How Gratitude Changes Your Brain 🧠

So we're gonna talk about the science of gratitude. And when I say gratitude, this is something we've heard so much. I'm gonna talk about it from a different point of view, specifically gratitude and your brain, how it can help you with better decision-making, help you to also achieve more, be more productive, and certainly more, more peace of mind. I think peace of mind is high currency right now. Now, if you're watching this on video, I wanna thank you because we're doing this live. I have multiple cameras here, so my eyes kind of going back and forth. Let's get started. Welcome back, Kwik Brains. This is the Kwik Brain Podcast. I am your host and your brain coach, Jim Kwik of Kwik Learning, where we specialize in helping you to learn quickly. So let's explore the powerful tool, this powerful tool that not only is going to make you feel great, but also, again, has profound benefits to your brain health and your overall performance. And let's get into the science of gratitude. I'm going to list some of the studies that my team sent to me for research for this. So let's, let's dive in. And I'm going to give you practical things that you could do each day to kind of feel more of the things that you appreciate. Remember, what you appreciate appreciates. It grows. What you appreciate appreciates. And did you know that practicing gratitude can actually change the molecular structure of Yes, it is that powerful. When you express gratitude, not just say you're grateful, but express gratitude, your brain releases dopamine, it releases serotonin, which are 2 crucial neurotransmitters that are responsible for your emotions, and they make you feel good, and they enhance your mood pretty much immediately. And remember, a lot of what we talk about is state regulation, that you could control more of how you feel, and they make you feel happy from the inside. Now, you might wonder, How often should you practice gratitude to reap these benefits? Research shows that even something as simple as writing things down, like three things that you're grateful for today, you can do this right now. Actually, you could post this. You could share it on social media. You could take out your gratitude journal. That's kind of my preference because I write it in each day, and then whenever I'm feeling a little bit down, I could go back and read for months or even years all the things that I'm grateful for, and it can significantly improve your level of. Optimism, and who doesn't need more of that? And also your quality of life because your satisfaction quotient is going up. I don't know if satisfaction quotient is a term. I just made that up. It might very well be, but it's not just about feeling good because this is a show about brains, and I want to make sure that all you brainiacs know that gratitude can improve your brain function. Studies have found that gratitude can improve your decision-making skills. Again, Quality of our life comes down to the quality of our decisions. It can increase your productivity, and it does this by activating your prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for things like critical thinking, for rational thought processes. And here's something for anyone who's ever struggled with sleep, and I know that's a big challenge for a lot of our podcast listeners. Practicing gratitude may help you sleep better. And longer. There was a study done in Psychological Science, and by simply jotting things down, the few things that you're grateful for, like these grateful sentiments before you go to bed, it may reduce the worry and the rumination, the anxious thinking that often keeps us up at night. So gratitude also improves not only our sleep and our performance, but it also improves our overall self-esteem. It reduces social comparisons. We talk about digital depression where we're constantly comparing ourselves to everybody online. We're comparing our chapter 4 to their chapter 21. And remember, on social media, it's often greener because of the filter that people are using. I say that tongue in cheek, but there's a lot of artificial turf out there. And rather than being resentful or jealous over people who might appear to have like more than you, which obviously can be a major culprit in reducing your self-esteem. I feel like that when we are grateful, that grateful people are more able to appreciate other people's accomplishments because it also rewires our brain in a way that if we got upset when people are succeeding, then we unconsciously are telling ourselves that when we succeed, people are going to be upset at us. And remember, you do not have to wait for a greater life. To feel grateful. You don't have to wait for a greater life to feel grateful. You start feeling grateful and you'll have what? A greater life. And so you could start incorporating gratitude in things like your morning routine, your evening routine. It can be as simple as keeping, again, a gratitude journal, which I recommend, not like on a scrap piece of paper, but a dedicated book or journal notebook that you keep with you. And you do it in the morning, you could do it in the evening. It only takes maybe a few minutes to be able to do, so it's not time-consuming. It doesn't cost a lot. And it can be as simple as keeping that gratitude journal and saying thank you or saying thank you to somebody or something that made your day. And it makes you mentally and emotionally acknowledge the good in your life. If you're going to do something like meditation, so we can do gratitude meditation. And so let's talk about some of the science behind gratitude and just remember gratitude, just like your brain is like a muscle. I always say that you use it or what? You lose it. And the more you exercise your grateful thoughts, those positive thoughts, the stronger, the more resilient it becomes. And gratitude isn't just like good manners. It should be part of your life. It's a part of your lifestyle. It's part of a healthy and powerful brain and powerful mental health. Do you have too much to read but too little time? Are your shelves full of books that you haven't read yet and become shelf help, not self-help? And that's why I created the Kwik Reading Course. 