INTENTIONALLY REWIRING OUR BRAINS

 INTENTIONALLY REWIRING OUR BRAINS

What if I told you that there is research out there that can help all of us rewire our brains for more positivity. If we dwell on the world events happening, it can be so much negativity coming at us. I think that we all would say with certainty that we would like to rewire our brains to focus more on the positive. Research has proven that by following a few little tools that help us intentionally rewire our body to fight back with gratitude will help us to regain control of our minds and how we feel in our day to day life. 

Reading the book Let Them by Mel Robbins and listening to her podcasts has really helped me see the world in a different perspective. This blog is based on one of her podcasts. After hearing it with the research from Dr. A. Crum of Stanford, I began to practice using some of the ideas. Was I surprised? It worked. Even when I became ill, I was able to use one of the tools to set my own intentional gratitude. 

It is a matter of using the gratitude tools. With that being said, let me add that the word 'gratitude' can be an overused term. I am not saying to put on a happy smile and ignore what is going on in this world. That just is not possible.

The awesome deal here is that we all get to choose which or all of these tools to help us rewire our brains toward gratitudes. It is a method of cognitive retraining to help us notice the positive instead of the negative. 

There have been research studies that show our human brain loves danger. It is always on high alert so we see much more of the negative side of the world. A beginning step that is really very easy and is not time consuming in our busy worlds is called THE UNSENT LETTER. It involves writing a quick letter to someone you are grateful for. Someone who has done something for you - something specific. And you don't even need to send it. You can if you wish, however, it is for those of us who write it. It is important to be specific in what they did. We don't always notice all the good things so take time to "think" what, why and how they did it.

Actually, sitting down and writing it makes it feel much more intentional. It is really about you so you do not need to send it. Perhaps you want to and that is all fine and good. It can be on paper or in a text. Whatever works for you. This habit only needs to be done once a week. 

There is another tool that I read about to help us find intentional gratitude that requires no more than 2-3 minutes a night. It helps us to turn off our brains and gives us a moment of reflection. Keep a small memo pad and pencil by your bed. Write 3 small things from the day that you were grateful for. These can be things such as you lucked out on a great parking spot at the grocery, someone told you a funny story, or you ran into an old friend at a coffee shop. 

It is never reflecting on what went wrong, but rather about what went right. This actually has been proven to not only change your mind but also your body. After 8 weeks of doing this simple 3-minute writing gave the participants in the study better sleep. They had higher HRV rates. This is what manages our stress and well-being by monitoring it while we sleep. If it is monitored during sleep external factors don't impact the measurement. It is the measure of the different time durations between each heart beat.  High HRV is good. It means good recovery, high energy, and enhanced cognitive performance which equals a balance of heart and mind. Obviously, a low HRV rate does the exact opposite. Several things can affect our HRV rates which include stress, medications and exercise. This can lead to the risk of heart disease.

Another simple 'yummy' tool to work on intentional gratitude is to settle into gratitude before you even get out of bed each morning. Just lay there there in your soft, cuddly bedding just luxuriating on your comfy pillow for a moment while you imagine just how good your tea or coffee will be when you slowly get up out of bed. Then take a moment to enjoy that cup. 

The last tool mentioned to work on intentional gratitude is when the researchers divided people into 3 groups. One-third was the gratitude group, another group was the kindness group and the last group was the 'control' group. 

The Gratitude group wrote daily something specific they were grateful for in a journal.

The Kindness group did something kind for someone such as buy someone a coffee or open a door and wrote that down in a journal

The Control group wrote about general daily stuff.

The results started showing up after 2 weeks. The Gratitude group had worked on training their brains to reset. The Kindness group showed some improvement. But The Control group showed nothing changed or improved. Even when the groups stopped using this tool, The Gratitude groups brains were still reset to focus on intentional gratitude.

A little gratitude goes a long way. Even in a text to say, "Congratulations," to a workmate.

POSITIVITY GOES A LONG WAY!