The Healing Power of Gratitude to Change the Brain

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2020

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Thanks BetterHelp for sponsoring the video: BetterHelp- Professional, Affordable Online Counseling starting at around $65 a week https://www.betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell Gratitude helps with anxiety by interrupting the cycle of constantly scanning for dangers. When we are in fear or scarcity mode, our brain turns on the FFF response, but when we think of gratitude, research shows that the hippocampus and amygdala are activated, these parts of the brain aid in emotion regulation and can help turn on that feeling of safety, contentment, and calm. That feeling of abundance. Basically gratitude practice is a way to regulate the autonomic nervous system, gratitude can turn on that parasympathetic response and reduce stress hormones like cortisol. When we regulate the nervous system, that has a big impact on reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Learn more in one of my in-depth mental-health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=11262020 Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapynutshell.com Check out my favorite books for mental health: https://www.therapynutshell.com/post/my-favorite-self-help-books Music licensed from www.Bensound.com or Artlist.io Images from Freepik.com (premium license), Pixabay, or Wikimedia commons Therapy in a Nutshell, and the information provided by Emma McAdam, is solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and is not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. If you are in crisis please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ or 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	I recently heard an interesting study that examined the lives of two groups of people,
0:05.0	those who had won the lottery and those who had become paralyzed.
0:09.0	Now, you might assume that the group of people who broke their backs would be less happy than the group of instant millionaires.
0:16.0	But that's not what the study showed.
0:18.0	One year after their supposed life-changing event, both groups
0:22.1	express the same levels of happiness. We often assume that our happiness or misery is directly
0:28.5	connected to the things outside of us, our job, the people around us, the things we have or don't
0:34.7	have. But that's simply not true. Abundance does not come from things.
0:40.3	Abundance comes from a mindset. Feeling rich or poor has very little to do with what we actually have,
0:48.3	but rather from how we think about what we have. Fortunately, we could counteract the scarcity mindset by developing an abundance mindset through
0:58.2	simple practice, gratitude.
1:07.3	Even as I wrote this video, I felt a little bit of doubt about what I was saying, because I live in relative ease compared to the lives of many.
1:15.4	I have food, I have health, I have a home, I have a family, and I can't tell you that I would find happiness even in a concentration camp.
1:25.7	But I can tell you the story of someone who has. Cori Ten Boom was a Dutch
1:31.9	watchmaker and one of my heroes. She and her family hid Jews during the Holocaust, but eventually
1:38.5	they were caught and her family was arrested and sent to prison. And this led to the death of her
1:43.2	father. In her book, The Hiding Place, she tells the incredible story of being transferred to Ravensbrook.
1:50.0	This is an infamous death camp in Germany.
1:53.0	And as they walked into their barracks, where they slept on filthy straw, crammed onto wooden planks with hundreds of other prisoners, they discovered that the place was crawling with fleas.
2:04.6	Now, I personally haven't lived with fleas,
2:08.6	so I had to look up what these are like, but they're basically like mosquitoes that live in your bed.
2:13.6	These are tiny biting insects that chewed on them day and night. Corey's sister
	...

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