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Daily Happiness Hacks: How to Cultivate Gratitude in Everyday Life
18 Plays3 months ago
What if pausing for 30 seconds to notice sunlight through tree leaves could improve your mental health?
I've always found beauty in small things—a perfect coffee, golden hour light, watching my dog Mochi exist in his adorable glory. Turns out, these moments of appreciation are powerful acts of gratitude that reshape our brains.
Here's what we're exploring about gratitude and daily happiness:
- The neuroscience: Gratitude activates the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex - the parts of your brain associated with empathy and pro-social behavior (serotonin is the key player)
- Rewriting negativity bias: We all have it (I'm right there with you), but gratitude practice can help shift our mindset to see more positive things - though it takes consistent practice
- Health benefits beyond mental wellness: Reduces depression, lessens anxiety, relieves stress, improves sleep, and even supports heart health
- Six stupid-simple practices: Morning gratitude ritual, gratitude journal, gratitude jar, expressing appreciation to others, evening reflection, or just pausing to appreciate beautiful moments
- Avoiding toxic positivity: Having gratitude doesn't mean ignoring real struggles - you can acknowledge life is hard AND find moments of beauty (both are true)
From realizing that being "too busy" often means we're not pausing to appreciate what we've created in our lives, to understanding that you can find beauty everywhere if you're paying attention (even in rinky-dink neighborhoods with gorgeous graffiti art), this episode breaks down why gratitude is a muscle that gets stronger with practice.
Because here's what matters: gratitude doesn't require a perfect routine or complicated system. It just requires creating space to pause and appreciate the world around you.
Pick ONE habit this week and commit to it daily - whether it's listing three things you're grateful for in the morning, keeping a gratitude jar, or simply pausing when you notice something beautiful.
Subscribe. Share. Remember that you don't need a perfect routine, you just need to create space to pause and appreciate.
Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨
Join the conversation! What's one beautiful thing you noticed today that made you pause? DM me on Instagram @YourCoachMari and share your moment of gratitude!
If you want to dig deeper into the science behind what I'm sharing, check out:
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Send in questions: contact+podcast@marisolmoran.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Growing With Soul Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello beautiful souls and welcome back to another int installment of the Growing With Soul podcast where we explore the moments and stories that shape who we're becoming. I'm Marisol and this is where I love to have real conversations about growth, self-discovery and learning to put yourself first.
00:00:16
Speaker
Whether we're diving into books that change our perspective or unpacking personal experiences that teach us something new, this podcast is for women who are done playing small and ready to embrace their own journey.
00:00:28
Speaker
If you've struggled with putting everyone else first or battled self-doubt, you're in the right place. This it isn't about perfection. It's about the messy, beautiful process of growing into yourself.
00:00:42
Speaker
So come grow with me.
The Importance of Appreciating Small Things
00:00:45
Speaker
i I have always been the type of person that has found a beauty in the small things, in the little things of life, in the little things life.
00:00:57
Speaker
nature in your day-to-day life, a flower, the sunlight dancing through the leaves of a tree, a good cup of coffee, mochi, my dog, but also the dessert, you name it.
00:01:10
Speaker
I find a beauty in so many little things and so many little moments of life. And I've always been that way. I think there's so much beauty in this world that it it it's almost difficult for for me to not notice it. And it's almost difficult for it to go unnoticed, I would say, in general.
00:01:31
Speaker
But ultimately, I've come to really appreciate that aspect of myself and that aspect in other people because it makes life a little bit more whimsical, and more beautiful overall. And it truly fosters...
00:01:44
Speaker
this sense of appreciation for the world around you and what you experience on a day-to-day basis.
How Gratitude Impacts Mental Health
00:01:55
Speaker
i think those little moments of appreciation are also little moments of gratitude, gratitude for the that thing that you're appreciating, gratitude that it exists, gratitude that you're able to experience it,
00:02:10
Speaker
and Overall, when you appreciate these types of things, it does make your day a little bit better. ah creates a little bit more positivity in your day. And I think that accumulates over time and can have an overall positive impact on your mood, your mental health, and how you're feeling about yourself and maybe even life.
