How Gratitude Rewires the Brain
Feeling emotion is surprisingly habitual, especially when that emotion is gratitude. A study by researchers at Indiana University found that months after a gratitude intervention, people’s brains were still wired to experience more gratitude.
The study concluded that gratitude, both expressing and experiencing it, functions just like a habit or a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. It appears that gratitude becomes an upward cycle of increasingly more gratitude.
Thanksgiving is our cultural gratitude intervention. It comes at a time when, traditionally, the rhythm of life slows with shorter days and longer nights.
As I turn inward and assess 2016, my intention for this holiday season is to be thankful for what is, the past and the present, and to let January be about the future. For now, I’m settling into unfiltered gratitude.
The best part: feeling gratitude for 2016 is the most useful thing you can do for a 2017 to be thankful for. This kind of intentional gratitude practice can shift both your personal and professional outlook.
Thanks for being a part of the coaching community.
Happy Thanksgiving! John
For more to read on the ways gratitude changes our brains, check out these articles:
- How Expressing Gratitude Changes Your Brain (NY Mag)
- The Effects of Gratitude Expression on Neural Activity (ScienceDirect)
If you are interested in how positive psychology and practices like gratitude can strengthen your coaching, explore how these tools integrate into a broader coach training program.
