11:11 Waves Blog 22: Celebration

Every Monday, I share 1 question for you to contemplate, 1 idea from me, 1 quote from others, and 1 inspiration for us.

This week’s topic is: Celebration

Last week was a very full-on week for me. While I accomplished many tasks and powered through my to-do list ticking off most of the boxes with my green marker, I still felt that I could have accomplished more, that I still haven’t achieved my big goals and that my actions did not exactly line up to my expectations. On Friday evening, feeling a bit low, I was reminded on how we are always so quick to highlight and remember what did not work so well, instead of recognizing and celebrating what we did well. With all the to-do lists going on in our lives, it can be easy to forget about or not pay attention to all of our small wins. But celebrating these little accomplishments can be so impactful, inspiring and motivating.

One Question for you

Every day is a celebration.

Discuss the question here.

One Idea from me

Celebration doesn't have to be reserved for the biggest achievements, milestones, events or holidays of the year. Big goals don’t happen over night and it’s important to notice and celebrate the small victories that happen all the time. Below I am sharing three tips on how you can initiate and nurture more opportunities to celebrate things in your life:

Re-define your own definition of wins: When you only think of wins as the big successes, you’re likely to overlook everything else you have achieved along the way. In addition to this, success and wins look different for everyone. This week I invite you to pause and reflect on how you define success and wins. By defining what success looks like for you and what the little wins are on the way to it, you will be more likely to identify and celebrate them.

Record and share the small wins: Positive psychology research shows that recording and celebrating the wins (no matter how small) frequently has a bigger impact than waiting for that one big thing to celebrate. This week, I invite you to pay attention to all the small things that you have done well, note them down and take the time to congratulate yourself on your victories. In addition to this, you can also share your small wins with others – this will increase your accountability to keep celebrating them, but also gives the opportunity to be inspired by others’ victories and consider examples of achievements that we maybe would not have considered celebrating ourselves.

Catch yourself being good: If you have ever watched a tennis match with Rafael Nadal, you would have noticed that Rafa celebrates each of his small wins with a fist pump (a journalist counted approximately 90 fist pumps per match). Rafa’s enthusiastic celebrations help to boost his confidence, feed his motivation and build momentum throughout the game. In sports, celebrating success is common and expected. Perceiving and experiencing situations as a victory creates a “happiness rush” that enables us to feel less stressed, more resilient and more positive. This week, I invite you to celebrate like Rafa!

One Quote from others

“People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To be entertained is a passive state--it is to receive pleasure afforded by an amusing act or a spectacle.... Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions”. Abraham Joshua Heschel

One Inspiration for us

Celebratory postures and gestures can be very powerful and have profound positive effects in our wellbeing. This week I invite you to find your own “celebratory pose” – one that instinctively pops into your mind when you think of how you would like to celebrate an exciting accomplishment – and introduce it when you are visualizing your success and celebrating your small wins. Try few options – see some examples below - and see what resonates! Enjoy!