00:02:31
Speaker
And I think when we look at that as an example of gratitude overall, we can truly see how gratitude can be a game changer for our mental well-being.
00:02:42
Speaker
Gratitude has been connected to being able to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. And i definitely want to get into that and talk about how appreciating these little things and fostering happiness in our day-to-day lives in these little ways can truly be a game changer for our overall well-being.
00:03:06
Speaker
So let's talk about this a little bit more deep, a little bit more scientifically. and an article in Psychology Today, it explains that scientific research shows that gratitude practices can activate specific brain regions, particularly the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which are associated with empathy, context setting, and pro-social behavior.
00:03:30
Speaker
The main neuromodulator involved in gratitude is serotonin rather than dopamine, although dopamine also plays a role in motivation more broadly. So we're getting some scientific evidence showing that there is this benefit to gratitude.
00:03:47
Speaker
Naturally, a lot of us do tend to have a negativity bias. I would say like pretty much every client I've ever had has had a negativity bias. I'm sitting rather right there with you.
Transforming Mindset with Gratitude Practices
00:03:56
Speaker
I am not saying that I am immune, not at all.
00:03:59
Speaker
Okay, I am right there with you with my negativity bias, even though I am the type of person that appreciates those little things, those little moments in life, like literally... As I'm recording this, I'm looking outside at the skyline of my neighborhood, seeing a beautiful sunny day, seeing beautiful roofs, seeing beautiful trees and palm trees in the distance because LA. And it's gorgeous. And I know there are beautiful mountains off to the left, okay, to the north of where I am.
00:04:25
Speaker
And it rained recently, so there's snow on top of the mountains. Oh, my God. Okay. Anyway, anyway. um So appreciating the little things. Appreciating the little is definitely a very good thing, even though I do also have a negativity bias for many other things in life.
00:04:39
Speaker
So I'm right there with you. This negativity bias... is something that we can reorient with a gratitude practice. And it can help ah gratitude practice can help shift our mindset to see more positive things more often.
00:04:57
Speaker
Again, emphasis on the word practice because it takes time. You don't just start appreciating all the little things in life and having gratitude for even some of the bigger things in your life and all of sudden, boom, no more negativity bias. It is ah constant work.
00:05:12
Speaker
Gratitude also comes along with a variety of other health benefits, which I do want to highlight. So I'm not just out here saying be grateful, have gratitude, express and appreciate and all those things. Have that practice for gratitude just because I say so and just because it's in vogue and it's like the thing to talk about. there is There are a lot more benefits than just gratitude.
00:05:35
Speaker
the mental health ones, which honestly, even if that was just it, I think it's worth it. But there are other things as well. So an article by UCLA Health the details that gratitude can reduce depression, lessen anxiety, relieve stress, and improve sleep.
00:05:48
Speaker
So many of us, especially as adults, have trouble with sleep. Whether we have a hard time flying asleep or we have a hard time staying asleep and then Not only do we have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep, but then once we finally are asleep, somehow it's magically like six o'clock in the morning and we have to wake up.
00:06:06
Speaker
And now we're tired and groggy and don't want to wake up. It's a mess. It's a mess. We're a mess. Okay. But gratitude has been linked to improving sleep. So if you identify with struggling with sleep, maybe you need a gratitude practice.
00:06:21
Speaker
The thing is, though, when we are improving all of those things that I just mentioned, at the depression, anxiety, stress relief, improving our sleep, when we're working all that, we have all those things.
00:06:32
Speaker
One of the amazing secondary health benefits that this article did point out is that it does support heart health. Our heart is an important organ.
00:06:43
Speaker
And if we can, if we can, through a secondary benefit type of way, improve our heart health through a gratitude practice, bruh, low hanging fruit there. Let's start that gratitude practice. you know what i'm saying? Come on.
00:06:57
Speaker
So how can we start a daily gratitude practice? How can we foster daily happiness habits, essentially? Okay. Step number one, make it stupid is simple.
00:07:09
Speaker
Whenever we are starting a new habit, if we are creating like a multiple tiered, like complex system of like, these are all the things I need to shift and change and I have to do X, Y, and Z and go back to A and carry the one to do the thing that I need to do, it's not gonna work.
