Gratitude Practice
Posted on January 7, 2022 by xtxwebmaster
#1: “Focus your mind on all the wonderful things in your life.” — Asad Meah
What happens in our brains every day when we focus on gratitude and care for all the people, things, and experiences we have in our life? If you were guaranteed to become happier, more patient, productive, motivated, and focused, would you do something for five minutes a day?
Our daily habits, check-ins, quotes, gratitude, and breathing exercises it helps you remember to do. Every morning, I’ve noticed when I mentally write out the things I’m grateful for on the app, I have a more positive, compassionate, and motivated mindset throughout my day.
Which got me interested in looking at the science of gratitude practice. What really happens in our brains? How do we shift our chemistry? What’s happening to our neural pathways?
#2: Gratitude practices lower anxiety and fear capacity.
60 seconds to five minutes of gratitude practice per day can change how your brain functions over time. Most studies show focusing on breathing while remembering a story of when you were genuinely thanked (with sincere gratitude) and visualizing that moment every day will start to activate the positive parts of your brain. Receiving genuine thanks and gratitude in that moment and remembering it daily is key to a proper gratitude practice research says. Huberman suggests writing down three to four bullet points of this moment of how and why it reminds you of their gratitude for you.
This type of gratitude practice has been scientifically proven to shift the anxiety and fear circuits of the brain to be less active and motivation and well-being to be more active!
Huberman says the best times to do a gratitude practice are when you first wake up, as it sets your brain in motion, but more importantly, it’s about consistent gratitude over time that matters more.
#3: There is no physical health without mental health.
From Sciencedirect.com: “The observed relationships suggest that gratitude may benefit health (reducing inflammatory responses) through the threat-reducing effects of support-giving.”
When you choose to be grateful, for and to, the support in your life, changes happen in the prefrontal cortex of your brain that takes your body into a resting, more peaceful, and less inflammatory state. Caring for co-workers, friends, and family is a health-improving practice for humans.
Citations: Andrew Huberman PhD