I’m Diana Swillinger, and this is the Renew Your Mind podcast. Episode 88 Give Yourself Permission.
DIANA: Hey, hey. Here we go. Welcome back to another week of giving. Week three of giving yourself some awesome free stuff. I love free stuff. So if you haven’t listened yet, you can go back to the last couple episodes I have done give yourself permission. Last week was give yourself space. Today we’re going to do give yourself appreciation. And next week, give yourself grace. Yeah. Did you see how that rhymed? I just noticed that. Okay, appreciation. You guys ready? In my life, the master of modeling, sharing appreciations is the one and only Dr. Rick Marks. I’ve had him on the podcast before. He’s a brilliant man and counselor and friend. And appreciations is something he just does all the time. Every time you’re with him, he will share an appreciation about you. Every time he knows it triggers feel good endorphins in you, and so he does it for other people. You know what? I bet he gets the feel good endorphins too. And then people share appreciations back to him because they reciprocate and it feels good all around.
And if we don’t have anyone in our lives like Dr. Marks initiating it for us, sometimes we’re getting deprived of appreciation. Much of the time, we are just waiting for other people to do it. Like, it’s for other people to notice things about me and say that they appreciate it. It’s nice when they do it. It makes us feel like we matter. It feels good to hear it. Appreciation is us on the receiving end of gratitude. And then what happens when we express gratitude or receive gratitude is our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, two hormones or hormonal transmitters that send messages out into our body. And it impacts our emotions. It impacts how we physically feel. They make us feel good. They enhance our mood almost right away. And we feel happy because of that. Dopamine and serotonin hit within us when we give appreciation to ourself. You know what? That happens too.
We get the feel good hits of dopamine and serotonin when we do it for ourself. In fact, we’re doing the giving the grant of gratitude and receiving of appreciation. So I don’t know, maybe we get a double dose. Could be. Who needs other things in life to make us feel good when we can just get some hits of dopamine whenever we want them? Our brains and our bodies love it. We don’t have to wait for others to do it for us, they will. And it’s nice, but we can do it for ourselves. So in the spirit of giving, I am asking you to give yourself appreciation. And I bet you anything if you get in the habit of doing it for yourself, it’s going to become natural for you to do it for others. Like loving ourselves and accepting ourselves. When we get good at doing that for ourselves, it becomes second nature and easy to do it for other people. And that’s what happens with appreciation, too. So you guys ready? I have a huge list. Well, I don’t know how huge it is, but I have a list of things that you can give yourself appreciation for. Because I know it can be hard when you’re not used to doing it. It’s like, uh, I don’t know, but if somebody gives you a bunch of ideas, that gets the ball rolling. Okay, so pay attention and know which ones resonate with you. Because I’m going to give you homework at the end. So you’re going to want to pick some of these that you believe for yourself. Because if you try to appreciate yourself and you don’t believe it, you’re not going to get those dopamine hits. You need to believe it. So find the ones that are true for you. All right, here we go. My list of things you can give yourself appreciation for. Give yourself appreciation for listening to this podcast about taking care of yourself and your emotional health. You are looking out for you by doing that. Give yourself appreciation for that. Give yourself appreciation for showing up for yourself each day. And by the way, I recommend doing these in the mirror too. You could speak them out loud or do them in the mirror, but like that last one, if I did that in the mirror, I’d say, diana, thank you for showing up for me every day. You always have my back. I appreciate you. Okay. All right, next one.
Give yourself appreciation for letting yourself learn new things. Give yourself appreciation for the good things you do for your body. Walking, drinking water, brushing your teeth, going to the dentist, sleeping, stretching, all the things you do a lot to care for your body. Give yourself appreciation for that. Give yourself appreciation for trying again. Give yourself appreciation for bouncing back. Give yourself appreciation for living by your values. Give yourself appreciation for the things that you do for other people cooking, cleaning, wiping the snow off their car, helping with their laundry, giving them hugs, smiling at them. Give yourself appreciation for being caring. Give yourself appreciation for your expression of love to other people. Give yourself appreciation for the things you do that have you showing up as the kind of person you want to be for yourself and others. Even when you think you haven’t been as true to who you want to be.
You can give yourself appreciation for recognizing that in yourself. That shows you care. Give yourself appreciation for caring how you show up. Give yourself appreciation for looking at things in hindsight and being brave enough to think about what you’d like to do differently next time. Give yourself appreciation for taking out the trash. Hey, Diana, thanks for taking care of stuff like taking out the trash. Somebody’s got to do it. You did it. Thank you. I appreciate that. You know what? I cleaned the toilet today, too, so diana, thanks for cleaning the toilet. I appreciate you for being willing to do that. Really? I should get some appreciation for that, don’t you think? I appreciate you for cleaning your toilet, too. I mean, it’s a dirty job. It’s somebody’s got to do it. Give yourself appreciation for choosing not to litter. Give yourself appreciation for smiling at a stranger. Give yourself appreciation for making positive changes in your life. Give yourself appreciation for working hard on the job. Maybe no one at your work tells you that they appreciate you working hard. Maybe they do sometimes, but not enough. Or maybe nobody does. Maybe you don’t even know if they appreciate all your hard work, but you can do it. Hey, nice work on that project, Diana. Way to complete assignments on time, Diana. Way to balance the books, Diana. Nice work. Since I’m in business for myself, I do do that. There is no coworker here in my home office telling me, nice job on anything. Nobody. I don’t hear it very often, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. I appreciate me all the time. I do it for myself. Nice job getting the podcast out on time this week, Diana. High five. I don’t know if you guys have heard about this. I’ve heard I haven’t seen it because I don’t get on social media too often, but I work with a lot of entrepreneurs who follow Mel Robbins, and she’s a health, she’s a self help speaker and author and stuff. And apparently she started a high five yourself movement, and I am down for that. Can high five your hands together. You can high five yourself in the mirror. Appreciation.
Give yourself appreciation for getting out of bed each day. Give yourself appreciation for being willing to forgive, even if it takes time, because sometimes it does. Give yourself appreciation for your weird or unique quirks. That cute snort you have when you laugh. The way you scrunch your eyes when you smile. Your freckles. That one hair that sticks straight up every day. The extra space between your big toe and your second toe that no one else seems to have. That ability to listen to all the music that you hear around you and notice it when nobody else pays attention. Your ability to read five books in a weekend. We get to appreciate that in ourselves. I hated my freckles growing up. That didn’t feel good. But then I decided to appreciate them because they made me unique. It feels great. Give yourself appreciation for having good intentions. Give yourself appreciation for staying the course. Give yourself appreciation for being strong.
Give yourself appreciation for having hope, even when it’s hard to be hopeful. Give yourself appreciation for giving second chances to others and to yourself. Give yourself appreciation for being willing to do hard things and navigate the challenges of life. You are amazing and there is so much to appreciate about you. And when you do, you get that dopamine. And when you do, you get better at doing it for other people and they get the dopamine. So to help you get better at this, I have homework for you this week. I would love for you at least once a day to tell yourself out loud or in the mirror something that you appreciate about you. And you have no excuses now because I just gave you a really long list of things that you can appreciate about you. Just find seven and do one a day.
Give yourself appreciation. And in the spirit of giving, I’m still giving everyone a free coaching call. Lots of listeners from this podcast have taken me up on the opportunity this month, but I still have some room for a few more coaching calls for the Free Mind Shift Coaching Call. It’s the season of giving. This is what I can easily gift to you, and selfishly, it lets me meet you, too. I would love to meet you. I promise. If you take me up on this Mind Shift call, you will feel some relief. You will have a new tool to try in your life. You will have some clear direction, yes, in, uh, just one call. Everyone who’s taken me up on it agrees. I mean, if you don’t want to have some relief and direction, don’t take me up on it. But if you do, if you want more joy, more hope, and more peace, this call is for you to see my calendar and sign up for a time that works for you. All you have to do is go to Rympodcast.com and look for the link to schedule your free Mind Shift Coaching call. And I’m looking forward to meeting you very soon. All right, y’all, that’s it for today, so I will catch you next week. Until then, take care of you.
As an advanced certified life coach, I help Christian women trying to live their. Best lives, but they still feel unsatisfied and stuck. I teach thought management skills that work so you can enjoy life again and step into who God has created you to be. Don’t forget to head on over to RymPodcast.com to get my free resources or a free coaching call.
