If you are reading this blog, you are probably already pursuing healing in some form, and have no doubt been told to "cultivate gratitude" as a way to assist your healing efforts--for example, starting (or ending) each day by calling to mind all the things for which you are grateful, writing these things down in a gratitude journal, or simply stopping whenever you think of it and noticing what you're grateful for in that moment.
These practices may seem too simple, even trite. But they are powerful--and here's why:
If you have experienced trauma, you likely survived by being hyper-vigilant--always on alert for the next thing that might cause you pain, so that you could avoid it, or at least manage it. Looking for the positive dimensions of our day, and our lives, shifts the pathways in our brains. Neuroscience tells us that our brain will show us more of whatever we focus on. The more we consciously appreciate, the more our brain will focus on finding things to appreciate.
Practicing gratitude won't erase trauma, or dramatically change our lives overnight, but over time, it will rewire our neuropathways and improve our sense of wellbeing. Reason enough to give it a shot.
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