Do you pour out gratitude for everyone else, but forget to include yourself?

As the holidays approach, gratitude can start to feel like a performance. In this soulful solo episode, Heather helps you reclaim it, starting with the most overlooked person in your life: you.

• Learn how thanking yourself rewires your brain and soothes your nervous system
• Understand why authentic gratitude embraces both joy and grief
• Try a 3-minute practice to anchor appreciation in your body not just your mind
• Reframe self-directed gratitude as strength, not selfishness

Listen now to remember why you belong on your own gratitude list and how to gently come back to yourself, one breath at a time.

Key Takeaways

• Most gratitude practices leave you out of the equation
• Self-gratitude is not arrogance, it’s acknowledgment
• Gratitude is most powerful in complex emotional landscapes, not perfect ones
• Self-directed appreciation calms the nervous system and supports resilience
• A gentle daily ritual can anchor gratitude into your body, not just your thoughts
• “Gratitude and grief can coexist” and often must, especially during the holidays

Hi, I’m Heather Hester, and I’m so glad you’re here!

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At the heart of my work is a deep commitment to compassion, authenticity, and transformative allyship, especially for those navigating the complexities of parenting LGBTQ+ kids. Through this podcast, speaking, my writing, and the spaces I create, I help people unlearn bias, embrace their full humanity, and foster courageous, compassionate connection.

If you’re in the thick of parenting, allyship, or pioneering a way to lead with love and kindness, I’m here with true, messy, and heart-warming stories, real tools, and grounding support to help you move from fear to fierce, informed action.

Whether you’re listening in, working with me directly, or quietly taking it all in—I see you. And I’m so glad you’re part of this journey.

More Human. More Kind. formerly Just Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ Teen is a safe and supportive podcast and space where a mom and mental health advocate offers guidance on parenting with empathy, inclusion, and open-minded allyship, fostering growth, healing, and empowerment within the LGBTQ community—including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals—while addressing grief, boundaries, education, diversity, human rights, gender identity, sexual orientation, social justice, and the power of human kindness through a lens of ally support and community engagement.

Resource Spotlight

1. UC Davis Gratitude Research (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)

The foundational study demonstrates that regular gratitude practice increases optimism, improves sleep, and enhances overall well-being.

2. Harvard Health Review (2022) – “Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier”

Outlines how self-directed gratitude — including compassion toward oneself — amplifies emotional regulation and resilience.

3. Greater Good Science Center – Gratitude Articles & Practices

A collection of short, accessible research-based tools for cultivating both interpersonal and self-directed gratitude. (greatergood.berkeley.edu)

4. Book: Living in Gratitude by Angeles Arrien

An elegant, spiritual framework for understanding gratitude not as a ritual, but as a lifelong practice.