Short YouTube talk by Ashok Gupta explaining how gratitude can improve mood and mental health by boosting serotonin and dopamine and helping build new neural pathways. The chunk contains a guided gratitude exercise instructing listeners to write 25 specific things they are grateful for (going beyond listing objects/people to naming reasons).
25 things.
Remember we mentioned feel good brain chemicals like dopamine, serotonin. And we know that people with these conditions tend to have lower levels. One great way of boosting your serotonin and dopamine, as well as boosting your mood in general, is to practice gratitude.
Gratitude is also useful because when we're unwell, our mind tends to focus on what's not going well in our lives. But we have so much else to be grateful for that can help reduce our anxiety. And it helps to build new neuro pathways in the brain that can lead to better chemicals being released, like dopamine. Let's take out the worksheet that's called the gratitude exercise.
Please write down 25 things that you're grateful for in life. It's such a fun exercise. Now, these things could be people in your lives, situations, things. What's important is that we don't just write down a list of people and objects like my washing machine, my husband. That's not actually engaging in gratitude. It's about going one step deeper and being more specific as to why you're grateful. So I'm grateful that my partner makes me feel loved. I'm grateful that there's food on my table today.
So let's pause the video now and let's spend some time writing these things down. It is really worth it. And then please place the sheets on your wall and read it every day to help make yourself feel better. Sa.
