You are welcome. Oh, THANKS!

Our mind is not designed to make us happy but to make us survive and that is why it will be always looking for what could hurt us, on default mode, magnifying the bad. We are wired to activate either the fight or flight mode when a danger is presented to us, which indeed, supposed a useful mechanism thousands of years ago, but not anymore. That is why cultivating the opposite system through repetition and daily habit, may rewire our brain and therefore, have a positive impact in our lives. It is all about gratitude!

“Trade your expectations for appreciation, and your whole life changes like that” (Robbins, 2018). 

Indeed, in positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness because it builds and sustain social bondings (McCullough, 2008), fosters professional commitment by making workers more efficient, responsible and productive (Algoe, 2012) and improves one's health by reducing physical pain, enhancing sleep quality and boosting cardiac functioning (Seligman, Steen, Park and Peterson, 2005). 

A recent study done at the University of Central Florida states that “managers should emphasize the importance of expressing thanks and appreciation at work. Cultivating a culture of gratitude won’t just boost employees’ well-being and performance. Gratitude practices shows that encouraging colleagues to express thanks and focus on what they are grateful for can decrease workplace rudeness by enhancing participants’ self-control. Building a better workplace starts with saying “Thanks”” (Locklear, Taylor and Ambrose, 2020)

When we express gratitude, our brain releases serotonin and dopamine, both crucial neurotransmitters for our emotions, making us feel “good”. Being grateful wires and fires new neural connections to the bliss center in our brain, helping our neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful nature within ourselves (Moll, Zahn et al. 2007). As the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center of UCLA (2017) states, “gratitude changes the neural structures in the brain, making the grey matter in the right inferior temporal gyrus bigger and therefore makes us feel more content”.

According to latest evidence on gratitude these are the tasks we should focus on:

• Keep a gratitude journal. While you write down your positive thoughts, you have no choice but to consciously think about the words you are writing, without other distracting, ungrateful thoughts. 
• Practice mindfulness. Thinking through 5 to 10 things you appreciate at this moment in your life will rewire your brain to be naturally more grateful.
• Volunteer. For some people, the key to having more gratitude is to give back to others in their local community. In fact, of all variables that help improve our well-being, volunteering is the single most reliable way to stop taking things for granted and therefore improve our well-being. (Yaduvanshi, Kochar, 2017)
• Give recognition to the people around you. When we lift one another with acknowledgment and recognition we are all elevated and we are all able to blossom into the best versions of ourselves.

Gratitude may not give us instant relief, but it brings us the feeling of control back to us. It is inseparably linked with self-discipline and motivation, but by acknowledging and appreciating our assets, we will be in charge of our life.

IHJ

PS. Is there any friend or relative close to you right now? Show a random act of kindness to her/him. How did she/he react? How you felt? Is it worth it to repeat that more often?

Harvard Health Publishing (2011, November 15), Giving thanks can make you happier, https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

Chodhury, R. (2020, September 1), The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How It Affects Anxiety & Grief, https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/

Locklear L., Taylor S. and Ambrose M., Building a Better Workplace Starts with Saying “Thanks”, https://hbr.org/2020/11/building-a-better-workplace-starts-with-saying-thank