15 minutes a day, 21 days will absolutely transform your life. Just go to kwikbrain.com/reading, use the code PODCAST15, and you'll get instant access. When we were researching this, there's so much wealth and information on the positive effects of gratitude on the brain and your mental health. There's one That talks about dopamine release. And we know dopamine is the motivation molecule. Expressing gratitude has been shown to release dopamine in the brain, which is, again, a neurotransmitter that's often associated with feelings of satisfaction, feelings of pleasure. Gratitude activates multiple regions of your brain. Did you know that just doing these exercises, it lights up your brain's reward pathways and the hypothalamus? And we've talked about that in previous episodes. It's associated with a higher volume of gray matter in your right inferior temporal gyrus. You don't need to know that, but just know that there are benefits when it comes to your neurotransmitters expressing gratitude. Gratitude also is very key for emotional regulation. So gratitude actually impacts that part of your brain called your limbic system. This is the part of your brain that's responsible for emotional experiences, leading to a release of more of that toxic, unhealthy emotions and the enhancement of something that we've talked about in the past and during Valentine's Day, self-love, empathy. Remember, self-love is not selfish. Part of this process is looking in the mirror and seeing that reflection back and realizing that you've overcome what you've overcome and you're still standing. And just the appreciation we've had, Mel Robbins on the show. And something simple that she does every morning after she brushes her teeth is what? Gives herself a high five in the mirror. And the act of doing something like that only takes a second to be able to do, but you're just acknowledging how far you've come, right? When you high five something, somebody, it's like this reward where it's just like, yeah, you're doing great. You're cheering them on. You could do it. You believe in them. And you're also expressing a certain level of appreciation for that person. Yeah. in the mirror that's been through so much but is still standing. So this suggests that gratitude practices can actually influence psychological conditions like stress or anxiety, potentially alleviate those stressful, anxious states. Some people suggest that it potentially could help mitigate some forms of depression. And this is not a short-term thing. Little by little, a little becomes a lot. I'm not saying that you have to live in every moment grateful for what's going on, but there are lasting effects on the brain. Regularly expressing gratitude, it can potentially help train your brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude in the future, right? Whether it's an hour from now, a day from now, a week or a month, which can contribute also because you're harnessing that power of your brain, that particular activating system to shine a spotlight on the things that you might be deleting or distorting. And we're always keeping information out. We're filtering information out. If we let everything in, we would be overwhelmed. But if you just ask yourself, what can I be grateful for today? And you might say, like, there's nothing. But imagine you're on the street and somebody offers you $10 million. And I know people are listening to this all over the world, whatever a lot of money would be in your currency. And they're like, yeah, I would love to have that $10 million, right? Yeah. But what if you didn't wake up the next morning? Would you trade it for that? And no one would say that. So it's like, wow, waking up is worth $10 million. I mean, it's just a kind of a— if you're going to do a comparison, you could do comparisons that actually serve you, that contribute to your mental health over time. And in this finding, while it's not conclusive, it indicates that gratitude can have an enduring positive effect on your brain. And there's a lot of mental health and certainly physical health benefits. The Mayo Clinic Health System has actually noted that gratitude is linked to, again, better sleep, improved mood, enhanced immunity. The whole area of science called psychoneuroimmunology, that stress and fear could actually suppress your immune system, make you more susceptible to colds, to flus, to viruses. And it could actually decrease anxiety and even chronic pain. When you reframe things in your mind, things change, your experience change. It also is associated with reduced risk of some health challenges also as Well, probably one of the most important reasons to have a gratitude practice is just your overall happiness, especially in your interpersonal relationships. Research suggests that gratitude can make people not only happier, but it would improve relationships. And that kind of makes sense. If