The Amazing Science of Gratitude and How to Be Happier and Manifest Anything

It’s November, the leaves are falling, and pumpkin spice is in the air. You gather around the table with your loved ones and take turns telling everyone what you are grateful for. 

Sometimes it’s easy because you’ve had a good year and are generally happy. Other years you stick to an only slightly heartfelt, “I’m thankful for all of you” kind of statement. The year has been challenging. You're feeling down and less than grateful for your life. 

You want so many things to change in your life and are so focused on the lack that you don’t even see the good aspects of your life. 

Have you ever noticed that when you have this feeling of lack, the lack just keeps multiplying? 

That’s because where focus goes, energy flows, and your reality is created. While that might seem a little woo-woo, there is some amazing science of gratitude. If you want to learn how to be happier and be able to manifest anything, then understanding the science of gratitude and how to use it is a major step!

Science of Gratitude

Gratitude is so much more than just feeling good about something. Gratitude is classified as a “moral affect” or an emotion that motivates behaviors and actions towards others. In other words, it is one of the emotions that affect how you act socially. 

The actions you take socially can positively or negatively affect your desired outcome. 

Acts like sharing, for example, are considered a prosocial behavior because it is an act that inspires others to behave morally. That’s why when you share your food with someone they are more likely to share food with you or others. 

This give good, get good principle directly connects to using gratitude as a door to open up potential good to come into your life. 

Practicing gratitude essentially improves your social life. When you feel grateful and express that gratitude, your actions towards others are prosocial and inspire more good actions towards you, improving your interpersonal relationships. 

Did you know that it also improves your brain chemistry?

Many areas of your brain light up when you feel grateful for something in your life, including your brain's reward center. You know that feeling. It was the one you got as a kid when you got a sticker for good behavior or won a prize at the carnival. 

The winning bells ring, and you get to pick a cheap toy off the wall. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ugly, misshapen stuffed bear because you won it! You get a surge of serotonin and dopamine. It is literally a DIY drug-free high. 

The same brain activity you have from winning your ugly little bear happens when you feel gratitude for something. 

And if you want to learn how to be happier, then the key is to practice gratitude. 

How to Be Happier

In a study done by psychologists, they divided a group of people into three groups. The first group was tasked with writing down things they were grateful for throughout their week. 

The second group was told to write down things that irritated them throughout the week. 

The third was told to just write about the events that happened during their week with no specific focus on anything, negative or positive. 

After 10 weeks, the gratitude group was more optimistic and happy about their lives. On top of that, they also started exercising more, needed fewer doctor visits, and showed less aggressive behavior. 

All of this happened from a simple gratitude practice that probably took them three minutes a day. 

In another study, participants’ happiness scores increased when they were asked to write a letter of gratitude to someone. How much do you want to bet that that also helped them have better relationships with the people in their lives?

If you want to be happier, cultivating an attitude of gratitude is essential! 

Ways to Have an Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude Journaling: A gratitude journal is a powerful tool to work that gratitude muscle out, and it trains your brain to be more grateful and optimistic naturally. 

Gratitude Meditation: Taking time to sit in a quiet place and focus on your breathing and all the good aspects of your life for even 5 minutes a day can transform your life in a matter of weeks. 

Express Gratitude Through Actions: Look people in the eye when you thank them and feel that “thank you” wholeheartedly. Write thank-you notes or a gratitude letter to someone who has impacted your life. Express your gratitude through actions and watch how that affects your life and everyone else’s life around you. 

Where focus goes, energy flows, but how does this create your reality? Your reality is your perception of your life and experiences. Gratitude lives in a spirit of abundance, while focusing on lack is a scarcity mindset. 

When you want to create abundance in your life, you have to harness the mentality of abundance, and the best way to do that is to have a gratitude practice. When you practice gratitude daily, you open up your ability to manifest anything. 

Manifest Anything

The word “want” often can come from a place of lack. You don’t have (fill in the blank), so you feel this void that becomes a gaping hole that needs to be filled. That hole becomes a black hole that can never be filled because it lives in a mindset of scarcity. 

The word “want” can also live in a spirit of abundance. In this case, it is more of a desire that is focused on something that you know is coming or that you are actively trying to abstain. 

Changing how you experience want and where your desire comes from is an essential part of manifestation. 

If you want to manifest new good things into your life, you need to focus on the good, so you can see opportunities and doorways that lead to the future you are working towards. 

Gratitude for what you have and who you have in your life is the foundation. It changes your scarcity mindset into one of abundance. This mental shift opens you up to the possibilities and your ability to manifest anything you desire. 

For guidance on cultivating gratitude and harnessing the ability to manifest anything, join me for a one-on-one meditation and unlock your potential. 

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