Apply Gratitude to Feel Better
If there was an easy way to feel better, boost immunity and increase your feel good brain chemicals would you give it a shot?
The evidence is in and being grateful is the new mindfulness.
By focusing your attention on what was good in you, the day and parts of your life you are grateful for, you can change the way you think. Like any skill it requires practise to reap the rewards.
For those optimists out there, you’ll probably feel good immediately. Being optimistic by nature makes it easier to adopt this habit but if you are more prone to glass half empty, you too can benefit from this skill. Lucky for you the brain can be re wired if you can do your end and make time each day to fire off new data.
Let’s look at some way we can all do this. Notice the sensation of lying in a warm bed, your morning coffee energy boost, the beauty of the golden leaves of autumn, your child using their words, a household chore being done by someone else and complimenting them, is how we can be grateful.
Your mind might still want to focus on what needs to be done or what hasn’t gone to plan but stay with it and literally name three things you’re grateful for at the start and end of each day.
When you do this, the rewards centres in the brain light up. Just like they do when you exercise, receive affection and do those things you enjoy in real time.
You can practise this skill by doing nothing but focusing your mind’s attention towards something good. Like a magnet you’re setting up a pathway looking for reinforcement. The more you do this, the more likely you are to do things that feel good.
The sceptic in you is wondering how this practise will help with dealing with real-life stressors. You’re right it won’t pay the bills, make your child behave differently or change the relationships in your life that are difficult. So be prepared for the bad news radio to take you off track and persist with turning the knob back.
If you would like to discuss further how you could apply this practice to your own life , please email mumability at ginny@mumability.com.au to book a free 15-minute phone consultation.
