“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you.”

– Brian Tracy

Gratitude seems the perfect topic for my first post, as I sit here feeling so incredibly grateful to my son Lukas for getting this whole blog thing set up for me.  It’s been an amazing experience to sit and watch my own child do something that I have absolutely no idea how to do.  It’s strange to feel so completely surpassed – it feels like it was only yesterday that I was teaching him everything – to tie his shoes, to read, to ride a bike – and now I sit watching mesmerized  as he presses random keys and creates this technological beauty . . . Ah but I digress, back to gratitude, I used to think an attitude of gratitude was a good way to feel a bit better when I felt a bit sad.  But more recently, as I’ve been studying Positive Psychology, I’ve learned that cultivating gratitude can actually Rewire your Brain!  According to recent studies in Neuroplasticity, Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D states that an “intentional program toward paying attention to what you are grateful for in life, with a practice every night or every morning for only a minute or so, will begin the rewiring process.”

In a recent article on CNN.com psychologist Shawn Achor from Harvard University describes his program The Happiness Advantage:  “I challenge readers to do one brief positive exercise every day for 21 days. Only through behavioral change can information become transformation.”  And at the top of Achor’s list is cultivating gratitude: (Write down three new things you are grateful for each day)

(http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/19/opinion/happiness-success-achor/index.html)

In this wonderful YouTube clip, Achor speaks on “Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Potential.”

Shawn Achor – The Science of Happiness and Potential

I hope you enjoy the article and the YouTube clip.  Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of the information Achor shares.  Or if you like, tell me how you cultivate your own attitude of gratitude.

Thanks!