Episode 555 - Bistro Bowl
Your Awesome Etiquette podcast episode for the week. Plus, the weekly etiquette challenge, Monday joke, and an etiquette extra for the kids.
On today’s show, we take your questions on which honoree’s name goes first on a wedding shower invitation, what to wear to a wedding ceremony in the morning and a reception in the evening, and where to put your knife when eating from a bistro bowl. For Community Members, your question of the week is about hosting an inclusive cotillion. Plus your weekly challenge, etiquette salute, and a postscript segment where Lizzie interviews our featured trainer, Christel Georges.
Etiquette Extra - Gratitude Power
How Gratitude Changes You and Your Brain is the title of a quick write-up by Joshua Brown and Joel Wong, which discusses some new research on the power of gratitude to positively impact the brain that we simply have to share with you. It is a theme of the AE podcast that gratitude, well-expressed and received, is like glue in relationships, binding people together. We champion thank-you note writing as being “worth the effort,” and this study adds detail and data to that perspective. Researchers explored the impact that writing a thank-you note has on the mental health of the person writing the note. The results show that positive impacts accrue to the person writing a note by protecting them from contrary negative emotions, that the benefit is seen whether or not they send it, and that while the positive impacts take time to manifest, they have a lasting effect.
A deeper look at the results made the researchers wonder about the power of positive language in bolstering and building up a healthy and high-functioning brain (specifically, the medial prefrontal cortex). Brown and Wong conclude:
our research so far not only suggests that writing gratitude letters may be helpful for people seeking counseling services but also explains what’s behind gratitude’s psychological benefits. At a time when many mental health professionals are feeling crunched, we hope that this research can point them—and their clients—toward an effective and beneficial tool.
Regardless of whether you’re facing serious psychological challenges, if you have never written a gratitude letter before, we encourage you to try it. Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don’t have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.
Release day is almost here! Pre-orders for Emily Post’s Business Etiquette (a perfect graduation present) are available from our local independent bookstore, Bridgeside Books! Order yours today.
Weekly Awesome Etiquette Challenge
This week’s challenge is to work on not interrupting. Listening is so important. One way to get better at listening is to notice when you feel like jumping in and remind yourself to let others finish. You never know, you may be surprised by what you hear next.
We hope you’ve had a pleasant Monday! Let us know how you do with this week’s etiquette challenge in the comments, and remember if you have an etiquette salute for the Awesome Etiquette podcast, you can submit by emailing us at AE@emilypost.com.
See you Thursday.
Cheers,
Daniel and Lizzie
Happy Monday Joke
What word can you make shorter by adding two letters?
Short.