Expressing Gratitude is Good For Your Mental Health

Neuroscience has confirmed what ancient wisdom has long taught, gratitude doesn’t just change how you feel; it changes how your brain works. Every time you express genuine appreciation, the brain physically rewires itself, strengthening neural pathways linked to happiness, empathy, and emotional balance.

Researchers using brain imaging found that people who regularly practiced gratitude showed higher activity in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, regions responsible for emotional regulation and decision-making. These areas lit up even when participants merely thought about gratitude, proving that the act of appreciation alone reshapes brain chemistry.

Over time, expressing gratitude triggers the release of dopamine and serotonin, the brain’s natural mood boosters, while lowering stress hormones like cortisol. This consistent rewiring helps replace negative thought patterns with optimism and resilience. In other words, the more you thank, the more your brain learns to look for reasons to stay positive.

Gratitude also improves relationships and physical health. Studies show it strengthens immunity, enhances sleep quality, and promotes overall life satisfaction. It’s not about denying pain, it’s about training the mind to focus on what uplifts, heals, and connects.

True strength doesn’t come from avoiding struggle; it comes from finding grace within it. Gratitude is more than an emotion, it’s a practice that rewrites the story your brain tells about your life, one thankful thought at a time. View this video on expressing your gratitude daily.

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Meanwhile, here's my personal reflection on:

Rewiring the Brain with Gratitude: A Personal Reflection on Finding Light in the Everyday

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the quiet power of gratitude. Not the performative kind where we list three things we’re thankful for and move on, but the kind that seeps into the bones that reshapes how we see the world and how we meet each day.

Science now tells us something I think many of us have felt deep down: expressing gratitude doesn’t just make us feel good in the moment, it literally rewires the brain. It strengthens the pathways associated with positivity and emotional resilience. In a way, every “thank you,” every pause to notice the beauty in the ordinary, becomes an act of healing.

I remember a time when gratitude felt far away. During some of my darker moments, when anxiety or sadness took center stage, the idea of “being grateful” felt hollow, almost impossible. How could I give thanks when all I could see were the things falling apart? But slowly, as I began practicing mindfulness and journaling, something shifted.

It started small. Some mornings, I’d simply write:

• I’m grateful for my coffee being warm and Batman and Robin waking me up.

• I’m grateful for the quiet before the day begins, before bridge or mahjong.

• I’m grateful for the people who check in, even when I don’t have the words to answer or readers of my blogs telling me they enjoy my blogs

  When I read that studies have shown gratitude can reshape neural connections and strengthening regions in the brain linked to happiness and emotional regulation, it resonated deeply. It’s comforting to know that something as gentle as appreciation can create measurable change inside us. Gratitude, then, isn’t about denying our pain or pretending everything’s fine. It’s about cultivating the space to hold both the joy and the ache and to train the mind to see light even when shadows stretch long.

What I love most about this practice is its simplicity. Gratitude doesn’t ask us to fix anything; it invites us to see. To look again. To breathe into the small, often overlooked moments that make life quietly beautiful.

Maybe that’s the real miracle of gratitude, not that it changes the world around us, but that it changes how we move through it.

So today, I’m grateful for this moment for the chance to write, reflect, and remember that healing isn’t always a grand transformation. Sometimes, it’s a series of small, mindful thank you's that slowly rewire the heart and mind toward hope.

My Favorite Quotes on Gratitude for Today:

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie

 

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

William Arthur Ward

 

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” Marcus Aurelius

Lastly, My Reel of the Day:

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