TFF #7: The Science of Gratitude
Hi friend,
Last week, we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the States.
While the history of the holiday is complicated, the core idea is a good one: taking a day to reflect on and be thankful for our blessings.
In fact, the idea is so good that we shouldn’t just limit it to one day.
It should be part of our lives day in and day out.
This edition of The Fearless Five explores the idea of gratitude, how it impacts your brain, and why you should make it a daily practice.
1. How gratitude impacts the brain.
Simply put, gratitude is an exchange of thankfulness: as simple as a gesture or a kind word.
And according to an extensive body of research, it can result in some pretty powerful benefits:
Releasing toxic emotions (Moll et al., 2005)
Reducing pain (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)
Improving sleep quality (Zahn et al., 2009)
Aiding in stress regulation (cited in McCraty & Childre, 2004)
And while it’s true that some people are more prone to gratitude than others (Zahn, Garrido, Moll, & Grafman, 2014), gratitude is something that you can work at improving everyday.
Expressing (and receiving) gratitude releases dopamine and serotonin, two crucial neurotransmitters for our emotions.
These neurotransmitters are so powerful they can completely realign your brain chemistry.
So when you commit to a habit of practicing gratitude, you can literally rewire your brain to be more grateful.
2. Gratitude isn’t about your circumstances. It’s about you.
Even if you’ve had a sh*tty year, I would argue that you should still express gratitude.
Because gratitude actually has nothing to do with your circumstances.
It has everything to do with you and your mindset.
Researchers at Berkeley studied a number of psychological aspects of practicing gratitude.
One of the exercises they had subjects complete was sending a letter of gratitude to someone.
Not surprisingly, only 23% of the subjects actually sent it.
But that didn’t matter.
Because the majority of them experienced the same benefits as the rest of the cohort.
That research demonstrates that the benefits of gratitude are primarily internal, not external.
So even if you find yourself in a hard situation, you should still practice gratitude.
Because gratitude doesn’t change your circumstances. It changes YOU.
Then you can go out and change your circumstances.
3. Gratitude is a habit.
While most people (in North America at least) are used to setting aside a day of Thanksgiving, that’s actually not enough to realize the mental health benefits.
Much like exercise, meditation, and other self-improvement practices, gratitude only works when you consistently practice it over time.
In other words: you need to make gratitude a habit.
According to the same Berkeley study, it took four weeks of consistent gratitude writing to start to see mental health benefits.
And after twelve weeks, the benefits became even larger.
Knowing what we know about the neuroscience of gratitude, this shouldn’t be surprising.
As you start to form those new neural connections, the benefits of gratitude will compound.
4. How to do gratitude (the right way).
So now that we know the benefits of a gratitude practice and the necessity of a habit, it’s important to take a look at what that habit might look like.
Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at UC Davis and a leading scientific expert on the science of gratitude, has developed a few research-based tips to get the most out of your gratitude practice:
Don’t just go through the motions, but make a conscious effort to improve
Be highly specific; go for depth over breadth
Focus on people you’re grateful to, rather than things you’re grateful for
Consider what it would be like if something in your life suddenly vanished, and use that to prompt your gratitude
Record surprising or unexpected events, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude
5. Weekly Resource: Gratitude prompts.
One of the challenges I have in my gratitude practices is struggling to think of something.
I know, it sounds terrible.
Part of my brain knows that I have a lot to be thankful for.
But the other can’t seem to recall any of those things when I sit down to journal.
So I stumbled across this article that has some really insightful prompts.
Fifty of them, to be exact.
I hope you find a few that can help get the gears moving as you start to build your own gratitude practice.
A lot to be grateful for…
Seriously though. I’m immensely grateful to you for subscribing to this newsletter.
I can only help that it provides some solid insights to help you as you start off your week (especially if you’re coming back from a holiday).
Please consider sharing the love:
Until next time,
Timothy