351. How gratitude changes your brain

We’re always told that gratitude is the route to happiness – that we should be grateful for every experience we have. But when life feels like it’s falling apart, gratitude can feel less like a comfort and more like pressure. In reality, gratitude and pain often have to coexist.

In this episode, we ask whether gratitude actually does make us happier - what it really is, how it rewires the brain, and why it sometimes feels impossible.

We explore:

• What makes gratitude so powerful
• The cognitive and neuroscientific mechanisms behind gratitude
• Toxic gratitude when life simply feels hard
• The gratitude paradox
• The guilt associated with not being grateful enough
• Some alternatives for when gratitude feels inaccessible

If you’ve ever struggled with the idea that you ‘should’ be thankful for the hard times in life, this episode is for you.

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