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How gratitude can help you sleep better, and so much more! · Lavender Mind

• 0:01
  Hey. Welcome to Lavender Mine podcast,
• 0:04
  a podcast to help anyone remember.
• 0:07
  How to live only in this moment because,
• 0:10
  you know what? It's the only 1 we
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  have.
• 0:12
  Hey. Welcome to Lavender Mind. I'm your host
• 0:15
  Katie Bo blanc. If you're new here, welcome
• 0:17
  to the show. If you've been here before,
• 0:19
  welcome back. As always, it helps my show
• 0:22
  to grow, so awesome people like you can
• 0:24
  find it. If you share my show or
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  click that check above or write a review.
• 0:29
  Today's episode is all about gratitude,
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  and
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  I
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  did some research from Jim Quick. He's the
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  author of, the limitless book. If you've never
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  read that book. It's a really great book.
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  It's on how to... He does a lot
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  of research and reading faster, and he had
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  a brain injury, and he has lots of
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  habits
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  to make yourself limitless and...
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  It's all about great habits. But today, I
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  wanna talk about gratitude and how not only
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  does it help us to feel better and
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  have more optimism, which who doesn't want more
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  of that.
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  It also helps
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  improve frame function, and that's what I wanna
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  take a little dive in today because I
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  think it... You know, it's 1 thing when
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  you know, like, oh, it's good to write
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  the 3 things you're grateful for. Like, we
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  hear that a lot and have a gratitude
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  journal. You know, sometimes that can go in
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  1 ear and out the other. But today's
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  episode really brings it home because it is
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  all about the research that's been done on
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  what actually happens in our brain. There's so
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  much science
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  around the way that our brains change
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  when we practice Gratitude
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  daily. And so I wanna jump in that
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  today. Not only are we able to achieve
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  more through gratitude and the way that it
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  affects our brain. We have peace of mind.
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  Helps us to feel better because of brain
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  health, and the science around the gratitude
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  is just amazing. And what we
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  appreciate grows, and this is a way to
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  practice ways to apply gratitude in your life.
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  I have some tips that I'm gonna put
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  at the end on how to apply this
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  in your daily life. There are changes in
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  the molecular
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  structure of our brain. Our brains release
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  dopamine and serotonin
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  is transmitted,
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  which is responsible for our motions. It makes
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  us feel good and enhances
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  our mood and helps us to be happier
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  from the inside, and we have control over
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  this regulation and this state of mind these
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  emotions through practicing
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  gratitude.
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  Again, this is all studies that come from
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  Jim Qui research and
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  research that he follows
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  about brain health and gratitude.
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  It shows that just writing 3 things a
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  day
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  whatever you're grateful for can not only enhance
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  your optimism, but also
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  the quality of your life, but not just
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  feeling good, but enhancing your brain function. I'm
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  gonna list a few things that it affects.
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  It's
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  amazing what just a little bit of gratitude
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  can do. And then we'll get into the
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  tips of how to just incorporate this in
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  your life every day. And not only helps
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  us, but it helps everyone around us because
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  it changes
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  the way that we show up. So the
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  first thing is that it's affected by gratitude
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  is our decision making skills.
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  It activates the prefrontal
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  cortex.
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  That is where decision making is held in
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  the brain, and it enhances
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  our decisions, which I know I can always
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  use help with that because
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  years ago, I could not even get a
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  cup of coffee it would take me, like,
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  20 minutes. And, like, I don't know, picking
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  a pair of socks on Amazon can take
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  45 minutes if you don't have good decision
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  making skills, which because there are a lot
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  of options in our amazing lives.
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  You can go down the rabbit hole of
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  Amazon quickly or any type of online shopping
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  for sure. I try to steer clear. The
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  second thing is that studies show that simply
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  jot things down
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  before you go to bed can help you
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  sleep better. This actually reduces
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  worry and rum illumination
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  that keeps us up at night, so it
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  is a healthy way to
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  sleep better by thinking of things that you're
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  grateful for before you go to bed. It
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  helps self esteem. It improves
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  and helps us not to have jealousy over
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  other people rewire our brain to know that
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  what we have
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  helps us to focus on that and feel
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  better and feel more grateful. When you start
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  feeling more grateful,
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  it just allows for a greater life because
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  your brain is trained. It's like a muscle
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  like anything else, once you start to think
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  this way. These gracious grateful thoughts come easier.
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  They flow better, and there's truly
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  brain health there, those muscles in your brain
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  are developed more. So when we start incorporating
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  gratitude in our morning and our evening routine
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  as a simple
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  thing like a gratitude journal. It could be
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  a dedicated book to keep you saying thank
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  you to someone. You can also thank people
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  in your day. You could keep notes in
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  your phone. A physical book is always nice
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  because you can go back and look at
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  it and also the notes in your phone.
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  You can do it mentally if you don't
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  wanna have a physical book.
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  I do recommend a physical book if you
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  can, because then if you're having a really
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  crummy day, you can just open that up
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  and flip through and see all the things
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  that are amazing in your life. The science
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  behind all this. I said, it's a muscle.
