Episode 24: Growth and Gratitude — How Practicing Thankfulness Accelerates Change

In this episode we uncover how practicing thankfulness shifts your perspective, builds resilience, and creates lasting change. We explore the powerful connection between gratitude and growth—how a thankful heart can transform your perspective, fuel resilience, and create momentum for lasting change.

#Gratitude #PersonalGrowth #FaithInAction #ChangeChasersPodcast

Faith in Action // Change in Motion

Transcript

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Well, hey, change chasers. Welcome back to the podcast where we dive deep into everything personal growth. Mindset shifts and how to chase change with purpose. I'm Mandy, and today we're unpacking a powerful yet simple tool that can dramatically accelerate your transformation journey. Y'all ready? Gimme a drum roll, da da da da, da. Y'all we're talking about gratitude, so whether you're chasing big dreams or just trying to be your best self every day, gratitude is a secret weapon that's been scientifically proven to rewire your brain. And spiritually fuel your growth. So with that said, y'all, let's dig in and discover how practicing thankfulness and gratitude can literally speed up your personal evolution. So here we go. Let's evolve and grow as we go. Y'all ready? Hot. Take number one. What is gratitude? Gratitude is more than just saying thank you. I believe that gratitude is a mindset. It's a way of focusing your attention on the good, the gifts, and the lessons in your life. It's a deliberate practice of recognizing the positive aspects, even in the toughest of times. Spiritually. Many traditions see gratitude as a doorway to joy and peace. When you think about, and you're thankful for all that you have, then you open yourself up to receive even more hot. Take number two, the science behind gratitude. Y'all. Here's what researchers say. They say that gratitude activates the brain's reward system, releasing feel good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. These neural transmitters boost your mood and create a positive feedback loop. A landmark study from Dr. Robert Emmans, a leading gratitude researcher, showed that people who kept a gratitude journal writing down things that they were thankful for daily. Reported greater optimism, better sleep, and fewer symptoms of depression. So why does this matter for growth or maybe even for your own personal growth? Well, I think it's because when you feel good, y'all, your brain is more open to learning. I know mine is right? If I'm in a, a really positive mindset than. My growing as I'm going mentality is a whole lot easier in those times than if I'm in what I call sloth mode, right? Like, oh my goodness, I gotta, whereas if I try to talk myself up and say, no, I get to do this instead of a, I got to do this type mentality, right? So when we stop and think about how this can help our brain to be able to be more open to learning, to be able to be more creative, and to even attach to more resilience, I believe that gratitude literally prepares your mind to embrace change rather than to resist it hot. Take number three, how gratitude accelerates change. Number one, y'all. It shifts your focus from a scarcity mindset to abundance. When you focus on what you lack, then y'all, you stay stuck. One of my favorite expressions I'll say is that, Ugh, I'll stay stuck in the muck of the middle of my mess, because if I'm focusing on what I lack, then I do, I feel like I'm just stuck. Right. But here's the goodness of gratitude, y'all. Gratitude flips the script. It trains your mind to notice the resources and the opportunities already present in your life, helping you to build momentum toward change. Number two, it builds resistance. Thankfulness helps you to see challenges as temporary and manageable. Maybe setbacks, maybe learning opportunities, right? Don't let a speed bump be a roadblock type mentality, y'all. You develop a mindset that bounces back faster from setbacks when you practice gratitude. Number three, it improves relationships. Gratitude encourages kindness and connection, which provide the strength and the support system. For vital and sustainable growth. So sign me up, right? I love some sustainability in my life. Number four, it also encourages mindfulness. Gratitude pulls you into the present moment, helping your personal self, your mind to be in the middle of the moment, so much so that you are able to savor the progress instead of worrying about the future. So hot. Take number four. Practical ways to practice gratitude Daily. So if you're maybe going, okay, hit me with it. How do we get started? Well, just thinking about some simple habits that we can try to incorporate naturally in a natural rhythm and flow in our lives, right? That we can try to build out. And so thinking about, the easiest thing I think we can do is, is create that gratitude journal. We've referenced this before in other episodes, and so just thinking about writing down. Three things that you're grateful for every morning or before you go to bed. Be specific instead of, I'm grateful for my family. Maybe you can say, I'm grateful for my sister who called me today. I mean, whatever it is. Or maybe even wanna start a note on your phone because you're like, Hmm, yeah, I don't want another journal. I'm not gonna do that. So. You know, I'm not, I'm not all about that life, right? Well then start a gratitude journal in a note in your phone and just add to it throughout the day maybe, or make a point to at least add one thing a day. And then also thinking about gratitude meditation. Maybe spend two to three minutes focusing on what you appreciate in your life, and then allowing yourself to connect with, how does that make you feel? You get the dopamine and the serotonin hits that way. Whenever you slow your roll and you just reflect on a few minutes of your day and like, wow, I am so thankful for this person. I'm so thankful for this great thing that happened today. Right? I mean, it could be anything, but just allow yourself to live in the middle of the moment a bit more so that you can have an attitude of gratitude. Also, I think that gratitude reminders are really great. So maybe you might wanna set an alarm on your phone or maybe put a sticky note somewhere in a space that you'll be able to see it, to where it will prompt you to just have a moment to be intentional of thinking about what you are grateful for, right? Then, wherever you're going to be to see that. Right. And so just the encouragement of helping yourself to know how to be intentional about. Just basking in some gratitude reminders, and then also perhaps in ideas that you can reframe challenges. So when a problem arises, ask, okay, what can I be thankful for in this situation? And look for some hidden lessons that growing as we're going mentality, as a change chaser, right? And so just giving you some things to think about to what maybe you can put into practice and pull out of that, whatever you like, and whatever you think that. You could clinging onto for some personal sustainable growth. And then I will be excited to be cheering you on as well as myself.'cause I just, I want to have an attitude of gratitude every single day that ends in y y'all and yes, every day. And English at least ends in y, right? And so, thinking about now, pushing ahead to our C3 time, our Change Chasers challenge for this episode. I wanna just kind of say that, you know, as change chasers, I think that we all understand that gratitude isn't just a feel-good emotion, y'all. It's a growth accelerator. The more that you practice thankfulness, the more your brain and your heart and even your spirit aligned to create lasting change. Isn't that exciting? I mean, that gets me pretty stinking fired up when I stop and I think about. All of those things, just being on a united front for my good praise, be to the Lord above for that, that we can practice thankfulness. So then that way we can create even more lasting change. And so with that said, I want to just encourage you that this week, try adding one gratitude habit into your daily routine, and then notice how it shifts your energy and your perspective. Sweet friends, I wanna encourage you to remember that change starts with a thankful heart. Thanks so much for listening again today. I do sincerely hope that together y'all, we can continue to practice thankfulness, shift our perspective, build resilience, and create lasting change. May we have those awesome attitudes of gratitude, right? No doubt. Doing so will help us to experience the powerful connection between growth and gratitude. And with that said, sweet friends, let's keep chasing change. And y'all, let's keep living with purpose. Goodbye sweet friends.