Gratitude as a Natural Antidepressant

Gratitude is a positive emotion that may include appreciation, contentment, and happiness. The psychological definition of gratitude is the recognition that one has received benefits or good fortune from someone else, a deliberate decision to be thankful, and a tendency to express that feeling by verbalizing and acting in accordance with one's feelings.

Gratitude can be one of the most powerful tools for relieving stress and raising your energetic vibration. It is a conscious decision to focus on what you have rather than what you don't have or what you want. When you are grateful for what you have, your energetic vibration is raised and draws more positive things into your life.

I know this may sound like mumbo jumbo, but it's true! I've seen it in my own life time and time again.

Ways I practice gratitude:

- Journaling about what I am grateful for in life.

- Reflection; especially on a nature walk.

- Giving something away to someone else who needs it more than you do (even if it's just a nice compliment for a stranger).

-I gift my loved ones on random days to show my appreciation for them in my life.

The Brain on Gratitude.

The neural correlates of gratitude are associated with increased activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), superior temporal gyrus (STG), right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). This suggests that gratitude involves different regions of the brain than those involved in emotional processes like empathy and compassion.

Psychologists have studied these effects for decades, but until recently the neuroscience of gratitude was not fully understood. That changed when several studies used neuroimaging technology to examine how gratitude affects the brain. These studies revealed some fascinating things about how gratitude affects us physically and mentally.

Here's what's known:

Gratitude makes us happier by increasing positive emotions and decreasing negative ones.

Gratitude increases our sense of well-being by activating our reward system — the same part of our brain that rewards us with feelings of pleasure when we eat chocolate or drink alcohol. In fact, gratitude has been shown to activate the same regions of the brain as money!

When we are grateful for what we already have, we feel less stress about our lack of things that we want or need because we feel like all our needs are being met. We don't worry about whether or not we'll get them because we know that everything is in divine order and that whatever comes into our lives does so because it's meant to be there and not necessarily because we're supposed to have it right now. Once you stop worrying about things that aren't in your life yet and start appreciating what is already there, then you'll start attracting those things into your life more easily.

When I learned about the benefits of being grateful, I was instantly sold on practicing it. As a kid my mama would teach us little lessons on being thankful when she'd buy us something from the store. Let us not say thank you, haha. We'd hear an entire sermon about why appreciation matters so much. We learned and we always said thank you after. I appreciate her lessons of gratitude today as an adult with children of my own. Thanks Mama. I am grateful you.

The following are the benefits of gratitude:

-Relieve stress: Stress is a major cause of illness today, including heart disease and cancer. Gratitude can relieve stress by focusing on what we have instead of what we don't have in our lives.

-Improves sleep, reduces anxiety and depression, and boosts energy levels. Gratitude is a natural antidepressant.

-Boost your joy. Joy is a deep internal feeling of pleasure and happiness.

Once you stop worrying about things that aren't in your life yet or things that are out of your control and being grateful for what is already apart of your life. Even what's not apart of your life can be a reason to be grateful. Everything is a lesson and in every lesson there's a blessing. When you can shift you're perspective you'll start attracting more reason to be grateful into your life and more easily.

Have an attitude of gratitude friends!!

Love, Jerm❤️