Why small moments can create meaningful shifts
There are times when holding on feels safer than letting go.
November invites us to reflect on what we appreciate and what we are thankful for.
When life feels overwhelming, our attention can become consumed by what is missing, uncertain, or difficult.
Gratitude invites us to widen that view and bring our focus back to what we are thankful for.....what we appreciate....and what feels good in our lives. Gratitude helps us notice moments of connection, comfort and what is possible.
Not only this, science is proving gratitude can be more than a holiday tradition or a daily practice.
Gratitude and Your Brain
What does gratitude practice actually do in the brain? In a study of adults receiving counseling for anxiety or depression, one group also wrote letters expressing gratitude. Three months later, brain scans showed that the letter-writing group had a stronger response to feelings of gratitude in the medial prefrontal cortex—an area involved in evaluating what matters to us—than those who received counseling alone. This suggests that practicing gratitude may help the brain become more responsive to experiences of appreciation and increase brain function to be wired for more appreciation.¹
Gratitude and Your Nervous System
Gratitude also supports the parasympathetic nervous system—the part of the brain that helps the body rest and recover. In a small study of adults with early-stage heart failure, eight weeks of gratitude journaling led to greater parasympathetic activity during a gratitude-writing exercise, measured through changes in heart rate variability. This suggests that practicing gratitude may support the body’s ability to settle.²
Gratitude is a way to pause and practice mindfulness. Noticing. Appreciating something specific....and in doing so, you are supporting both your neurobiology and nervous system.
Sources
Kini, P., et al. (2016). “The effects of gratitude expression on neural activity.” NeuroImage, 128, 1–10. Read the study.
Redwine, L. S., et al. (2016). “Pilot randomized study of a gratitude journaling intervention on heart rate variability and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with Stage B heart failure.” Psychosomatic Medicine, 78(6), 667–676. Read the study.
