The Power of Gratitude

When Janes’s mother died unexpectedly she was consumed with grief and loss, and found thoughts about the death difficult to shut off. Then she tried something that felt almost trivial: writing down three things she was grateful for each night. Initially she focused on her time with her mum and them extended it into other areas of her life. Within a few weeks she started feeling less sad and her days began to look a little brighter. Gratitude did not erase her grief but changed the way her mind processed it.

Marie woke up every night between 12.30 and 1.30 a.m. and could not sleep again for 3-4 hours her head full of worries. She started gratitude exercises and considered items around such as her warm blanket, the books she enjoyed reading, the roof over her head. She realised that there are so many things she could be grateful for and had forgotten. After that she was delighted to sleep though the night without difficulty.

Dr. Nicholas Kerry and his team of Penn's Positive Psychology Center in 2023 reviewed forty-four research articles focusing on gratitude and life satisfaction. They found people who feel more gratitude tend to be more satisfied with life. Some examples are;

Gratitude and resilience

Gratitude can boost emotional resilience by focusing on positive things in life instead of toxic emotions like envy, jealousy, resentment, and anxiety. (McCanlies et al., 2018) 

Gratitude for stress

Committing to a daily gratitude practice reduces negative emotions and provide a natural stress detox for the mind and body. (McCraty & Childre, 2004).

Gratitude and anxiety

Gratitude practice reduced symptoms of death anxiety, and help people become less fearful of the future (Lau & Cheng, 2011). 

Gratitude reduces pain

Gratitude may reduce feelings of pain by regulating dopamine levels (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

Gratitude improves immunity

Gratitude has demonstrated that individuals who have higher levels of gratitude have fewer common health complaints such as headaches, digestion problems, infections, dizziness, congestion, and sleep problems (Hazlett et al., 2021). 

Gratitude improves sleep

Hypothalamic regulation triggered by gratitude helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally every day. Gratitude and kindness help promote better sleep and energetic mornings (Zahn et al., 2009).

Gratitude reduces depression and negative emotions

By reducing stress hormones and managing the autonomic nervous system functions, gratitude significantly reduces symptoms of depression (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

At the neurochemical level, feelings of gratitude are associated with an increase in the neural modulation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain site responsible for managing negative emotions like guilt, shame, and violence (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

As a result, people who have a regular gratitude practice may be more empathetic and positive-minded.

It seems gratitude activates brain circuits for reward and connection, release feel-good chemicals—dopamine and serotonin—and reduce stress, making people feel healthier and happier. Each time a person practices gratitude, the brain becomes less stuck in survival mode and more able to shift into clearer, calmer thinking. It interrupts negative thinking loops and helps the brain transition from survival mode into problem-solving mode.

When people take time to write down what they’re thankful for, they’re not just making a list they are training their attention. This practice helps the mind shift away from its natural focus on unhelpful emotions toward experiences that feel more positive, which calms the nervous system. Focused attention using gratitude is especially powerful in the minutes before sleep, when the mind is drifting, and the brain is transitioning into a lighter, slower-wave activity. A short note of gratitude before bed becomes a gentle training exercise for the mind.

Gratitude works like any other wellness habit. The more you consistently practice it, the more your mind and body begin to respond.

• At the end the day write down three things you feel grateful for. They may be things you would otherwise take for granted such as a roof over your head or being in a warm room. It can be as simple as acknowledging your favourite meal or running into an old friend.
• After you’ve written your items of gratitude, take a moment to reflect on them.

Other suggestions are;

• Write a detailed letter expressing deep thanks to someone who has positively affected your life. And you could even take it further by reading it to them in person or over the phone.
• Take a few minutes to imagine what your life would be like without something you currently take for granted—your job, your pet, or a supportive friend. The temporary loss of a good thing reinforces how important it is to you.
• In addition to listing things you feel grateful for, choose one positive event from the day and spend a full minute thinking about it. To embed the memory more deeply in your brain’s emotional and reward centres, focus on where you were, what you smelled, who was there, and how you felt. 

Small Shifts, Lasting Change

Although gratitude did not remove Janes’s grief, it gave her a way to live with it without being overwhelmed. It allowed her to relax enough to feel a little more optimistic and a little less anxious each morning. For Marie was focusing on what she had rather that anxiety about the future.

In a world filled with stress and uncertainty, these small shifts are important. 

Other tips on moving to the New Consciousness is in our new book Between Lives and the blog page https://www.pioneeringnewconsciousness.com/blog

Love Andy and Reena 

References

Emmons, R. A. & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389.

Hazlett, L., Moieni, M., Irwin, M., Haltom, K., Jevtic, I., Meyer, M., Breen, E., Cole, S. & Eisenberger, N. (2021). Exploring neural mechanisms of the health benefits of gratitude in women: A randomized controlled trial. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 95, 444–453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.04.019

Lau, R. W. & Cheng, S. T. (2011). Gratitude lessens death anxiety. European Journal of Aging, 8(3), 169–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-011-0195-3

McCanlies, C., Gu, K., Andrew, E. & Violanti, M. (2018). The effect of social support, gratitude, resilience and satisfaction with life on depressive symptoms among police officers following Hurricane Katrina. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 64(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764017746197 

McCraty, R. & Childre, D. (2004). The grateful heart: The psychophysiology of appreciation. In R. Emmons & E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 230–255). Oxford University Press.

Zahn, R., Moll, J., Iyengar, V., Huey, E., Tierney, M., Krueger, F. & Grafman, J. (2009). Social conceptual impairments in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with right anterior temporal hypometabolism. Brain, 132(3), 604–616. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awn343