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  The more we use it, the easier it
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  is and more naturally, it becomes. It just
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  becomes who you are. It's not something that
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  you have to think about. It's just the
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  way your brain will begin to function if
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  you practice it, and it helps us to
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  be more resilient because
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  powerful, mental health makes us more resilient. The
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  science
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  behind gratitude is that dopamine is dumped in
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  the brain when we express gratitude at these
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  neurotransmitters
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  associated with satisfaction.
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  So just doing these exercises lights up that
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  area in our brain, and it allows those
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  pathways to become stronger. The hypothalamus is associated
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  with a higher amount of gray matter in
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  the right inferior temporal g.
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  Its gratitude is also the key to emotional
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  regulation. It impacts the limbic system, which impacts
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  our emotional experiences.
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  Of empathy and self compassion,
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  appreciation for things. It helps
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  stress and anxiety,
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  it mitigate depression. Gratitude has lasting effects on
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  the brain. So once you start to do
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  this, it's not something that goes away, it
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  lasts, the brain could be trained to use
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  gratitude, and so it is little by little
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  built up and has lasting
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  effects, and we're trained to be more sensitive
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  to using g gratitude in the future. It's
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  like it shines a little light on the
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  particular
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  activating system. We filter
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  our information by using gratitude.
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  Gratitude is inserted. It's good to ask yourself,
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  What are you grateful for in the morning
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  and in the app.
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  Waking up as a gift and being able
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  to move as a gift, the Mayo clinic
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  has noted that stress and fear can suppress
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  our immune system and that the more
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  susceptible we can become to disease
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  if we are not as grateful. And it's
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  also noted that it helps reduce chronic pain,
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  because when you refrain
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  things in your mind, you're not as focused
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  on the pain, and I can account to
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  that firsthand for sure with,
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  my experience of A when I was younger.
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  That's kinda 1 of the reasons
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  doing all this. Is 1 of the things
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  that I really noticed
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  throughout my life. So it it reduces health
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  challenges,
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  And
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  again, overall happiness, it makes us happier and
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  have improved
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  relationships, and it helps us not focus on
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  what we don't have, but what we can
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  can troll, which is pretty awesome. So I'm
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  gonna leave
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  with some tips. I'm gonna go out with
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  a few tips of how we can incorporate
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  this in our lives
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  again, it's free, super easy to do, and
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  you can start building those muscles in your
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  brain right now, like, right after this podcast.
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  I encourage that. The first 1 is to
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  schedule gratitude
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  to start your day off, reflect on what
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  you're grateful for. I always say before your
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  Toot c's hit the floor, think of some
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  things that you're grateful for.
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  And, you know, why wait to do this?
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  Because You never know and this can really
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  affect your life in such an amazing way.
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  Don't put it off,
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  and it doesn't take time to do it.
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  So The second thing is to review your
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  day
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  before bed, think about and reflect on something
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  cool that happened during your day, maybe somebody
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  opened your door. It doesn't have to be
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  anything big. Maybe you had an amazing dinner.
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  My husband went fishing, and we had some
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  delicious fish last night. I so good with
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  some mango salsa, yummy.
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  So I was grateful for that dinner. I
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  was thinking about that before I went to
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  bed. Anything little.
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  Just any type of reflection of your day
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  before you go to bed. And this... Like
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  I said, studies are showing that the... These
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  type of thought can help you go to
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  bed and help with rum nation
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  because it sets your mind in a different
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  pathway.
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  And who are you grateful for? I know
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  we can be grateful for our friends, colleagues,
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  kids.
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  It's really important to tell people that we're
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  grateful for them. The third thing is nature.
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  The beauty of outside can foster gratitude for
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  life. You know, if you live near a
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  beach, how lucky your you. You can look
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  at that water every day and just be
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  thankful full for the creation of it, but
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  you don't have to live near Beach,
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  even if you have a park or a
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  window which is some beautiful green grass out
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  side or snow, whatever you have at this
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  time of year. This always resets our perspective.
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  It's just like a little reset button. I've
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  joked about taking the trash out because it
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  gets me outside and I love nature, so
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  any excuse to be outside, cutting the grass
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  any any anytime to be out in nature,
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  it can really press that reset button and
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  help us to have some gratitude. The fourth
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  thing is giving and kindness
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  It's always nice. We never know what other
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  people are going through and just an act
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  kindness every single day, really boosts
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  dopamine by helping someone else. We're also helping
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  our own brain health. It just feels really
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  good to help others. It's always fun to
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  buy somebody's these coffee behind you or just
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  open a door or if it doesn't scare
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  an old lady, helper her, you know, bag
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  up her stuff, what whatever you can do
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  to help others.
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  And help them have some gratitude in their
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  day. The fifth thing is, you know, just
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  remembering that it's the little things. You know,
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  life really is all about the little things
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  that we're grateful for and really soaking life
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  up, really experiencing the little things like a
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  hug, our beds, water, our legs, if we
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  have them sharing with someone that you love,
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  which you're thankful for. He can always just
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  have a little sentence of texting someone or
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  telling someone.
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  I love how you blank or you are
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  the best blank. So those are some ideas
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  in this of gratitude. Thank you for being
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  here here to make a difference since someone's
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  life today, and I hope that you can
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  spread some gratitude. This is a great thing
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  to spread. It's like the butterfly effect. So
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  let's start a trend and
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  together, lettuce us plant some seeds of resilience,
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  and joy, have an amazing day.