00:07:28
Speaker
Gotta make it stupid simple, okay? So if you can... add something already to a routine that you're doing, do that. If there's something that it happens naturally that you notice that you do, may be more um aware of that.
00:07:48
Speaker
Put in effort, essentially. Find a way to incorporate it more into your life or have a moment of pause. like Like for me, when I notice the beauty of certain things, like let's say it is the way the sunlight falls through the leaves of a tree,
00:08:04
Speaker
Like pause and appreciate that moment. Like who cares if somebody's like, why are being weird staring at the tree? Like, bro, how are you being weird and not staring at the tree? You know, but maybe that maybe that is my own little poetic heart. Okay.
00:08:17
Speaker
My writer soul noticing the little details of life, but pause and appreciate and ah allow it to sink in. The same thing with the gratitude. If something happens and you're very grateful for it, pause, allow the emotion to take place, allow it to sink in and really cherish it and allow it to be.
00:08:34
Speaker
So another way to keep things stupid simple is a morning gratitude ritual. So emphasis on ritual.
Incorporating Gratitude into Daily Routines
00:08:41
Speaker
It's habit. It is intentional. It is something that we do daily.
00:08:45
Speaker
So you can start your day by listing three things that you are grateful for. This could be either writing it down. This could be just... to yourself, maybe out loud in the mirror, like an affirmation almost, however you want to do it, maybe after meditating, if that's your thing.
00:09:01
Speaker
But again, it's a morning ritual where you list these things first thing in the morning as part of your morning routine. a gratitude journal can go a long way. um You can write down daily wins, big or small.
00:09:13
Speaker
You could do it at the end of the day, middle of the day, and the morning, whatever works best for you. There's no rule around this, just as long as you do it consistently. One fun one is definitely a gratitude jar.
00:09:25
Speaker
This one's really cool because you can always revisit things. So you can drop little notes in this jar showing an appreciation for things that happen throughout your week. And then you can revisit it on like Sunday and just see all the wonderful, beautiful things that happened during your week that you really appreciated.
00:09:40
Speaker
Another thing and that I think most people don't tend to talk about as a part of a gratitude practice is actually expressing appreciation to others, whether that be like via text message. You can even write a note, which is super cute, saying thank you to someone in person, like expressing your gratitude to another person not only benefits you as part of your gratitude practice, but all we really want in life is to be appreciated, understood and all that too, you know, but like When someone shows appreciation for you, like it it impacts you.
00:10:14
Speaker
So if you feel so good when someone appreciates you, imagine when you express your appreciation for another person, how they're going to feel as well. So it'll be like a two-way thing. It'll help yourself and your gratitude practice and you'll be helping someone else as well.
00:10:27
Speaker
Another really great thing as well, it would be like an evening reflection, if especially if you're not a morning person or you're the type of person that's just like, I wake up, I shower, I leave. You don't need to force a morning routine. You can have an evening routine.
00:10:40
Speaker
And during that routine, you can have that reflection. Maybe it's before bed. Maybe it's part of your nighttime routine, whatever it might be. Maybe you make time to journal at night. But you can reflect on the best part of your day.
00:10:53
Speaker
What were some of the wins for your day? what was What was something that brought you joy during your day? And that can go a very long way as well.
00:11:04
Speaker
Some of the obstacles that come into play when it comes to having these like daily happiness habits and appreciation habits is that we might think like if it's going to be like ah routine, a ritual, something that we do on a daily basis, it might feel like, well, I'm too busy. like I just don't have the time to like find a way to incorporate this into my life. Yeah.
00:11:25
Speaker
Maybe I'm just like not grateful for something right now. Like I get it. The being busy part, I totally get it because I feel like we're all just on this hamster wheel called life trying to make things happen.
00:11:39
Speaker
But if we don't take the time to pause, if we don't take the time to truly appreciate what we may have created for ourselves in our lives, because we put a lot of work into the lives that we create, especially when we start doing things with intention, but also appreciating just the world around us. Like, I really want to emphasize, like, how beautiful the world around us is. And I know that's not easy for everybody, because definitely, you know, especially here notice this in here in United States, there are some neighborhoods not that cute.
