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“What we focus on grows”
It’s not just a new-age saying - it is how our brains actually work. Ever bought a blue car, then suddenly began noticing all sorts of blue cars on the road? Obviously a whole bunch of blue cars didn’t suddenly come out of storage and hit the road, nor are you somehow now a magnet for blue cars that were previously repelled by you. What has changed is your brain has registered “blue car” as significant or important (hopefully to help you locate it in the parking lot!), and where your brain previously filtered out “blue car” as non-essential information it is now scanning for it - amongst the other 20,000,000 bits of data your nervous system and subconscious mind is processing per second.
You can imagine with that amount of data there would have to be a filter, or our conscious mind would be completely overwhelmed. We are still physically set up largely for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, where looking out for bad stuff, like sabre-tooth tigers was of utmost importance.
Our current life circumstances no longer require this level of watchfulness towards survival.
The good news: we can now use this computing power to notice and ‘filter in’ all the good things that happen in our lives daily. The health benefits of developing a gratitude practice are numerous. We have agency over our brains conditioning and can make positive changes with the will and intent. Developing habits of gratitude can change our outlook, and therefore our approach to everything. Here are some perspectives, resources and activities to help you do that.
“What we focus on grows”
It’s not just a new-age saying - it is how our brains actually work. Ever bought a blue car, then suddenly began noticing all sorts of blue cars on the road? Obviously a whole bunch of blue cars didn’t suddenly come out of storage and hit the road, nor are you somehow now a magnet for blue cars that were previously repelled by you. What has changed is your brain has registered “blue car” as significant or important (hopefully to help you locate it in the parking lot!), and where your brain previously filtered out “blue car” as non-essential information it is now scanning for it - amongst the other 20,000,000 bits of data your nervous system and subconscious mind is processing per second.
You can imagine with that amount of data there would have to be a filter, or our conscious mind would be completely overwhelmed. We are still physically set up largely for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, where looking out for bad stuff, like sabre-tooth tigers was of utmost importance.
Our current life circumstances no longer require this level of watchfulness towards survival.
The good news: we can now use this computing power to notice and ‘filter in’ all the good things that happen in our lives daily. The health benefits of developing a gratitude practice are numerous. We have agency over our brains conditioning and can make positive changes with the will and intent. Developing habits of gratitude can change our outlook, and therefore our approach to everything. Here are some perspectives, resources and activities to help you do that.
What is Gratitude, and how does it help?
How to bring Gratitude into our lives
Teaching Kids Gratitude
Practical Guide to Gratitude
Teaching Gratitude in early Years & Surviving the Holiday Gift Glut
How to Practice Gratitude
30 ways to Teach Children Gratitude
Gratitude Exercises for Families
Activities:
Practical Guide to Gratitude
Teaching Gratitude in early Years & Surviving the Holiday Gift Glut
How to Practice Gratitude
30 ways to Teach Children Gratitude
Gratitude Exercises for Families
Activities:
- Gratitude Jar - How to create a Gratitude Jar & the one bloggers lessons from it
- Gratitude ABC game: Take turns naming something you are grateful for that begins with a letter of the alphabet. Eg: Dad: I’m grateful for Apples - i love the sweet crunch of biting into it. Son: I’m grateful for Balloons, hot air ones are my favorite! Daughter: I’m grateful for Cats, they are so cute! And so on…..