Free Guide to Creating Your Own Gratitude Practice
Want an easy, attainable way to improve your outlook and begin rewiring your brain for resilience? I know no better way than to implement a gratitude practice!
Gratitude disconnects you from toxic, negative emotions and the loops of negative thoughts that go along with them. Feeling gratitude will shift your attention and energy. PIVOT!
Pivoting your attention by directing your thoughts and feelings from that toxic thought to gratitude is a cultivated skill. The more you practice pivoting, the easier it will become.
When you practice with the small things, you will grow your ability to shift your attention and energy to the bigger things. A gratitude practice is a great way to exercise this skill. The benefits of a daily gratitude practice amplify over time.
Repetition of any behavior is rewiring your brain. Your brain is very elastic. Anything you do repetitiously, whether a thought, feeling, or behavior, your brain grows neuropathways to make that action more efficient. This is why it’s so hard to break old habits.
Yes, thoughts and feelings can become habitual. The longer you think a thought, have a feeling, or repeat a behavior, the bigger the neuropathway you form around that action.
This repetitive behavior can also go from being a state of mind (temporary) to a personality trait. It becomes your default.
Here’s the good news! When you repetitiously feel gratitude, you grow new neuropathways around that behavior while old neuropathways that are no longer being used as frequently shrink!
You will soon be forming a new habit of being happier and optimistic and developing a new personality trait…this will become your new default.
Gratitude trains the brain to look for the silver lining and more things to be grateful for.
Gratitude releases the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine. One of the brain centers that produce dopamine is associated with reward.
When a person expresses or receives gratitude, dopamine is released, making a connection between the behavior and feeling good. The more gratitude a person feels, the more dopamine is released.
“When we take the time to notice the things that go right – it means we’re getting a lot of little rewards throughout the day.”
Martin Seligman
Studies show that if a person could do one thing to increase health and happiness, expressing gratitude would be it! Here are some ways to implement and realize the benefits of gratitude:
- Journal about things, people, and situations that you’re grateful for.
- Think about a person, place, or thing you’re grateful for.
- Write a letter of gratitude to a friend or family member you’re grateful for.
- Meditate on gratitude.
- Do the “Count Your Blessings” exercise (end each day by writing down three things you’re grateful for).
- Be mindful of your five senses. How does each enhance your life?
- Be a gratitude gazer. Be on the lookout for opportunities to feel grateful.
- Practice saying “thank you” in a real and meaningful way. Be specific.
- Write Thank you notes. Challenge yourself to write one hand-written note every week for a month.
- And finally, think about and write down strengths and qualities about yourself that you’re grateful for!
Why start a gratitude practice?
Changes Belief Systems
Practicing gratitude changes beliefs by shifting focus from negative aspects to positive aspects in life, leading to a more optimistic and hopeful outlook.
Creates Clarity
By shifting one’s focus from negative or stress-inducing thoughts to positive and thankful ones. This helps to calm the mind, reducing distractions and allowing for a clearer state of mind.
Increases Happiness
When you begin to shift your focus from what is lacking in life to what is present and appreciated, you start to see the shift in your perspective increase in positive emotions, such as joy and contentment.
Improves Health
It improves health by reducing stress and promoting well-being. Studies have shown that those who regularly practice gratitude have lower levels of stress hormones and a stronger immune system.
Don’t waste another minute, download your free guide to creating your own gratitude practice.
Who am I?
Hello, I’m Christa Dawson, a certified Energy Psychology Practitioner located in Chico, California.
After years of unhealthy thought processes and poor life choices, my body had decided enough was enough. I developed an autoimmune disorder called Hashimoto’s Hypothyroiditus. After years of deep struggle with my diagnosis, I came across Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). In my first experience with EFT, I encountered how my thoughts, beliefs, and feelings were affecting my body. While I was tapping, I experienced a huge emotional and energetic release causing my symptoms to dissipate completely.
As I released the painful thoughts and feelings, I experienced in real-time an immediate change. I knew I had tapped into something amazing. This was the beginning of a life-changing journey that led me down a path of deep mental and emotional healing and a return to health, vitality, and ultimately a career change from 30-plus years as a hairdresser to a certified practitioner and coach. I’m an ordinary person that has had an extraordinary experience and am living proof that it is never too late for deep healing and major life changes. I invite you to dive down this rabbit hole with me and begin your own healing journey.