you're grateful for the relationship that you're in, it could potentially counteract the challenges, the stress, the financial stress, what's going on in the world, because you're focusing on not what you don't have, but what you can control. And you always control what the controllables is also important for your self-esteem, which I mentioned before. It's indicating that the expression of gratitude can lead to significant changes in the brain. So these references that I'm talking about, and we'll put them in the show notes always at jimkwik.com/notes. They could provide, not that you need a reason just to feel good, but they give you the backing of the benefits of gratitude on brain health, on mental wellbeing, demonstrating that A simple practice like keeping a gratitude journal or doing some simple mindful reflection. And I have a podcast coming up on this that I'm really excited about with Dr. Ellen Langer. She's a professor of psychology at Harvard University. If you've heard me talk about the counterclockwise study where they took a group of men at a senior center and they put them into a monastery and decorated it as if it was 20 years earlier, like the newspaper, the television, they took out the mirrors and all the benefits that came out of it. They had better focus, they had a better memory, they had better hearing, they had a better vision, they were stronger after just one week. And so there's a lot of power in your mind, and we're going to talk about mindfulness specifically in this podcast. Now, since we are live, I want to give you some tips. And you know I love my acronyms. They're shortcut mnemonics that we use in a podcast because it takes time a little bit to do a training. And for those of you taking our Kwik Reading program, 21 days to triple your reading speed and focus and your reading comprehension, it's different. A podcast is like a tip, or a book is like a tip, a YouTube is like a tip. But when you go through a training like we offer at Kwik Brain on reading or memory or focus or confidence or productivity or student success, then we could actually mold those habits until it becomes a real skill. And we're thinking about actually doing one specifically around gratitude because that's how important it is. But when I talk about acronyms, I want you to remember the word THANKS, and that's an acronym. The T is time. And I think what's most important here is I want to remind you is to schedule it. One of your most important productivity tools that you have, and certainly peace of mind tools, is your calendar. Because if you don't schedule, it's probably not going to happen. You schedule parent-teacher meetings or investor meetings or your work or a Zoom that you have to do, but are you scheduling your reading, your meditation? Are you scheduling your speed reading training, you're working out, but also schedule time to what? To reflect and feel what? To feel grateful. Remember, again, you don't have to wait to have a greater life to feel grateful. You start feeling grateful, you have a greater life, and it's a wonderful way to start your day. So how can you schedule time each morning? Start your day off right, or in the evening, ideally both, because it doesn't take a lot of time to reflect on what you're genuinely grateful for. And don't just See it, feel it. Feel like, what if the only things you had in your life tomorrow were the things you express gratitude for today? What if the only things in your life, the people, the things in your life that you have in your life tomorrow are the things you express gratitude for today? And why wait? If you've ever had a near-death experience, and I know it's not a fun conversation to have, a lot of individuals like our friend Brendan Burchard, who we had on the podcast and has spoken at our events, he had an accident, a car accident. And then from there, I mean, he's one of the most grateful people I know. He talks about, you know, how you live and how you love and how you matter in life, you know, what you're going to leave behind. But these are all mindsets, right? Just like the Limitless Model, it starts with your mindset, then your motivation, and then what? Then the methods. And it could be as simple as just 3, 4, 5 minutes of quiet contemplation or journaling. The H in THANKS is highlight. And what are you highlighting? You're highlighting the positive moments. I usually do that at night because I do an exercise that I've been doing for decades where at night to improve my memory, I would review my day. And this is called your episodic memory because a lot of people don't remember what they ate that day or who they talked to that day. But I will fast forward throughout my day at night. It only takes a few minutes because I'm doing it at a faster speed and I just kind of review it. And after I do it, first of all, it's great memory training because there's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory and what, an untrained memory. But what this allows you to do is it allows you not only to reflect on the day and improve your memory by the rapid review, but it also allows you to take some time and say, okay, I'm going to pick 3 things that I just reviewed from this day of which I was grateful for. So that's what I mean about highlighting the H in THANKS, highlighting positive moments. And this could be somebody who held the door open for you. Something simple. Maybe you're shopping, somebody held the door open for you. Maybe it was just a positive exchange that you had with a stranger. Maybe you enjoyed a positive meal. Very, very