What do stories and memories have to do with gratitude?

Think of a time or story about gratitude - it doesn't even have to do with you. When you think about it and replay it, you actually start to feel gratitude and when you feel that gratitude there are changes that happen in your brain circuitry!

Our brains are oriented to story - it is one of the major ways we organize information in our brains. 

A study was performed where people listened to others who survived genocide and told stories of how others helped them along the way. Those listening had fMRI scans and it showed that by listening to these stories, the neural pathways of gratitude light up! Those pathways can light up when we HEAR stories of gratitude...even ones that have NOTHING to do with us. 

I always think of the Publix commercial where the little boy sneakily invites his neighbor over for Christmas dinner. The story has nothing to do with me, but I feel so much gratitude each time I was the commercial or even think about it!

Be sure to tune in next week to find out the most scientifically proven way to practice gratitude...and guess what? It can be done is as little as 1 minute a day!

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