Hey!

Welcome back to your daily mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going to

talk about gratitude and why it's one

of my favorite hacks for happiness.

But I have to be honest, gratitude is

not something that comes easily to me.

Despite being a mindfulness teacher, my

brain has always been more wired to focus

on the future to get excited about goals

and all the things I'm working toward.

It's very common for me to reach

a big accomplishment and then

quickly start thinking about the

next thing I'm working toward.

Although this future thinking is

accompanied with the sense of enthusiasm

for the things I'm working toward,

it often does prevent me from fully

appreciating my life as it's happening,

and creating this subtle sense of like,

'once I get that, then I'll be fulfilled'.

So one of the things I love about

connecting to gratitude, even if

only for a few moments, is that it

immediately takes me from a mind

state of lack to one of abundance.

And I'm wondering if you

can feel that yourself.

You know, when you're truly connected

to and embodying a moment of gratitude,

you're not thinking about what you

don't have and what's not going well,

and all the things you need to fix.

Instead, you're consumed with

what is good in your life.

Feeling the fullness of that.

Even if it's something small,

like a good meal or your breath.

And gratitude isn't just a

nice idea or something that our

grandmother might tell us to do.

There's a lot of research to

support the benefits of it.

The latest Science shows that

developing more gratitude strengthens

our immune system, it lowers our blood

pressure, improves sleep, makes us

more forgiving, and reduces loneliness.

And, although a lot of people fear that

if they become grateful, they'll become

more complacent, the research by Dr.

Robert Emmons shows us that

it's actually the opposite.

That gratitude actually fills us

with energy, and it drives a sense

of purpose and desire to do more.

For all of these reasons, I do believe

gratitude is one of the low hanging

fruits for living a fulfilling life.

And in today's meditation, we're

going to do a practice that trains

our brain to experience this

fulfillment on a more regular basis.

So, as always thank you for your

practice, and I'll talk to you shortly.

Until then, take care.