Gratitude Is Your Superpower

I am grateful for my journals. The ones I threw out, well to be correct, the ones I recycled. I still remember that moment quite clearly, which hilariously says a lot, since I don’t remember many moments with that much clarity. 

I took them all over to the other side of 16^th Avenue, where the recycling bins were and tossed them. I didn’t need them anymore, because every time I looked back at what I wrote, I just seemed to be saying the same things, over and over again. This was significant. Not what I was saying, but that I kept repeating the same things.

Now, today, as I reread the words from 16 years ago, in the one journal that I kept, I see the same patterns emerging again, that are evident in my writing now. These words, at each moment, were snapshots of that present moment. But what is different from those present moments, to this present moment, is now I have the knowledge that I am no longer capturing thoughts as they emerge, rather I am capable of projecting the thoughts that I want to record.

I didn’t know how, but I knew all those years ago, that I needed my journals to teach me something. As much as I suffered in the letting go of them, I have great clarity in this moment to know that the purpose of that pain is to be able to share this understanding with you, right now. 

As long as you are journaling about what you have experienced, how it made you feel and what the purpose of that may or may not have been, you will continue to experience and feel those same feelings again and again. Your life will continue to repeat.

Step away from the repetition and instead, keep a gratitude journal. I know it has been said a hundred times before by fifty different people, but hopefully my old journals can teach you, that now, what you write will continue to come to you. 

If you write about what you are grateful for, you will have more to be grateful for and when you write about these new gratitude’s, there again will be more to be grateful for, creating a gratitude loop or circuit.

And why would you what to feel grateful? Well there is actually a science to it.

In the book The Upward Spiral by Alex Korb, "Korb advocates getting adequate rest, exercising, and developing positive habits. Most of his advice seems straightforward, but what surprised me was his emphasis on gratitude. Research suggests that opening a so-called gratitude circuit can have great positive effects on our brain. It not only decreases symptoms of depression, but also improves physical health, improves sleep, and boosts serotonin. Gratitude also plays a role in the production of dopamine, Korb explains, the neurotransmitter that increases enjoyment. And so, by activating our gratitude circuit, it’s easier for us to feel positive emotions."

So by seeking things to be grateful for, we stimulate dopamine production. We are also encouraging ourselves to look at the positive aspects of our lives, which in turn increases serotonin production. There are actual physical and chemical reactions happening in our bodies when we shift our thinking. This chemical process in turn helps counteract anxiety and depression. It makes us feel good. Gratitude is your superpower.

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