How much do you use gratitude? How often do you practice it? Are you ready to take that practice to the next level?

Gratitude may be a feeling, emotion, mood or personality trait. Maybe it is some of all of them. It really doesn’t matter. Science is proving gratitude to be a great tool and eliciting greater satisfaction and overall happiness. Some of the things that research shows improved by gratitude are sleep and relaxation, relationships, emotional wellness and resiliency, and your mental and physical health. Let’s start with a quote by Socrates. ”The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

Gratitude turns what we have into enough. So how does gratitude work in our brain? Research suggests that gratitude works satisfactory for functioning people as well as for those with mental health concerns? Gratitude is believed to unshackle us from destructive emotions by shifting one’s attention. Gratitude benefits work over time. They are not a “quick fix.” It is not that you write about things you are grateful for and then you feel better in that moment. No if you write over and over after a couple of weeks you will notice a difference. But the good news is that because it is not immediate it has more long term effects. Gratitude makes changes to the brain that can be measured with an MRI. Gratitude lights up the brain's reward pathways and boosts serotonin and produces dopamine just like Prozac. Gratitude goes hand in hand with optimism. Practicing gratitude makes you happier, healthier and more productive.

What is required to get these benefits? It doesn’t take much. to start, according to  Dr Alex Korb just the act of “seeking” for items to be grateful for can produce the benefit. You can spend time just looking for things to be grateful for and get full credit. I mean how many of you would show up at work, think about what you are supposed to do and expect to get full credit. Most of the time action is required to get the benefit. But with gratitude you don’t need to actually come up with anything. As long as you are seeking for it you get full credit. How awesome is that?

Some of the ways to practice gratitude are to keep a gratitude journal or write letters of gratitude to people. Gratitude journals are an amazing gift. They give to you when you write them and then when you read them later. Writing letters of gratitude improves both yours and the receiver's state of mind. Writing your thoughts of gratitude are a wonderful way of experiencing them. You can also verbally share with others what you appreciate about them. This will make deep long lasting friends. People love to hear good things about themselves and it will make a huge difference in their lives. Look at yourself  in the mirror and remark about something you like about you. Be sure to look yourself in the eye and mean it. It will help you change your thought patterns. Spend time meditating on the experience you had when something went well. Get to know that feeling and practice it each day. Your subconscious will take that experience you are visualizing and treat it as real and happening each time you replay it. These are some great ways to practice gratitude.

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