How Gratitude Can Change Your Brain

It’s been said that by the time we are adults, by the time we are fully developed, that we are “stuck” with the brain that we have. We assume our brains are hardwired, unchangeable, and possess the neurons we will have for life. This is all rationalized by our cumulative and automatic practices, behaviors, experiences, and beliefs. These practices are embedded in the soft tissues of our brain, and according to a neurologist, Dr. Joe Dispenza, these actions are “tattooed in the intricate folds of our gray matter.” These thoughts, beliefs, and practices then become very limiting; we become our own worst enemy.

It turns out, however, that our brains are more flexible than we once thought. Over the past 20 years, discoveries in neuroscience have revealed that we can change our brain’s makeup; this is called neuroplasticity. We are capable of restructuring our neutral connections to produce new behaviors. If you find yourself struggling with new tasks, stuck in a rut of negative self-talk, telling yourself you just can’t accomplish X because you aren’t good at Y, it turns out we are fully capable of altering these thoughts. This will ultimately alter your life.

According to recent findings in neuroscience, it’s proven that we can change our brains, simply, by thinking differently. Sounds easy right? Dr. Joe Dipenza speaks of the benefits of mental rehearsal, which is when you repeatedly imagine yourself performing an action, or you repeatedly express or write something. He explains that circuits in your brain will reorganize themselves in order to reflect the rehearsal. Our bodies are objective; it doesn’t know the difference between lived experiences and emotions, and the emotions you’ve created as a result of your thoughts.

This, however, can be dangerous, and it can imprison us by our limiting beliefs. If we wake up every morning, dwelling on the same problem or thinking in the same way, we get trapped in these negative thought patterns and single stories. This then informs our lifestyle and behavior, which further influences the way that our brain functions, and it reinforces depressive thought patterns. What we fear controls us, but we can flip the switch to transform it.

Our first step here is to strengthen the pathways for happiness. How can we accomplish that? Well, according to neuroscience, repeatedly engaging in gratitude practice can strengthen these neural pathways. We can convince our bodies to be grateful through a repetitive gratitude practice. Immediately, we shift the story we tell ourselves, and we can become the creator of our own happiness, instead of waiting for something in your environment to act on you and to make you happy.

I find that an easy way to cultivate a gratitude practice is to keep a journal and write in it for just 3 minutes a day. Here are some prompts to get you started…

1. Someone I’m grateful for…
2. Something that makes me happy…
3. Something I’ve done in the last week that I enjoy…
4. Favorite time of the day…
5. Favorite memory…
6. Something I love about myself…
7. Something I love about my body…
8. Favorite place in the world…
9. Favorite place in your home…
10. Something that makes me smile…

I encourage you, especially in times of the COVID-19 crisis, to get really basic. Appreciate your health, your warm bed, your access to food, the sunshine, whatever it may be.