So earlier this month I had the pleasure of going to Dr Chatterjee’s thrive tour, with the wonderful staff from St Wulfstan’s Surgery, thanks to the brilliant Dr Kirti Viswanathan. It was brilliant in every way apart from the fact that the wonderful Dr Kirti was unable to join us at the very last minute..

Those of you who know me, know that Dr Chatterjee has been the inspiration behind so much of my work. I created the Supper Club back in 2018 after being inspired by his wonderful podcast, and it was at an event where I first saw him back in 2019 that I first heard about Health Coaching…

I am very grateful to him for everything I have learnt, and continue to learn from all the incredible guests on his podcasts, but also from his numerous books.

It is so brilliant how he manages to simplify complex information to make it accessible to us all, and also how he creates simple frameworks to help us all take action. I still use his ‘3P’S’ for my daily gratitude practice. Focusing on one person I am grateful for, one pleasure, and one promise (something I have to look forward to) every day. It is just one example of one of his many recommendations…

True to form on his latest tour he invited us all to create our own ‘Thrive blueprint’.

This time he invited us to reflect on our mindset, our values, and then encouraged us to all create our own action steps at the end!

Mindset

His view is that mindset is the pivotal starting point to wellbeing. He believes that all experiences are neutral, but it is the story that we put on our experiences that creates our reality. Unfortunately all too often we generate our own stress with our responses. However with a little conscious effort and attention we have the power to reframe most situations. He invited us all to start to pay attention to when we find ourselves complaining, and to choose gratitude or action instead.

Gratitude is such a powerful practice and something I focus on every single day, and I meet so many people every day through my personal and professional life who demonstrate this so beautifully. Life can be incredibly challenging for so many people at any moment in time, but I have witnessed so many people finding something to be grateful for even in the most challenging situations…. Dr Chatterjee so often refers back to his conversation with Edith Eger on the podcast, and he shared a powerful clip from her podcast during the show. She is an Auschwitz survivor who is quite clear about the power of our mindset, and says:

‘The greatest prison that you’ll ever live inside is the prison that you create in your mind”

Mindset is so pivotal in enabling us to make choices that support our health and wellbeing. However, Dr Chatterjee also believes strongly that it also crucial that we have a clear sense of what success looks like to us. His view is that so many of us suffer from ‘disease of more’, and that true wellbeing is about knowing what is ‘enough’

Values

Dr Chatterjee has always encouraged his patients to make time for hobbies and activities that bring them joy, and I remember this so clearly from his early books. He says that doing things we love is so powerful for reducing stress, but all too often  stress unfortunately stop us doing the things we love.

He has a very clear ‘why’ for why he does what he does after witnessing and caring for his own father who worked so hard that he was forced to retire early due to ill health.

He is passionate about helping people to identify what is important to them, and to create lives that are in alignment with their values.

Again he shared another powerful clip from his podcast with Bronnie Ware, the palliative care nurse, who wrote a book about the 5 regrets of the dying which were: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 2) “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.” 3) “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.” 4) “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” 5) “I wish I had let myself be happier”

This clearly resonates so powerfully with him, and why he feels so strongly about helping people to prioritise making time to do things that are important to them.

To beautifully illustrate his point he then came on stage performing ‘One love’ by U2. Performing in his band is  hobby that is so important to his own wellbeing. He then shared a beautiful clip from Gabor Mate about the importance of play. Gabor Mate expressed about how he wished he hadn’t worked so hard for so many years to justify his existence in the world. He said strongly that ‘when you work too hard,, you ignore what matters most’, and emphasised again that play and joy is so important. He then shared a beautiful quote from Winnie the Pooh;

Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.” 

Action

In this wonderfully interactive show, Dr Chatterjee then invited everyone to create their own action steps based on their values.

I find it tricky in the moment to bring all of that together, and often need time to reflect. Thankfully, true to form he sent on a bonus worksheet after the event.

But I guess my overriding take away from the whole event was inspiration! Dr Chatterjee is someone who is so very clearly living in alignment with his values. He is someone who is embracing life whole headedly and doing his very best to spread that message far and wide to help others live happy and healthy lives.

It really isn’t too complicated.

When we choose to be grateful for everything we already have, make time to take care of each other and ourselves, take time to do things we love and spend time with people we love, we can’t go far wrong!

It reminds me of a beautiful quote from Mary Oliver I heard once..

‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’