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Living In Gratitude: Neuroscience Shows These 4 Things Boost Happiness

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We’ve talked about neuroscience before. Neuroscience is the study of nervous system, including the brain. This research looks closely at behavior and learning.

Alex Korb, a neuroscientist at UCLA, offered four key insights that will boost happiness, all based on his scientific research.

1. Ask, “What am I grateful for?”

Gratitude has been shown to increase our brain’s dopamine and serotonin levels, affecting it at a biological level. Dopamine is commonly associated with pleasure while serotonin affects mood and social behavior. The more we have coursing through our bodies, the better our appetite, memory, gregariousness and sleep.

The most important thing is to ask the question and consider possibilities, even if we don’t arrive at an answer. This helps our brain produce these two positive chemicals, making us feel happier. By searching for things to appreciate, we also enhance our emotional intelligence, enabling us to discover things to appreciate over time. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 3 Life Lessons About Relationships

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Since 1938, the Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked the lives of 724 men over 75 years. This rare and enlightening study has gathered information about these men’s work, health, home life and more from the time their were teenagers to now, when many are well into their 80s.

After three-quarters of a century and tens of thousands of pages of collected data, one main insight rises to the top.

Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.

Three primary lessons about relationships came from this incredible study:

  1. Social connections are really good for us

People who are more socially connected to family, friends and community are emotionally happier, psychically healthier and live longer than those without deep social connections. People who are lonely and isolated are not as happy, suffer from declining health as they age, their brain function decreases and they live shorter lives. Read more

Living In Gratitude: The Four Agreements

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As humans, death is not our biggest fear but instead we fear taking the risk to be alive and express who we really are. ~Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements

From the moment we are born, we begin forming ideas, beliefs and images of how we should act, what we should and shouldn’t do and how to behave. We learn to live our lives trying to satisfy other people’s demands and expectations because we are afraid of rejection, of being singled out, of not being good enough.

Every one of us has created a unique image of perfection that we not only judge others by but ourselves as well. This ‘perfection persona’ is what we believe is necessary to be accepted. It embodies our physical appearance, our work ethic, our success, our personality. Yet no matter how hard we try, no one, including us, will ever live up to this idealistic image. Read more

Living In Gratitude: The Power Of A Hug

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A hug is like a boomerang – you get it back right away. ~ Bil Keane

Hugs are powerful.

They can be the comfort we need at the end of a long, frustrating day.

The impetus to express our grief.

A display of complete happiness.

An expression of thanks.

A hug can communicate, “I have missed you” as easily as “You will be missed.”

They can mean the difference feeling connected and feeling isolated.

Between hope and despair.

Never underestimate the power of a hug or our ability to ground another person long enough for them to catch their breath, to feel connected, to feel loved and appreciated, to see the possibilities they may have missed.

Hug often.

May your day be filled with gratitude and good things.

Living In Gratitude: Let Joy Happen

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Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. ~Marianne Williamson

When we cultivate gratitude, we feel true joy and contentment, despite what we have or don’t have in our life. The Law of Attraction states that like attracts like. This means, when we are grateful for what we already have, we naturally attract more to appreciate. Read more

Living In Gratitude: Living Wholeheartedly

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Living wholeheartedly happens when we engage in life from a place of  worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion and connection to wake up in the morning and think, “No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough.” It’s going to bed at night thinking, “Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging. ~Brené Brown

Brené Brown is considered one of the biggest ‘thought leaders‘ of the modern era. Wife, mother, author, teacher and speaker, she has done extensive research into what it means to live a wholehearted life. She has discovered that there is ‘no amount of success, money, power or influence that buys you a free ride‘ in dealing with personal vulnerability and shame. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 8 Ways to Stop Worrying

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Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. ~Swedish Proverb

Our imaginations are such an incredible gift, allowing us to daydream and envision incredible wonder.

As children, we used our vivid imaginations to create fun and exciting playmates and spectacularly fantastical situations in which we would ‘live’ for hours on end. Imagination was fun, funny and adventurous.

As adults, our imaginations often become a work-thing of worry.

We fret tirelessly over horrible situations our imagination dreams up, things that could happen, might happen, but most likely won’t happen. These worries drain us of our productivity, create undue stress, affect our sleep and our relationships.

Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get your anywhere. ~English proverb

Here are a few healthy habits that can help minimize worrying.

1. Realize most of what we spend time worrying about never comes to fruition

And if it does, we generally have spent hours stewing over a much worse outcome.

As Winston Churchill once said, “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”

When we find ourselves worrying, we should ask:

“How many the things I feared would happen in my life actually did occur?”

By answering this question, we put things into perspective. We frequently find that the majority of our worries never came to light or were considerably less worrisome than we envisioned them to be.

2. Avoid getting lost in vague fears

We can easily work ourselves up over nothing when we let our imagination run wild when we lack clarity in a situation. Vague fears can lead to over-exaggerated scenarios. Gain clarity on the situation by taking deep breath and asking, “What is really the worst that could happen?” Then, spend some time identifying a solution should that unlikely scenario occur. This practice saves time, energy and a lot of suffering. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 5 Myths About Being Grateful

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Does gratitude make us lazy? Naive?

Robert Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, debunks five of the most common myths and misconceptions about being grateful.

1. Gratitude leads to complacency

If we are grateful, will we be motivated to challenge the status quo or improve our lot in life?

In reality, studies suggest that the opposite is true: Gratitude drives a sense of purpose and a desire to do more.

People are actually more successful at reaching their goals when they consciously practice gratitude. Among a group of study participants, the grateful group tasked to keep a gratitude journal made 20 percent more progress toward their goals than the non-grateful group and they continue to strive harder toward their goals. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 20 Things You Will Be Glad You Did In Life

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I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. ~Diane Ackerman

1. Traveling 

Traveling broadens our horizons. It exposes us to new cultures, food, languages and ways of thinking as well as the awe-inspiring beauty of the world.

2. Learning another language

Being able to communicate in languages other than your native tongue is a wonderful gift.

3. Being brave enough to do new things

Not letting fear hold you back enables you to experience new adventures and learn new things. After all, you had to do everything for the first time…

4. Making physical fitness a priority

Your body is amazing. Take good care of it so it will carry you through life, to new places, up hills and into valleys. Read more

Living In Gratitude: 6 Ways to Grow Gratitude at Work

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Gratitude can have such a powerful impact on your life because it engages your brain in a virtuous cycle. ~Alex Korb Ph.D

On a surface level, appreciation is good for employee engagement, motivation and retention. Employee recognition and appreciation can create a unique company culture and strengthen employee relationships. Companies can deliberately infuse their cultures, from top to bottom, with the proverbial “attitude of gratitude.” Employee appreciation boosts performance and engagement as well as the employee’s well-being and health. When coworkers show appreciation or gratitude towards one another, a more social and prosocial interaction is created.

By implementing gratitude into company culture, employees are more willing to spread their positive feelings with others, whether it’s helping out with a project or taking time to notice and recognizing those that have gone the extra mile.

The greatest psychological effect of appreciation is the happiness and other emotions immediately felt when we either give or receive gratitude. Gratitude creates good feelings, cheerful memories, better self-esteem, feeling more relaxed and more optimistic. All of these emotions creates a pay it forward and  “we’re in this together” mentality in the workplace, which in turn, makes your organization more successful. Plus, the dopamine effect will encourage a continuous cycle of recognition if everyone participates. All of these emotions, plus many more, are what most employers want out of their staff to again, create unity. Read more