Gratitude for Your Body & Brain By Sherry Slejska Gratitude; a feeling of appreciation and one which good parents are quick to teach their children at a young age. While it might be the culturally appropriate auto reply we use to follow a welcomed exchange, it’s far deeper than a simple exchange. Gratitude is an acknowledgment of the good in one’s life. When we immerse ourselves in experiencing gratitude as opposed to a surface level expression, the experience can transform you. According to; Dr. Robert A. Ammons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, experts on the subject matter of gratitude; individuals who consistently write about things they are thankful for, were more optimistic and felt better. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” – Proverb Optimism is a character trait that proclaims, “something good is going to happen”. It’s the product of positive emotions such as gratitude. Your emotions influence your sense of gratitude and gratitude influences your emotions. Combined they have the power to transform your body’s chemical and neurological existence: subsequently, the creation of dopamine and serotonin are increased, amplifying and prolonging a sense of wellness, mentally and physically – a cycle of positiveness continues. Initially, your efforts might need to be intentional as you mindfully incorporate a period of gratitude into your daily activities but over time your efforts are rewarded with a new default. Through regularly practicing gratitude, we can actually change our neural pathways in our brains. Over time, your former default setting, which may have been self-defeating negative thoughts become the less desired path for your brain to use. This can reduce anxiety and depression and produce a sustainable and more resilient new version of your mind The effect of gratitude on the brain is long-lasting (Moll, Zahn, et al. 2007). Gratitude helps release negative emotions; gratitude can reduce emotional and physical pain. In the Counting Blessings vs Burdens (2003), a study on the effect of gratitude on the body, 16% of people who kept a gratitude journal reported a reduction in physical pain. Gratitude can improve emotional resilience by helping us to notice the positive things in life. When this occurs negative ruminations are exchanged for optimism. To seek reasons to be grateful, even when things are tough, helps us accept the past and present so we are better able to take on the future with a clear mind. Here are a few ways you can get started: Keep a daily gratitude journal. Give yourself and others compliments as an expression of appreciation. Reach out to someone who you feel grateful for and express that gratitude to them or send them an email or text. Write a post it note of things you are grateful for and leave them around your house to see. Meditate and pray about that which you are grateful for. Select a time each day and set a reminder to look around and choose three things you are grateful for. Create gratitude lists. Look at any item and describe it to yourself with a sense of appreciation and wonder. Eventually, progress to find something to be grateful for in every good and difficult circumstance. Now, you’re starting to build resilience through gratitude! So gratitude is truly backed with goodness for the body and mind; let’s not neglect relationships. A healthy human experience requires supportive relationships. People who express and live in gratitude are enjoyable to be around – that’s reason enough to be grateful!
7 Ways To Improve Distress Tolerance
7 Ways To Improve Distress Tolerance The ability to manage one’s emotional state in response to stress-inducing factors is what is called distress tolerance. Some people can encounter incredibly stressful situations and remain calm and composed; taking a logical approach to manage a situation and then move beyond the situation and resume where they left off before the intrusion. This is a wonderful character trait that is part of genetics, how they were raised, their present circumstance, and good mental health conditioning. Trauma survivors, individuals with PTSD, CPTSD, and borderline personality disorder can be more sensitive to stressors in their life, especially when they can not predict them. For me, it tends to be when I perceive that I have disappointed someone and so my danger system kicks in; I get a jolt of adrenaline, and my fight, flight, faun response takes over. It’s most common for me to want to flee the situation. I do this in two ways; physically and mentally. I want to leave the situation, person, space, and be alone and I can, at times completely blackout for a few moments. To someone who doesn’t live with the impact of developmental trauma like I do, this can seem like an extreme response, but to those who fight a mental health battle every day, this is intrusive and impacts our ability to function in our everyday lives. There are some tried and true approaches to improving the management of these responses which even the healthiest person can benefit from and here are 7 of my favorite. Time-Outs Remember when you were a child and you were given a time-out to compose yourself, well, we never outgrew out of that need, and yet we often do not take the restorative break. After all, we somehow think we always have too much to do. Even a few minutes of quiet in the midst of a hectic day can reset your system enough to improve your ability to emotionally manage the next challenge that comes your way. I now take breaks, even when I don’t think I need them. I plan dates out and fun activities so I have something to look forward to and when I know my nervous system has just been activated, I find a reason to take a break and go for a walk, sit still and meditate, pray or do anything which nurtures me and gives me space from my day or the provoking situation. Consider setting an appointment on your calendar with a personal reminder to take a break every few hours. Focus on Your Personal Values Every organization takes time to establish the values they wish to base their decisions on. It’s quite powerful for you to do the same. Write your values down and put them somewhere that you can see them every day; this will help you stay focused on what matters most to you. The other thing to keep in mind is that what you value may not be what someone else values; thus allowing you to be you and others to be who they are. Finally, try to act on these values, at least supporting one each day. Start today by writing out 3 things that you feel should steer your value-based decisions and place and place them on your fridge. Practice Safe-Place Visualization This is a form of meditation and is very easy to do and not very time consuming but can improve your ability to tolerate stress in a powerful way; Relax and be mindfully aware of your breathing Engage your imagination by thinking about a safe place – it can be real or imaginary. Use your imagination and build a scene in your mind of what you see, hear, and maybe what you might be able to touch. Make it as peaceful and calm as possible. Stay there for 5 minutes. This can be done pretty much anywhere, is not intrusive to anyone else, and can improve your stress tolerance and even improve your overall mental performance. I like to use my scheduled break times (as above). Relax Using Soothing Sounds Calming music and sounds from nature, such as a babbling brook or birds chirping have been proven to calm the nervous system. Scientists now know that our body responds to calm music and sounds in a variety of ways; hormones are released to induce a sense of well being, your heart rate and blood pressure drop, muscle tension eases, breathing can become slower. My go-to is a little smooth jazz but to each their own.1 But when music is unavailable I seem to always find a bird this time of year to listen to. Distract Your Thoughts I remember when my daughter was young and I needed to take her for her vaccine. The best way to get through the distressing situation for her and I was to find a distraction. We would talk about something unrelated to the needle she was about to get; point out stuff in the room, count to 3, or play imagination games – you get the idea. so next time your mind goes to the negative side or becomes anxious, intentionally distract yourself. Do Something Pleasurable It sounds easy; live a little, enjoy life, have some fun! Today I challenge you to make a list of activities you enjoy, once enjoyed, or would like to try. By committing to do something pleasurable every day you boost feel-good chemicals in your body such as dopamine and serotonin. Now take out your calendar and actually schedule these activities in. Enjoy! Oh, that’s the idea. Scents Make Sense Oh, you have to forgive my play on words – I can get carried away. Face it, good smells make you feel good and pungent smells can make you want to vomit. In a world where most public places have a scent-free policy, I sneak it. I keep my favorite hand lotion in my purse