simple, but little things add up to what? Big things. The little things are the big things in our life. Now, the A in THANKS is acknowledge. And who are you acknowledging? Other people. Because gratitude that's not expressed doesn't really exist. And so who are you grateful for? Not just what, who are you grateful? Make it a habit to acknowledge the contribution others make to your life, expressing thanks to friends, to family, to colleagues, to clients. It strengthens the relationship and it increases your own sense of gratitude. And the receiver also gets so much benefit also because who doesn't want to feel like they're seen, that they're heard, that they are appreciated? The N in THANKS is nature. You notice that I talk a lot about nature, but this— think about nature's beauty. When you spend time in nature, you can foster greater levels of gratitude. Nature's beauty can inspire a profound appreciation for life. Even a brief walk outside can help you to be able to reset your perspective. Let's say you're having a stressful day and you need kind of like a little pit stop, maybe during your brain break. After your Pomodoro technique, if you're familiar with our work, you're going out and you're moving, you're hydrating, and you're breathing. But all that time, you could also be thinking about the things that you're grateful for, and it gives you a different point of view. It gives you a different perspective. And then finally, the K and the S in THANKS. The K is kindness. Here's the thing. We never know the battles other people are facing behind the scenes. We just don't. And everybody is facing a struggle that we are unaware of. Everybody, myself and everybody who's listening to this right now. So how can you perform an act of kindness each day? Because kindness and gratitude, they really go hand in hand. By giving to others, we cultivate a sense of appreciation and connection. It's this time of year, it's Thanksgiving here in the United States where we'll go and I'll work in a homeless shelter for years, ever since being a teenager. And by the way, I think Thanksgiving, and I know it's here in the States, but we could apply that spirit every single day. So kindness and gratitude, they go hand in hand. So how can you cultivate a sense of appreciation and connection and kindness for the most part? Here's the best part, is free. So sprinkle that stuff everywhere. And then finally, the S in THANKS stands for the savor. I want you to savor the small things. Savoring is like the act of stepping outside of an experience to review, to appreciate it. And you could savor the small joys and the small victories of each and every day. Like maybe you have a delicious cup of tea or coffee, small experiences like a book that you're reading, or just that you have a warm bed that you have. And again, what you appreciate appreciates. And by integrating thanks and what is that? It's 6 things everybody could do. It doesn't take any time. It doesn't cost you any money. And thanks practice into daily routines. I think you and I, we could cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude, which can enhance not only our wellbeing, but our brain health, right? When we feel grateful, we don't feel lonely. When we feel grateful, it's hard to feel stressed. When we feel grateful, it's hard to feel fear that keeps us from moving forward. So I challenge you to express gratitude today. When we're done here, just take 2 or 3 minutes. What are you grateful for? And share with someone what you appreciate about them. You could write even a thank you note. How rare is that? Or post a comment about what you're grateful for. In fact, I would challenge you, take a screenshot of this episode and Post what you're grateful for. Tag me in it so I get to see it. I'll repost it because you tag us, our team will see it, and we'll post some of our favorites. And I'll actually gift a couple of copies of our brand new book, Limitless Expanded, which just came out. We are donating 100% of my author proceeds to charity. This is my magnum opus. This is the most final, complete version of Limitless. It's called Limitless Expanded, all about how to generate massive momentum for yourself. In the new year. And I want to say in the spirit of gratitude, thank you for anyone who ordered this book, who read this book, who applied this book, who shared this book, and who reviewed this book. Review is the greatest gift that you could give to our team because your stories will impact people like mine won't, because it's your story and your story is your superpower. It's so funny how many videos go viral for whatever reason, but what I'm suggesting here is what What if we made gratitude go viral? All right, let's try to make gratitude go viral. I'm not saying with this podcast because I'm not the end-all be-all of anything, but I would say that we could all do something a little bit because a little bit becomes a lot over time. It's like that butterfly effect. What's the butterfly effect? The butterfly effect says that a butterfly flapping its wings in New York, because of dynamic systems, could create a tsunami across the world. And we want to create a tsunami of change, of kindness, of And especially of gratitude. So what's the message here? Keep growing, keep learning, and always, always, always thank you for being part of our Limitless Kwik community. I'm your brain coach, Jim Kwik. I appreciate you. Thank you for being with us this year, and we have so much more to come. This is just Just the beginning. Limitless gratitude and appreciation.