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Neuroscientists find that the medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex are involved in the self perception of one's life path, positive growth, motivation and emotional intelligence—the innate tools necessary to live a thriving and abundant life. fMRI studies show that when people express internal gratitude, bioelectric activation occurs in these same areas. Like an on off switch, gratitude connects with the brain's reward center and creates a feeling of peace, putting us in a state of mind that allows for better assessment and calm response even while under pressure.
Gratitude affects the brain's default mode network (DMN), which is involved in self identity, morality, and social relationships. With gratitude, the DMN becomes a more focused picture, allowing one to see more connections and opportunities as they occur in real time. Gratitude also improves heart rate variability, giving more control over the parasympathetic nervous system, permitting better impulse control and thereby leading to better decisions. It cultivates better sleep quality and lower inflammation.
Gratitude not only feels good, it brings good things. No matter if you think it's merely perception or coincidence or if you think it's luck, karma or grace, whatever you want to call it, there is a predictable cause and effect when you practice gratitude. Your life inexplicably changes for the best. This is a law of nature that has been written about in most religious and esoteric traditions. In the Torah, Psalms 50:23 says, “a sacrifice of thanksgiving, honor me and show me the way to salvation.” In the New Testament, Philippians 4:6–7 says, “with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Perhaps the most direct version is found in the Quran’s 14:7: “If you are grateful, I will give you more. If you are ungrateful, punishment is severe.” In Hinduism's Bhagavad Gita, if one offers with devotion, I will accept with love.
In Bhakti, gratitude and devotion evoke grace. In Buddhism, gratitude is a foundational practice that cultivates mindfulness and compassion and leads to blessings in your personal life. In Sikhism, daily gratitude is said to lift the spirit and bring about auspicious outcomes. Sufism teaches that gratitude attracts increased blessing. Yoga teaches that gratitude is a clear, luminous state of mind that draws grace and auspicious coincidence towards the practitioner. The Tao Te Ching’s 33 says that contentment brings wealth, and in hermetic traditions, the principles of correspondence and vibration teach that a grateful state has a resonance that attracts more experiences to be grateful for. Gratitude greatly increases opportunity, protection, guidance, harmony with others, self sufficiency, and overall peace. This is true whether you believe it’s neuroscience or a resonant response to vibrations.
According to research, the most common and effective practices are gratitude journaling (listing just a few things two to three times per week) and practicing a form of gratitude meditation, of which there are many.