can be smaller ones that you’d like to achieve for the week, month, or year! Proceed to narrow your list of 5 down to 1. Do what you will with this 1 goal. You can give yourself a time limit to complete it. Repeat this extra step at least once a week.

If you’re like Cameron, this exercise will give you a bit more clarity and hopefully help steer you towards a path that you really want to be on.

Grounding

Grounding is a particular type of coping strategy that is designed to “ground” you in, or immediately connect you with, the present moment.

Lastly, you’ll fill out your grounding section. You will use this section to bring you back to the present moment. Write down a simple statement that you will identify with for the current day. If you journal at night, make this statement one that you will identify with for the next day. This will become your “Identity” for the day. So for example, “Today I am going to be a role model for the youth in my community.”

A Step Further: At the end of the day, or before you go to sleep, return to this section. Document whether or not you’ve lived up to your daily identity. If not, what went wrong, and what could you do next time to make sure you live up to the standard that you’ve set for yourself?

Take Notes: Need to think about it a bit more? Take notes in the space below. Hit submit, and I’ll send you a copy of your notes to your email address. 🙂

Breakroom Buddha Notepad

My Results:

“Sometimes you have to be honest with yourself and realize that some things are not for you.” – Arjen Mackaaij

“Make things happen for me, instead of to me” – A Wise Mentor

I believe that the quotes and journaling prompts above go hand in hand. It’s a lesson of consistency (which is hard for me) as well as a constant reflection (which we all need!) If I stick to my daily prompts I believe it’ll accelerate me towards a “growth mindset,” and I’ll start to see change in my life happening a lot faster.

I’ve yet to start my journal, (as this has been set to post at midnight on Jan 1, 2020!) but, I will return at the end of the day to share my thoughts with you all. You can also continue to follow my journaling efforts on my 365 Day Project. It’ll feature an array of weekly journal topics (different from the ones listed in this article), as well as daily pictures. Wish me luck on my journey!

Your Results: 

If you’re up to it, share your personal/professional discoveries with the readers over on Human Resources. You’ll be featured on the community’s Employee Resource Group page!

Featured Image by: Freshh Connection