Christian Sismone: How We Can Leverage The Power Of Gratitude To Improve Our Overall Mental Wellness

We can use the positivity to fuel our lives. Right now, as the collective we are on a constant track of calamity. Being grateful will allow you appreciate the past and to see the positivity of change.

As we all know, times are tough right now. In addition to the acute medical crisis caused by the Pandemic, in our post COVID world, we are also experiencing what some have called a “mental health pandemic”.

What can each of us do to get out of this “Pandemic Induced Mental and Emotional Funk”?

One tool that each of us has access to is the simple power of daily gratitude. As a part of our series about the “How Each Of Us Can Leverage The Power Of Gratitude To Improve Our Overall Mental Wellness” I had the pleasure of interviewing Christian Sismone.

Christian Sismone is a beauty and mental self-care content creator who uses her life to inspire and ignite others to grow. She also works with women to help them craft their best self-image and recently wrote her first e-book, Winning Images to help women update their closets and lives at home. Christian is best described as an experience.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about you and about what brought you to your specific career path?

I’m a beauty and self-care content creator who started because I felt the world didn’t have faces and bodies like mine in spaces of self-growth and beauty. As someone who has experienced much adversity growing up very poor and not in a good home, life pushed me into being someone who looks within in order to keep marching on. After experience a close to life-ending incident, my path to illuminate life by way of the gems I have learned in life are very confirmed.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

As a content creator, the noise of the industry is to be as superficial as possible in order to lure people to follow your life. As someone who doesn’t follow the crowds I began creating content that had substance as my life experience is filed with nuggets of wisdom. Once I started creating from a place of abundance and transparency I got an email from a pretty major production wanting to have me on their show to discuss my 10-year anniversary of a failed suicide attempt. Even though the production didn’t pan, I was still very blown away that something I wrote 2 years ago still was as potent and resonated. Any time I can spark the hearts of others all the doubt of doing it subsides.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why do you think that resonates with you? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life? One of my mantra’s is you can’t perfect what you don’t create.

You can’t perfect what you don’t create. This came about in my early 20’s when I was grappling with what I really wanted to do with my life. I know for many they desire to do something that’s not in the traditional method like work a 9–5 for 40 years, was hard. But the notion hit me that if I don’t create it I can’t make improvements. If you don’t try, you will never know how dynamic you can be.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story about why that resonated with you?

I was introduced to a book by my Reiki Healer called “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron as I was having mental and emotional blocks in my life. As someone who is currently pivoting from the traditional matrix of life, I am having to see myself as an artist which isn’t easy. I found this author’s mixture of candid storytelling and peppered advice refreshing yet challenging. Becoming an artist, I believe is a form of healing one’s self and thus healing the world.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

As I’m currently in transition with my career, I’m currently working on launching my image consulting and customer experience training consulting firm as to merge my passions of beauty, high quality service and empowerment are to die for. Also, as I dig deeper in crafting my brand as a content creator, I’m working to partner with brands that merge beauty and opulence into the day to day life. All I do is focused on helping elevate the 30–40 something woman be exquisite on all levels.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Back in my undergrad days, I had the great fortune of crossing paths with Dr. Bell, as she was the 1st black woman at my university business school to become tenured. I will never forget my first email to her, it was sent back in a sea of red. She was a stickler for excellence and did it was kindness. After getting to have a one on one she shared her life story as I’m fascinated by those who do great work, and I shared mine. I was so blown away by her tract of graduating high school early, obtaining a bachelors and MBA by the age of 22. Her words to me in response intensified my ownership of my life which was oh my progression is nothing as I had no obstacles in the way, you however, have overcome so many dire things and the fact that our here and doing equally as grand is what is impressive. I never forgot that and it has allowed me to transform.

Ok, thank you for all that. Now that we are on the topic of gratitude, let’s move to the main focus of our interview. As you know, the collective mental health of our country is facing extreme pressure. We would like to explore together how every one of us can use gratitude to improve our mental wellness. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms. How do you define the concept of Gratitude? Can you explain what you mean?

Gratitude is the acknowledgment of our alignment with our own inner divinity and the gift of being. Gratitude in and of itself is being able to have laser focus on the goodness in our lives even the smallest things such as having running water and being able to breathe. When I sit back and marvel over the gifts I have of being me I am filled with joy and peace.

