For our early hominid ancestors, paying attention to the good in their lives did not have the same evolutionary advantage as paying attention to the bad.
In those harsher, less abundant times, humans developed a strong bias for the negative, a hyper-sensitivity to threats and scarcity; and this bias served them well, keeping them alive and allowing them to pass their genes on to us.
But today, it is far less important that we pay fierce attention to every little threat or discomfort. In fact, this tendency to notice what’s not going well in our world is the source of many of our woes, where our brain overamplifies our troubles and creates far more stress than we ought to experience.
Practicing gratitude is a science-backed way we can override our inherent negativity bias, shift our mood for the better, improve our health and be a kinder, happier person. At the core, our mind cannot focus on positive and negative information at the same time.
By consciously practicing gratitude, we are training the brain to pay more attention to positive emotions and thoughts, thus reducing worry, anxiety and stress. In his book Upward Spiral, Dr. Alex Korb describes how at the neurochemical level, gratitude acts to promote the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which can increase positive emotions and dampen negative ones.
Gratitude Connects Us to Others
Gratitude is also incredibly beneficial in developing positive relationships in our lives. It shifts our brain’s focus from ‘me’ to ‘we’. It forces us out of our little, myopic world and opens us to the broader connections and inter-relatedness we are all part of.
As a species, we are wired to connect and collaborate. Developing and maintaining positive relationships is at the heart of being human and key to our happiness and resilience.
“Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness boosts productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. And mastery inspires the world”.
- Robin Sharma
Gratitude is a Choice
Ultimately, practicing gratitude is choice; a choice that only you can make. Now that you understand the neuroscience behind it and the benefits it provides, let’s look at five ways you can make an intentional choice to be more grateful, happier and more resilient in a chaotic and uncertain world.
5 Simple Ways to Practice Gratitude
1. Gratitude Journaling. As with all new habits, this works best if you keep it simple. You can have a journal specific to gratitude or simply add a few lines in a journal you already use. The key is to pause, reflect for a moment and write down a few things you are grateful for every day (or as often as works for you). That can be people in your life, kindnesses bestowed upon you, fortunate circumstances, progress you are making or other aspects of yourself you admire or are proud of.
2. Gratitude Letter or Expression of Thanks. Writing someone a note of thanks for expressing your appreciation to someone goes beyond simply feeling grateful. Now you are letting someone in your life (who you are grateful for) know that they have made a difference in your life. Who can you thank today? This week? You will make their day and yours!
3. Appreciate the Little Things Throughout the Day. If you recall the last time you were sick or had a health setback, you quickly realize how you take your health for granted. This is simply how our brains are wired – we are quick to notice and complain about what isn’t working and tend to take what is working for granted. Gratitude is a way to appreciate all those little things that you so readily take for granted. Let “Thank You!” be your battle cry as you navigate the ups and downs of each day.
“Enjoy the little things. For one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
– Robert Brault
4. Create a Family or Team Gratitude Board/Album/Jar. I like this idea and am going to see if we can’t do this as a family this year. The initial idea was to keep a large glass jar somewhere central and have some small pieces of paper beside it. Then, every day, each of us will write about one thing that we are grateful and put it in the jar. Not only does this provide a positive reflection each day, as the jar fills up, it creates a sense of abundance and that there is much to be grateful and hopeful for.
But we may try a family gratitude album as an alternative, since it provides a way to more easily look back at what has brought us joy and inspiration. And it will provide a great keepsake. For work, how about a Gratitude Board or a Slack Channel dedicated for gratitude?
5. End of Day Reflection. The idea is to reflect back on the day, notice, appreciate and celebrate what went well. If you like, you can take it a step further by reflecting on how you could have made it better and striving to improve on that tomorrow.
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others.”
- Cicero
Conclusion
Wisdom traditions and modern neuroscience agree that gratitude is one of the most powerful tools you have to manage your thoughts and emotions. But it comes down to you choosing to be grateful.
You don’t have to do all of these practices. Even if you only do one of them you are rewiring your brain, shifting your mental/emotional patterns and training your mind to see more of the good around you.
If this is a new practice for you, stick with it for a couple of weeks and be patient, recognizing that it might take some time to fully feel the shift in your thoughts and emotions.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this post. Please share your thoughts and comments on your experience with gratitude practices, as we all learn from each other.
To learn more about how I train CPAs to delete the overwhelm, focus on what matters most and create the life they want, please visit www.mindfulwisdom.ca. If you are looking for more gratitude, focus, productivity, resilience and joy for you or your team at work, please book a FREE consultation with me HERE.