The Power of Gratitude: How Expressing Thanks Can Transform Your Life

And those around you

Photo by Prakasit Khuansuwan from Vecteezy

Paying it forward can create a ripple effect of positive energy. At the very least, it can make a big difference to the person you are generous to that day.

These random acts of kindness profoundly impact the recipients and uplift the givers themselves. My best-performing tweet and LinkedIn post related to generosity and compassion for others. But why do these resonate so much with people?

The answer is simple. It impacts your body physiologically AND emotionally.

Benefits

Experiencing gratitude from the thoughtfulness of others releases neurotransmitters associated with well-being. These natural chemicals can affect moods similarly to antidepressant medications.

Doing something kind for another person also triggers these same neurochemical changes that reward you and your brain. The satisfaction and joy of helping another feels fantastic. This programs you to desire repeating the experience again and again and again.

These powerful and positive emotions related to benevolent acts, whether giving or receiving, encourage people to develop rewarding and meaningful relationships with one another.

I had two experiences recently where I felt tremendous thankfulness.

I opened my Twitter feed one day to find a tweet from someone with over 5,000 followers encouraging them to connect with me. I was speechless and incredibly grateful because it was such a generous act of kindness. I got a bump in my Twitter following from it, too. Please feel free to follow me.

The next day, I opened up my Medium app to find the following message from someone I didn’t know who had read an article I had just published:

“Your writing skills are impressive! How you weave together storytelling, emotions, and descriptions is commendable.”

It provided validation and took my breath away, especially given how new I am to writing on Medium. But I keep publishing, and comments like this keep me inspired.

Both scenarios brightened my day, providing unexpected joy. I reached out with appreciation to them in tweets and comments. I also wrote a LinkedIn post which turned into this article. I felt positive emotions and wanted to pay it forward by sharing. That’s the beauty of gratitude. It keeps giving for days, weeks, months, and even years.

An 85-year study done by Harvard found that positive relationships were crucial to living longer, happier lives. Being grateful allows you to appreciate what you have and not dwell on what you don’t. It encourages you to maintain positive thinking, essential for a healthy mindset and long-term physical health.

Neurophysiological Changes

Gratitude leads to a surge in dopamine production that makes you feel happy and content, reinforcing the need for more. Scientific research shows a strong connection between counting your blessings and increased activity in areas of the brain associated with empathy, social cognition, and emotional processing.

Whenever you get a like or comment on social media, it gives you a high. But the more you get, the more you want. You need to train yourself to receive those “dopamine hits” from positive sources like being thankful. Endless scrolling on your phone for the wrong kind of reinforcement can leave you disappointed and unfulfilled in the long run.

Over time, changes in the brain’s neural connections occur and become more permanent (source). But they remain malleable and can be rewired if someone chooses to do so. This means you can condition yourself to change behavior by pairing it with specific activities to release those addictive chemicals that feel so enjoyable to us. It takes time, but with persistence, new behaviors become normal while old ones become less relevant.

For example, rather than binge-watching Netflix, you can learn to get your fix by finishing writing projects each day or some other equally meaningful activity. As a former Netflix binging addict, I assure you that you can retrain yourself to get those highs from more productive activities.

Feeling thankful is key to attaching positive emotions to the new action and outcome.

Reducing cortisol levels is another reason to give thanks. This hormone is secreted in response to stress, leaving you vulnerable to illness and other conditions like anxiety, headaches, or heart disease. Lower cortisol levels improve immune function and better sleep quality. Acknowledging the good in your life can lower cortisol levels by 23% (source).

So the next time cold and flu season rolls around, give extra doses of appreciation to increase your immune system.

Practice

A gratitude journal allows you to dedicate a few minutes daily to jotting down what you’re thankful for. It could be as simple as three to five things that brought joy, comfort, or positivity into your day. Putting them into words reinforces these positive aspects and strengthens neural connections. You could also frame it as three to five small wins for the day.

Thinking about what you are grateful for before bed lets you fall asleep with positive thoughts and energy. Your subconscious processes those affirming emotions as you sleep. This helps set you up for a favorable and impactful morning when you wake up.

Make it a priority to express sincere appreciation for those in your life. Showing gratitude with kind messages or genuine compliments uplifts those around you and strengthens the relationship. It’s about engaging with the people in your life and making them feel seen and heard.

When you find yourself caught up in stress and negativity, engage in mindfulness. Take a moment, breathe deeply, and redirect your thoughts toward what you are thankful for, no matter how insignificant.

This powerful practice allows you to reframe your perspective and embrace a positive outlook while giving you a naturally addictive high.

The next time you feel compelled to reach for your phone, dial someone’s number and tell them how much you appreciate them.