Why do you think so many people do not feel gratitude? How would you articulate why a simple emotion can be so elusive?

Everyone is so busy posturing to be the next viral thing. We are networking, hob-knobbing, trying to gamify everything we do that we aren’t even present in the moment. We are trying to be in the future and borrowing from now to do so. We also as a collective are very scared of actually acknowledging our being. To embrace our full power is electrifying so we do much busy work to miss the sweetness of rain that may fall or the feeling the sun on our faces.

This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be constructive to help spell it out. Can you share with us a few ways that increased gratitude can benefit and enhance our life?

10 years ago, when I tried to end my life the aftermath was dense. I felt hollow, empty and was very alone. Being a black woman often means never really owning my feelings and allowing them to teach me. So, I focused for a month to write down at least 2 things I was grateful for. It was a hard month but with each passing day, I found myself more centered, able to feel life in the moment and I could always boost my own mood by just reviewing those things. It’s like I could actually feel those moments even if it was just being grateful for an extra cookie or being able to move on my own.

Gratitude helps me to tap into my own magic and joy about all the greatness I have inside and what’s around me.

Let’s talk about mental wellness in particular. Can you share with us a few examples of how gratitude can help improve mental wellness?

Sure, for starters it helps you to focus on the here and now. We often are so busy trying to be the next big thing, we are crippled by the anxiety of tomorrow.

Next it helps us to feel great. At the end of each month, I will review my gratitude journal. It always leaves me smiling and happy as I can see that even if everything is going crazy there were still gifts in life. Gratitude also helps to boost our confidence in self as we can see especially if we are goal focused how we have steered our lives.

Ok wonderful. Now here is the main question of our discussion. From your experience or research, what are “Five Ways That Each Of Us Can Leverage The Power Of Gratitude To Improve Our Overall Mental Wellness”. Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. We can use the positivity to fuel our lives. Right now, as the collective we are on a constant track of calamity. Being grateful will allow you appreciate the past and to see the positivity of change.
2. For those who tend to be anxious when you are focused on gratitude you are able to remain grounded. When you’re in the moment you will notice the sweetness and be able to allow tomorrow’s troubles stay in their place.
3. Gratitude in my own life has allowed me to be more authentically myself because I have to take in account of all my vivid experiences. When you know that you are a gift, you are able to start pushing out more and going after your passions.
4. Gratitude will allow you to see the gold in the painful moments. As the collective, we are experiencing a new way of life which leaves us vulnerable. By focusing on the good or the closing of old ways we are able to be refreshed by new things.
5. Gratitude will allow you to see the beauty of others in our lives. Being someone who lives a very isolated life, when I have moments of engaging with others be it on my blog or other social platforms, I feel a rich gift to exchange with another. Sometimes it’s when my neighbors’ pup, Rainbow who barks at odd times reminds me of the gift of hearing. Or when she tackles my leg with hugs. 10 years ago, I wasn’t planning on being on this planet, so to have those little moments makes life sweeter, which allows me to keep pushing even when I haven’t hit goals.

Is there a particular practice that can be used during a time when one is feeling really down, really vulnerable, or really sensitive?

My gratitude journal is my bff. I find it’s the simplest way to just start writing. When I had a job where I traveled weekly, I would pop it out and list things that come to mind. Sometimes it was some deep revelation and sometimes it’s just having both seats to myself which as someone on the Autism Spectrum is a huge gift and the flight attendant gave me an extra cookie or being upgraded to 1st class. Doing things that come top of mind always leads me to deeper things as well.

Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or resources that you would recommend to our readers to help them to live with gratitude?

My favorite book which I read each year over the past 5 years which is “The Book of Awakening” by Mark Nepo. It’s a daily meditation book that brings all the life experiences Nepo has had to bring the focus of meaning in life. There at times that the message doesn’t resonate with me at that time but the next year with fresh eyes I can connect. This pushes gratitude that I have the opportunity for growth and got to see another year.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would take my current platform that surrounds beauty, mental self-care and growth on to a bigger stage. I believe there are many ladies in the world who because they don’t fit into the cute little box of society, they are not seen and therefore their voice is silent. I would create classes, support groups that would allow them to embrace their story, work through their goals and bloom into the beautiful flowers they are.

What is the best way our readers can further follow your work online?

You can head over to the ChristianSismone.com to stay abreast of all my new content and new ventures!

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!