MSS #0149: How Gratitude Rewires Your Brain to Notice the Good

MSS #0149: How Gratitude Rewires Your Brain to Notice the Good

📅 Date: 15 Nov, 2025

🕒Read time: 3.7 minutes

🚀 In a hurry? Jump to “A 3-Step Gratitude Practice” for a reduced reading time of 1.2 minutes.

Gratitude is one of those things we know is good for us, yet for many it feels like a lost habit.

My dad seemed instinctually grateful for everything.
He didn’t need a book or app.
He just noticed the small wins and said thank you for them.

In many cultures of the past, gratitude was built into daily rituals.
Today we often need to rediscover it.
And science shows why it matters more than ever.

What Gratitude Is (and Isn’t)

Gratitude isn’t about being soppy.
It’s not plastering on fake cheer.

It’s simply noticing what is already here and holding that acknowledgement for a while.

It’s appreciating the simplest of things we normally skim past — the hot shower, the morning light, the fact the bills are paid this month.

Real gratitude doesn’t ignore difficulties.
It balances them with evidence that something good is also present.

The Science of Gratitude

Brain scans show gratitude practices strengthen the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) — a region linked to rational thought and decision-making.

This matters because the ACC helps regulate the fear signals pouring out of the amygdala.

Put simply: gratitude steadies the thinking brain so fear doesn’t shout quite as loud.

Some studies also suggest that sustained gratitude or mindfulness practice can reduce amygdala reactivity over time — and in some cases even shrink its size slightly.
This means the brain’s threat detector becomes less jumpy, and less likely to hijack your day.

Beyond that, gratitude shifts baseline mood, improves resilience, and increases activity in brain networks linked to empathy and reward.

Gratitude and the RAS

Your brain has a filtering system called the Reticular Activating System (RAS).
It decides what you notice and what fades into background noise.

When you practise gratitude, you are effectively programming the RAS to look for more good things.

And because the brain loves being right, it delivers.
What you look for, you find more of.

A 3-Step Gratitude Practice

Here’s the way I’ve done it every night since 13th March 2016.
I’m now on my sixth A5 notebook.

1. Write the date and underline it
This makes it a little ritual.

2. Add three bullets of gratitude
Simple, specific, real.
It could be finishing a task, a good laugh, or paying a bill with ease.

3. Pause to feel it
Hold the moment for a few seconds.
Let the feeling of “I’m glad this happened” register.

Over time this builds a personal library of evidence, written in your own hand.
It’s not just about tonight’s mood.
It’s a bank to look back on when life feels heavy.

And it’s a brilliant last thought before sleep.

Other Simple Ways to Practise Gratitude

Not everyone likes writing.
Here are other ways to make gratitude part of daily life:

• Gratitude walk: as you walk, name three things you’re glad to see, hear, or feel.

• One-line text: send a quick “thanks” message to someone who helped you today.

• Dinner table share: each person names one good thing from the day.

• Gratitude jar: drop in one note per week, read them back at the end of the year.

• Silent pause: before sleep, mentally replay three moments from the day you appreciate.

• Mental check list – one of my favourites is the same time each day, or sometimes randomly I go through a random check list of what I am grateful for. A combination of things that fortunately are a constant in my life and some that happened today or that I can sense wherever I am while doing the mental check list.

Small, simple, repeatable.
That’s how the brain learns.

Why This Matters

In an anxious, always-on world, gratitude is not soft.
It’s a cognitive tool.
It strengthens the brain’s ability to regulate fear.
It trains attention to notice the good.
And it gives you daily proof that not everything is broken.

Summary

Gratitude is an instinct humans have always had, but many of us have lost.
It’s not about being sentimental.
It’s about noticing the ordinary things we usually skip past and holding them in mind long enough to change the brain.

• Instinctual across time and culture — a lost habit for many

• Strengthens the ACC, calming amygdala-driven fear

• May reduce amygdala reactivity and even shrink its size slightly

• Trains the RAS to notice more positives

• Best done daily in writing, three small bullets

• Other options: gratitude walk, jar, text, table share, or silent pause

See you next week. One more thought 👇

Want more? 

When you're ready, 3 more ways I can help you:

1. My book - Nuclear Powered Resilience

2. Self confidence and resilience - £48 training course based on my book

3. Coaching packages - start with a FREE 15 minutes exploration session.

Other resources

If you haven't already, follow me on LinkedIn and hit the bell for daily posts on tips, insights and techniques or take a look at my website.

Want to explore what else I do? Including corporate speaking, coaching and workshops, or simply ask me a question or give me feedback on my newsletter - say hello in an email.

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.