The powerful practice of gratitude

The practice of gratitude

The practice of gratitude has been shown to have a significant effect on your brain.  Neuroscience studies suggest that when we express and receive gratitude the brain releases the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, which are responsible for our emotions and enhance our mood, sometimes referred to as "natural anti-depressants". Significant studies over the years have established the fact that by practicing gratitude we can handle challenging situations better than others and experience less anxiety and stress.

Training the brain

Our minds are not able to focus on positive and negative information at the same time. Part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System filters information we receive, letting in the things we are giving our most attention to, the important stuff, get through. By consciously practicing gratitude we can strengthen the neural pathways and retrain the brain to focus on our positive emotions and thoughts, reducing stress and anxiety.

Our brain naturally leans towards the negative, it is an evolutionary protection mode we have developed. It is getting us ready for the worst so that we are ready to go into the fight or flight response at any time. So if we spend a lot of our time emphasising on the negative that will over time eventually dominate our overall outlook on things.   We can train the RAS part of our brain to let in what we want and what to filter out. We can do this by setting our intention with the practice of gratitude and appreciation, bringing our focus to the positive and filtering out the negative.  When we make this a regular practice our RAS will be switched on to look for and focus on the move positive experiences. We need to train our brains on what to pay attention to.

How to do this?

Gratitude isn’t about comparing your situation with someone else's it's more about positively appreciating your own situation. Think of three things you’re genuinely grateful for, the sunny weather, family, your health, your first cup of tea in the morning. The list can be short, detailed, one word or a few words.  It's your list so write it how you want to, if you don't have much time then a short list will do the job,  it just has to be a positive and appreciative list.  Doing this regularly will help reset your mindset to a more positive one, even during your most challenging times.

Here is short video explaining more about the Reticular Activating System.