Brandon and Jerry discuss how to adopt an attitude of gratitude and the power it has to change the world around you.
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Benefits of Gratitude
“Gratitude is one of the most powerful human emotions. Once expressed, it changes attitude, brightens outlook, and broadens our perspective.” ― Germany Kent
An attitude of gratitude can mean the difference between you getting the most out of your day, or trudging through another day in the rut.
The Shawn Achor book, The Happiness Advantage, describes how having gratitude can bring you happiness and that it is happiness that attracts successful outcomes.
Some of the happiness or gratitude examples include the following from his book:
- Happy physicians make more accurate diagnoses faster than unhappy ones.
- Optimistic salespeople outsell those who are not by over 50%!
- Your perception of someone who annoys you can shift to appreciation with an attitude of gratitude.
Gray Matters – Your Brain Changes with Gratitude!
We came across an article from the University of California Berkeley about how gratitude can change the chemistry in our brains! Positive thinking can release oxytocin which is a key element in health for us.
Having a genuine attitude of gratitude and a lack of negative thoughts and emotions will increase the stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain related to learning and decision making. If you want to make better choices in life, start with how you see yourself, and the people around you. Be grateful for what is around your world right now. Note the difference!
Tips on How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude
Hopefully, you’ve listened to our episode and decided to adopt an attitude of gratitude now. If you haven’t listened to our episode yet, download it now and take a listen.
How to Practice Gratitude
This week’s episode talks about ways we can increase our sense of gratitude for the world around us. It is like a muscle. We have to get regular workouts for it to become a major part of our character.
If you are interested in practicing gratitude exercises but are not sure where to start, here are a few suggestions to get you started.
- Write out a gratitude list each night before bed. This tricks your brain to focus on positive thoughts throughout the night while you dream. Think about what that would do for your next day!
- Pay it forward! Someone has probably done something nice for you at a time you greatly needed it. Do that for someone else, but don’t do it out of a sense of obligation. Do it because you are grateful for what someone did for you.
- Write a letter of gratitude to someone with specific examples of why you appreciate that person. Whether you actually share that letter or not, you will find that your mindset has already shifted.
What Are You Waiting For?
Comment below and tell us what you are grateful for in your life right now.
Share this episode with your social networks. Someone you know needs to hear this right now. You may be the person to encourage them with a timely word.
Links and Resources
Listen to this past episode on How the Happiness Advantage Can Change Your World.
Buy a copy of The Happiness Advantage from Amazon.
Georgian Benta produces The Gratitude Podcast especially to help people be inspired with gratitude. You can check it out for yourself here, GeorgianBenta.com.
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Music Attribution
“Oceans Apart” is our theme song composed and performed by Scott Ian Holmes.
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