Here’s something that sounds almost too simple to matter.
Pay attention to what’s good in your life.
Gratitude has become one of those words that gets thrown around so much it can sound a little fluffy.
But there’s actually some interesting research behind it.
Studies suggest that deliberately practicing gratitude can affect brain activity associated with things like emotion, attention, reward and how we respond to the world around us.
In other words, what you repeatedly pay attention to may influence what your brain gets better at noticing.
That makes sense to me.
Think about what happens when something irritates you first thing in the morning.
Somebody cuts you off in traffic.
Then the coffee isn’t right.
Then you can’t find your keys.
Pretty soon you’re noticing every idiot and inconvenience within a five-mile radius. 😄
Did the world suddenly become worse?
Probably not.
You got really good at looking for what was wrong with it.
I think we can practice the opposite.
Not by pretending everything is…
