• Who We Are
    • Meet Christine
    • Mission, Vision, and Values
    • Work With STI For Proven Results
    • OneTribe Foundation
    • Media and Press
  • What We Do
    • Neuroscience Workshops
      • The Neuroscience Of Compelling Leadership
      • The Neuroscience of Influencing Outcomes
      • The Neuroscience Of Emotional Resilience: Learn To Love Change
      • The Neuroscience Of Creating Optimal Teams
      • Beyond Your Brain
    • Culture, Leadership, And Executive Coaching
      • Leadership Coaching
      • Culture Coaching
      • Leadership Development Programs
    • Keynotes
      • Make Your Team Smarter Overnight
      • Influence Any Outcome
      • Create the Company Culture of Your Dreams
      • The Neuroscience Of Creating Optimal Teams
      • The Neuroscience Of Emotional Resilience: Learn To Love Change
      • Guarantee Growth
      • Quota Busters
    • Quick Wins
      • DIY SmartTribe
      • Employee Engagement & Culture Diagnostic
      • Leadership Excellence Diagnostic
      • Sales & Marketing Intensive
      • Strategy Day
    • Case Studies
  • Resources
    • Assessments
    • Mini Course
    • Crack The Behavior Code Podcast
    • Infographics
    • Blog
    • Books
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Subscribe
    • Power Your Tribe
  • Contact
Are You Listening To What Others’ Emotions Are Saying?
April 1, 2023
The Neuroscience of Optimism
April 2, 2023

Say Goodbye To Stress: The Proven Brain Hack That Boosts Gratitude And Lowers Blood Pressure

April 2, 2023
Categories
  • Christine Comaford
  • Inspiration
  • Leadership
  • Sensei of the Day
  • Uncategorized
Tags
  • Appreciation
  • Beyond Your Brain
  • Grateful
  • gratitude
  • Grounding
  • Health
  • meditation
  • mindfulness
  • Nature
  • Wellness

*As originally seen on Forbes.com

You already know that gratitude feels good.

New research now shows that gratitude is also a pragmatic helper—lowering blood pressure both during and after stressful situations. We all know that stress is hard on cardiovascular health.

Stress is also super hard on your brain. And to compound the effects, stress often causes a feeling of isolation. Here’s the physiological impact.

2 Minutes To Get Some Gratitude

Here are some quick and easy gratitude brain hacks:

1.     Journaling about what they felt grateful for was one-way cardiac patients reduced blood pressure in this study.

2.     Try a gratitude practice, which when repeated for 2 consecutive weeks done daily will forge a neural pathway around gratitude.

Close your eyes. Focus on a blessing in your life… something you are thankful for. See an image of this blessing in your mind’s eye. Offer a silent “thank you” to the person or object of your blessing.

Relax into the feeling of gratitude. Take a deep breath. Feel more gratitude.

The latest brain research shows that six doses of feeling 30 seconds of gratitude daily (a whopping 3 minutes!) will enable your neurons to fire together and wire together around gratitude within a mere 2 weeks.

This means you’ll more easily and frequently access the feeling of gratitude.

Heck, we’re grateful for that!

What’s super fun is that after only doing this for 2 weeks I now wake up each morning saying “thank you” inwardly, without even thinking about it! That’s the new neural pathway around gratitude being of benefit 😊.

3.     Appreciate 3+ people verbally daily. Yes, you need to tell them that you appreciate (are grateful for) them and why specifically. This can be any body—the skycap at the airport that checks your bag, your neighbor, a colleague, just make sure you appreciate (out loud!) 3+ people daily. You can always leave voice texts or voice mails too!

4.     Make a list of all the great and helpful things your parents or siblings or friends have done for you. It’s pretty amazing that we grew up with food, shelter, education and more. Making a list activates gratitude. For an extra boost make the list for someone you feel disappointed with and notice how the feeling toward them changes. When you change the things you look at, the things you look at change! To paraphrase the late great Wayne Dyer.

5.     Get outside and look at all of the beauty of nature. List all the things you are grateful for in nature. Do this with a friend so you can discuss your lists aloud, and simply thank each flower, tree, etc. you’re grateful for.

Create a daily gratitude practice from the above list or mix and match based on your mood. You’ll experience a happier and more peaceful emotional state as well as reduced stress and likely boosted heart health.

What are you grateful for?

Related

Share
Christine Comaford
Christine Comaford

Related posts

May 13, 2023

The Evolution Of Success: How To Manage And Excel In Business Transformations


Read more
April 2, 2023

The Neuroscience of Optimism


Read more
April 1, 2023

Are You Listening To What Others’ Emotions Are Saying?


Read more
Learn how to lead your team through change, create emotional resilience, and ensure growth. Join our Emotional Resilience mini-course

415.320.6580
775 E. Blithedale Avenue, Suite 210,
Mill Valley, CA 94941
© 2020 SmartTribes Institute. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy