Rewire Your Brain for Joy With A Simple Gratitude Practice
What are you grateful for? Take a few minutes to try this gratitude practice
The number one bad habit that most people have can be surprising—its our auto-pilot thinking.
In the moment before we fall into any kind of negative addictive behavior, like procrastination, stress eating, isolation, or endlessly scrolling through our phones, heres a thought. The thought, whether fully formed or not, is usually something like, I need to get away from this uncomfortable feeling, or even, I want this good feeling thats here to last.
Its human nature to want to distance ourselves from whats uncomfortable and seek more of what feels good. But its our auto-pilot thoughts and reactions that can take us places we would rather not go—that take away our choice for how wed like to show up in the world. With a little practice, we can build our awareness muscles so that those auto-pilot thoughts dont slip by unnoticed. And better yet, we can re-wire our brains to prefer to linger on moments of joy and happiness rather than seek out distractions and addictive avoidance behaviors.
One of the most powerful ways I have found to shift the atmosphere of the mind towards more focused awareness is a very simple gratitude practice—but with a power boost.
How Gratitude Gets Us Unstuck
Now, before your eyes roll, consider this: if youre thinking something along the lines of, Not this gratitude stuff again, Ive read this in a thousand places, ask yourself, what is the net effect of this thought here? Does it incline you to move toward this practice that youve heard about a thousand times, or away from it?
The answer is most likely that it inclines you away from it.
If we know gratitude is a supportive practice, why does the mind want to push us away? Because the brain is wired to habituate to things. This is the classic top-down processing in effect. You read the words gratitude practice, your brain reaches back into its memory bank to find the reference for it, it sees many references and it spits out the computation, Unimportant, move on. Little do we often know, this computation is exactly what keeps us stuck in life. Whats called for is a moment of curiosity.
By making the decision to embrace gratitude with curiosity, you rewire your brain to accept all the benefits gratitude has to offer.
A Simple Gratitude Practice
Try to commit to a daily gratitude practice for just one week by keeping a mindful gratitude journal. Each day, mindfully and actively reflect on five to ten things youre grateful for.
When you sit down to consider what youre actually grateful for, take a moment to picture each one in your mind and ask yourself, why are you grateful for this? Can you feel the experience of that gratitude in your body?
Not only will practicing gratitude feel good in the moment, but studies have found that doing so can strengthen your relationships and your mental health in the long run. Remember, neurons that fire together wire together, so let all that somatic feeling of gratitude linger for a few moments, and then move onto the next one. This lights up more areas of your brain and gives a power boost to the impact of your gratitude practice.
If you have a few minutes right now before moving onto the next thing, try this out with even just one thing youre grateful for. Bring a curious mind to it and see what you notice. You may just begin to uncover a little happiness right now.
Set a daily reminder for this week, and report back what youve noticed.
Greetings @pamharley003 i really like your message and i see how id better save it and read it over and over because i feel the message needs to be first fully comprehened and then i can work towards the goals of reprograming my thoughts. I noticed i was tempted to stop reading many times so i know you are right about our need to override the negative. Your efforys to teach us is very appreciated. I hope you write more to share your wisdom. I am working on bettering myself and trying to learn how to keep moving productively instead of falling into that inactive mode. I hope to see more
@blissfulChatter7642
I also have saved it and rely on it when needed.
@pamharley003
It does seem to reinforce the good feelings as im being more aware to bask in it for a period of time.
@pamharley003
This is a wonderful thread! I have been trying to move forward with the idea of keeping a gratitude journal but never got around to it. I have read several benefits of it but as you said, the thought "oh, I know what I'm grateful for, no need to think about it 24/7 pfft" keeps me from it. I think it's mostly because being grateful could in a way feel like, you're neglecting what you do feel in the moment. When I think about it, it doesn't sound all that true. It's because you're in a habit to always make more of how you feel. Sometimes, you just need to acknowledge what you feel and move on. A great way seems to keep a gratitude journal.
What I'm grateful for today - I'm grateful for the people in my life who have supported me so much. I'm also grateful for @Karrot and @RumpleSteeleSkin for helping me.
I think I'll try more of this and see what happens! Thank you for this post.
There was a bit of magic in my life today from the insight gained in this thread. Being more aware of my habits, my detramental cycle, and putting rumination to go use when feeling a bit of joy is a nice change. Thank you, I hope to see more soon
Your all welcome for the post. I am trying this year to post articles I think may help us all in our life.
@pamharley003
Thank you for helping me understand a little bit of new insight. Would you direct me with any links to other posts you've authored? I need more more moreThank you!!
@pamharley003 I have compiled a list of about 70 things that I am greatful for and am reading it each morning. It seems to be helping!
I took a challenge one year to do 25 gratitudes a year. it changed my life. I need the practice again. Thank you for reminding me. I remember what struck me was that no matter how bad the day was, I always found more than 25 things to be grateful for, even though I thought I couldn't. Today it's been a very emotional rough day. I just wanted the day to be over. So here is my challenge to find at least 25 things.
1. Had a really nice sit in the Sauna. 2. Warm towels to use 3. Dried my hair with hairdryer 4. Front desk staff is always so nice 5. Money to pay for bills 6. Gas in my car 7. A car that is dependable 8. A sister who loves and cares about me 9. Possibility to get second opinions 10. Husband who cares 11. Dog who is the sweetest ever 12. Mom and Dad surprised me by walking my dog and visiting me today 12. Got my neice and nephew and two friends their very late xmas present 13. Found a great space to park 14. Had a wonderful chat with a new listener 15. Took a little time away from my teenage son and took a drive out rather than arguing and getting frustrated with him about a mistake 16. Told my husband he could go work out at the gym and come home later instead of come "rescue" me from my disagreement with son 17. Met my therapist who was helpful with great hints 18. Was good to walk around Target 19. Smelled some nice candles 20. Read some ideas from books I was browsing in 21. Drove home safely 22. Sun came out today 23. Everyone said they loved class today 24. Someone said they loved my humor 25. Hugs from people.... 26. Had an enjoyable delicious dinner with family etc. And the last is... even a hard day, has the kindness to pass.....
So even though I just wanted to crawl back in bed, and emotionally felt on my fringes, like I was going to unravel at any moment all day... this exercise of naming 25 great things reminds me, that my mind may have been focusing only on the negative. I do feel feel better! whew!!! Thanks for the reminder... it was like getting back on a bicycle! Got to use those healthy positive rewiring the brain tools again!
@Flowingstreams
oops...I meant I exchanged 25 gratitudes per day for over a year with a friend....
I'm grateful for the amout of support I have right now well I'm going through this rough time!