This post is a collective effort of nurse bloggers as part of the Scrubs Mag Blog Carnival. If you are interested in participating find out more details and sign up here.

Nursing is an extremely busy profession. While on the job, a nurse may not even have time to eat lunch. And the hours spent ‘on the job’ are getting longer and longer than ever before. What does this mean? Nurses have less time outside of work to practice self-care which can ultimately lead to feeling as though one can never get off of the hampster wheel.

The other day I was sitting in traffic on my way to work. My commute is about 40 miles and if I leave after a certain time in the morning I miss the window of ‘no traffic’. Well, unfortunately I missed that window and found myself in bumper-to-bumper tail lights. Unfortunate or fortunate? Depends on how you look at it…

These moments in the car allowed me to do my morning gratitude exercise. No one else was in the car. I could talk out loud. And I was able to get really attached to the feeling of this exercise. And when we attach a feeling with a reflection the impacts on our personal shifts are life-changing.

So what’s this exercise I did and how do you do it?

First, you call to mind and say aloud what you’re grateful for. But you don’t just stop there. Not only do you say aloud the gratitude but you add to it how that statement of gratitude makes you feel. The emotion is the power behind the exercise. The emotion gives the statement the energy. The energy allows for transformation. So it would look something like this:

I am grateful for my job because it makes me feel compassionate, inspired, and full of joy.

Now your turn.

Go ahead and speak aloud the things that you are grateful for, attaching feelings to each of them. And don’t forget to smile. Really feel the emotion inside and out. Bring that sensation into your body-mind-spirit.

You see nursing is a tough and challenging profession. But guess what? It’s all about perspective. You can continue to complain and feel victim to your circumstances. Or you can shift, heal, and thrive as a nurse professional.

The internal changes empower your external environment. It’s all about how you look at things…

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment or question below. And if you care to join us, I’m leading an empowering call next month on releasing negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors. It’s called ‘Learning to Let Go: Take Back Your Freedom’. I’d love to ‘see’ you on the call!