00:12:17
Speaker
like Like, literally, especially, somebody pointed out to me, like, in California, it's really weird where you can have, like, a really beautiful, like, neighborhood. And then, like, a mile over, it's a rink-a-dink neighborhood. And it's, like, it's not as cute as it was before. i don't know why. um don't know why California is made that way.
00:12:32
Speaker
But it is. But even then... even then you can find something beautiful everywhere. Like I've seen like graffiti art that's absolutely gorgeous. Like like yeah finding finding beauty is possible if you are just paying attention.
00:12:50
Speaker
And when you find that beauty in these everyday mundane places, the world isn't so mundane anymore. And that can do wonders for your psyche.
00:13:02
Speaker
So I really want to emphasize that you don't need to have a routine necessarily for these little daily happiness habits. It's just creating space in your mindset, creating space in your life to pause for a couple of seconds and just appreciate.
00:13:23
Speaker
And that can happen at any time of the day.
Balancing Gratitude with Negative Emotions
00:13:28
Speaker
But if you want to be more intentional with your gratitude practice and creating those moments of happiness and maybe revisiting later on, um like I mentioned, you can go ahead and do that through those practices that I mentioned before, whether it's morning or evening routine or what have you.
00:13:45
Speaker
ah One of the things that I do want to highlight is also avoiding toxic positivity. So, Something I noticed a lot, especially when gratitude was becoming very like in vogue, was that people were using gratitude as a way to bypass negative emotions and as a way to bypass anything negative happening in their lives. And it's like, well, this negative thing is happening, but I should really be happy and like positive and grateful for like all these other things that are happening that are going really well.
00:14:14
Speaker
And it's like, yeah. Be happy and grateful for all the wonderful things that are happening in your life. And also, your context still includes that thing that you're really struggling with.
00:14:28
Speaker
Let's not ignore the real struggles that you're dealing with. Because what can happen when we do that is we then guilt trip ourselves for feeling a negative emotion and shame ourselves for feeling a negative emotion and using gratitude to shame and guilt trip ourselves.
00:14:43
Speaker
That's not cool. That's not what I'm about. I don't like that. That's not how we move forward. We can do both. We can recognize that we are struggling with something and also have gratitude for what is going well and have gratitude for the beauty and all the other amazing things in life and in this world.
00:15:04
Speaker
So I would say if you want to begin practicing gratitude, begin practicing these daily happiness habits, challenge yourself this coming week to really Try it
Building a Gratitude Habit
00:15:18
Speaker
out. Pick one thing that I mentioned and give it a shot and try it every single day. If it's trying to find more beauty in your day-to-day life, maybe it's a beautiful tree or an amazing bird or like a squirrel frolicking in the grass. Like, bro when i'm i'm I'm being serious. like
00:15:36
Speaker
Like literally, like the amount of times that I have to pause and just like stare at Mochi because he is the most beautiful, amazing little thing in my life.
00:15:48
Speaker
And he makes my life a thousand times better and worth it. Like if you have something like that, just ah allow yourself to be open to those beautiful things, okay?
00:16:00
Speaker
Or any other thing that I mentioned as well as a gratitude practice. Choose one and stick with it on a daily basis for the coming week. At the end of the day, gratitude is a muscle, okay? The more you practice it, the stronger it will get. So give yourself some grace as you're going about this. If you're starting this out for the first time, if you have a strong negativity bias, give yourself grace as well because you will get there.
00:16:22
Speaker
Just practice it, allow it to be, and it's a judgment-free zone, okay? You're doing this all for yourself. Thank you for tuning into the Grown Whistle Podcast today. i definitely appreciate you being here. If this episode resonated with you, give it a like, subscribe to the pod and definitely leave a review.
00:16:40
Speaker
It helps get the word out so that more people can hear this message and also benefit from it benefit from it as well If you are looking for assistance in your gratitude practice, in creating, you know, a mindfulness practice and building up your mental health, well-being and self-esteem, I am accepting clients and you can schedule your very own discovery call with me through the show notes. Until next time, keep growing.