The Power of Gratitude

What is Gratitude

Gratitude is an affirmation for all of the good things that happen in your life. You may feel a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart when acknowledging appreciation for sources of goodness in your life like someone, something, or even higher powers if you’re of a spiritual mindset. In positive psychology research, gratitude is associated with greater happiness, improved health (boosts the immune system) and builds strong relationships. With so many positive aspects of gratitude, we’ll jump into learning more about how a gratitude practice impacts the brain.

The Power of Gratitude & the Brain

Hebb’s Law states that “neurons that fire together wire together.” This statement explains how pathways in the brain are formed and reinforced through repetition. Therefore, when you have a regular gratitude practice you are able to strengthen the neuronal networks in your brain. Overtime these strengthened networks make feeling gratitude more automatic and easier for you to focus on the good things in your life. For example, if you consciously notice how beautiful the flowers are that you planted, you are more likely to notice the flowers again and continue feeling grateful.   

Increased Dopamine & Serotonin

Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters in the brain that are our “happy hormones” as they promote our mental well-being by positively enhancing our mood. Dopamine is a “feel good” hormone that is associated with the brain’s reward system. Dopamine can provide a natural high feeling that motivates the repetition of a specific behaviour. When practicing gratitude, you can continue the cycle of feeling good and relishing in positive emotions. Serotonin is known as the “happy chemical” that brings about feelings of satisfaction, happiness and optimism in the body. Serotonin helps to stabilize your mood as low levels of serotonin can contribute to feelings of depression and anxiety.

Gratitude and Stress

Grateful people are more stress resistant. By having a more positive perspective and attitude towards life, the better you can recover more quickly from post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety. Those who felt more grateful in research studies have been shown to have reduced levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, and were more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences.  

Active Gratitude Practice

There are many reasons and research to back up the importance of having an active gratitude practice. Sonja Lyubomirsky in her book The How of Happiness writes “Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry and irritation. It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is present-oriented.” You cannot feel envious and grateful at the same time. These are two incompatible feelings. If you are in a feeling state of gratitude, then you are not able to feel envious of someone having something that you don’t. Feeling grateful allows us to participate more in our lives by being in the present moment. The more we appreciate the value of something, the less likely we are to take it for granted.

Ways to Practice Gratitude

1. Listen to a guided gratitude meditation – click the link to listen to my guided gratitude meditation: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VuMakFYgmTQCVvJk7hdaD
2. Gratitude journal – keep a journal next to your bedside table and each morning write 3 things you are grateful for. In the evening, journal out 3 things you were grateful for that happened that day. This can be a quick process but try not to rush. Try feeling and cultivating the emotion of gratitude in your body as you write down and think about each item you are grateful for in your life. Try committing to a daily practice for 30 days and notice how you feel after having a consistent gratitude practice after this period of time.
3. Write a gratitude letter, email or text to a past mentor, teacher, loved one, friend etc. Explain how you are grateful for them being in your life or explaining how they have positively impacted your life.

Lifestyle of Gratitude

It’s not always easy to feel grateful especially when you are going through a difficult time. It can be easy to feel good when things are going well but learning to have a regular gratitude practice can build up your emotional resilience to deal with the good or the bad. If there is a task that you are dreading to complete during your day, like going grocery shopping, try focusing your perspective to being grateful for being able to afford the food you are shopping for. There is always a silver lining of good that happens in every situation, you just have to find that glimmer of good. For example, if you lost your job maybe it helped lead you onto a new career path, landed you into an even better job opportunity or made you decide to become an entrepreneur and start your own business. There is always something to be grateful for even in the darkest of times.

We live in a world where social media can cause us to make comparisons and we are always wishing and hoping for better health, a better body, more money and a more fulfilling career. This can keep us in a state of lack and lead to negative emotions in our body like resentment, envy, jealousy, sadness. When we are able to appreciate what we have in our lives now and are grateful for what we would like to manifest in our lives in the future (even if it’s not visible now) this creates good feeling positive emotions in our bodies. This can help to set us up and create space for even more abundance in our lives when we consistently practice gratitude.   

Research shows that positive emotions can wear off quickly. We feel positive and excited about the new car, the new relationship, the new house – until these things are no longer new. When we can be in the present moment to celebrate all of these positive life events and bring conscious awareness of our appreciation for these moments, we can learn to make gratitude a lifestyle as opposed to short-term feelings. Overtime the more we strengthen our gratitude muscle in the brain we can turn gratitude into an easy habit and live in this gratitude lifestyle.

References

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good

https://chopra.com/articles/the-neuroscience-behind-gratitude-how-does-cultivating-appreciation-affect-your-brain

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2733324/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier