1. How Gratitude Connects Us To Each Other

Gratitude likely evolved as a biological signal that motivates animals to exchange things for their mutual benefit and can be found in the animal kingdom, especially in primates. When your brain recognizes that someone's done something nice for you, it reacts with gratitude to motivate you to repay them. As human brains got better at reading emotions, selfish individuals were identified and shunned. It became an evolutionary advantage to play well with others. This brought your ancestors closer together and forged bonds and friendships.

199 reads

MORE IDEAS ON THIS

Dissatisfaction

Everybody is familiar with the feeling that things are not as they should be. That you're not successful enough or don't have good relationships. A chronic dissatisfaction makes you look outward with envy and inwards with disappointment. Pop culture, social media and advertising...

358 reads

2. The Consequences Of Gratitude

Gratitude stimulates the pathways in your brain involved in feelings of reward, forming social bonds and interpreting other's emotions.

Gratitude also counteracts negative feelings and traits, like envy, narcissism, cynicism and materialism.

Gratitude refocuses your attentio...

187 reads

Gratitude Journaling

It means writing down 5-10 things you're grateful for, for 1-3 days a week. It could be a little thing like a cup of coffee, or a person in your life or an act of kindness.

In many studies, the participants reported more happiness and a higher general life satisfaction after doing this pra...

298 reads

3. How To Make Your Brain More Grateful?

Everyone has something called "trait gratitude" that determines how much you are able to feel it. It depends on your genetics, personality, and culture. It's not yet entirely clear to what degree gratitude can be trained or how long the effects last. Gratitude should also not be seen as a solutio...

198 reads

Gratitude

Gratitude can mean very different things to different people in different contexts. It's a character trait, a feeling, a virtue, and a behavior. You can feel grateful towards someone who did something for you, for random events, like the weather, or even for nature or fate, and it's wired into ou...

360 reads

CURATED FROM