Neuroscientists find that the Medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex are involved in the self-perception of one’s life path, positive growth, motivation, and emotional intelligence. All the innate tools necessary to live a thriving and abundant life. And fMRI studies show us that when people express internal gratitude, bio-electric activation occurs in these same areas.
Like an on/off switch, gratitude connects with the brain’s reward center and creates a feeling of peace. It puts us in a state of mind that allows for better assessment and calm response, even while under pressure. Gratitude effects the brain’s default mode network, or DMN, which is involved in self identity, morality, and social relationships. With gratitude, the DMN becomes a more focused picture, which allows one to see more connections and opportunities as they occur in real time.
Gratitude also improves heart rate variability which gives more control over the parasympathetic nervous system. This allows for better impulse control, which inevitable leads to making better decisions. Gratitude also cultivates better sleep quality and lower inflammation.
Gratitude not only feels good, it brings good things. No matter if you think it’s merely perception or coincidence, or if you think it’s luck, karma, or grace. Whatever you want to call it, there is a predictable cause and effect when you practice gratitude, your life inexplicably changes for the best. This is a law of nature that has written about in most religions and esoteric traditions.
In the Torah there is Psalms 50:23, “As a sacrifice of thanksgiving, honor me, and show me the way to salvation”
In the New Testament, Philippians 4:6–7 says that “with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God... shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Perhaps the most direct version of this is found in the Qur’an’s 14:7, “If you are grateful, I will give you more. If you are ungrateful, punishment is severe.’”
In Hinduism’s Bhagavad Gita, “If one offers with devotion, I will accept with love.” In Bhakti it is taught that gratitude and devotion evoke grace.
In Buddhism, gratitude is a foundational practice that cultivates mindfulness and compassion and leads to blessings in your personal life
In Sikhism, daily gratitude is said to lift the spirit and bring about auspicious outcomes.
Sufism teaches that gratitude attracts increase blessing. Yoga teaches that gratitude is a clear, luminous, state of mind that draws grace and auspicious coincidence towards the practitioner.
Thirty-Three in the Tao Te Ching says that contentment brings wealth, and in Hermetic traditions, the Principles of Correspondence and Vibration teach that a grateful inner state has a resonance that attracts more experiences to be grateful for.
Gratitude greatly increases opportunity, protection, guidance, harmony with others, self-sufficiency, and overall peace. This is true whether you choose to believe that its just the neuroscience of having better control of emotions, clearer perception, and stronger social bonds, or if you believe that the world we live in resonates in response to the vibrations we generate. Either way, the more you give thanks, the better your life will be.
According to research, the most common and effective practices are gratitude journaling, which can be listing just a few things two to three times per week, and practicing a form of gratitude meditation, of which there are many.
Happy Thanksgiving, and Thank you,
Greg Reese
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By Independent News Roundup