This Is Your Brain On Gratitude

I realized the other day that I haven’t watched Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes segment in a long time. In this Friday bit, he writes quick thank-you cards to random things like the Zoom cat lawyer, curbside pickup, Airpods, and open-back hospital gowns. It’s hilarious!

And you know what? Jimmy might be doing this as a joke, but there’s actually a lot of neuroscience and psychology research saying that you should do it, too.

I know these days it can be hard to find things to be grateful for. It seems that when crises and tragedies happen, they pile on in never-ending layers. When it rains, it pours. (Or when it snows, it incapacitates much of the southern U.S.) Between extreme winter storms, vaccine anxieties, COVID-parenting, employment uncertainties, not to mention ongoing, entrenched systematic racism showing its cards everywhere, many of us are feeling down and exhausted.

But today, I want to take a leaf from Jimmy Fallon’s book—it’s time to write some thank-you notes!

Let's put gratitude in writing

Yes, I do mean literally sitting down and putting some grateful statements in writing instead of waiting for a grateful feeling to arrive. That’s because, when your brain is busy putting out fires all day, gratitude doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. During stressful times, your mental space can look like a big dreary landscape even though there are good things under the surface just waiting to be recognized.

Gratitude is not just a feeling that happens to us; it’s an activity in the brain.

So, let’s do put some gratitude in writing together for just a moment. Fill in the blank: Thank you, [insert thing], for being wonderful.

You can fill that blank with anything, however big or small. You might be grateful for a loved one’s health, the roof over your head, the coffee brewing in the pot, your dog’s sweet puppy eyes, a never-ending supply of fascinating podcasts, or the coworker who complimented your DIY haircut during your Zoom meeting last week.

Now, take a slow breath, and then read the gratitude statement. Really let yourself feel the gratefulness.

Guess what? This little moment of gratitude might have just given your brain a bit of positive fuel. That’s because gratitude is not just a feeling that happens to us; it’s an activity in the brain.

How does gratitude help you?

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