Good morning! We hope you woke up today feeling primed and ready for the day.
 
We hope you’ve been trying one of our curated sleep tips each week and tracking the hours spent in bed each night.
 
So far in our Sleep Better mini resolution, we’ve discussed sleep pressure (the increasing pressure to sleep during the day determined by rising levels of our neurotransmitter adenosine), circadian rhythm (the daily sleep/wake cycles impacting all human physiology influenced by light exposure) and sleep debt (the difference between how much sleep you need vs. how much you get).
 
Today, let’s take a dive into sleep architecture.




CCP helps you stay on track!
 
Use our log to to track your progress toward our mini resolution. This month, we encourage you to try one sleep tip per week. Log which tip you selected and the result(s) you experienced.
 
For questions or assistance, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele McCambridge:
 
mmccambridge@ccpmd.com

The Architecture of Sleep

Theories abound but no one really knows why we sleep. We know what happens to the body, physiologically, during sleep and how it impacts health and vitality.
 
Human sleep is characterized by a succession of sleep cycles, each lasting 90-120 minutes. There are four stages within each sleep cycle, and each stage has different physiological changes that recharge, restore and repair the body. Completing each stage and cycle fully is the key to sleep quality. The Circadian Rhythm regulates sleep architecture as it is responsible for the nocturnal release of sleep neurotransmitters and hormones.
 
FUN FACT: Newborns and those with narcolepsy are the exceptions to the sleep stages rule. Newborns have three stages specific to their age, and narcoleptics spend very little time in earlier sleep stages and almost go straight to REM.
 
For the rest of us, one full sleep cycle runs about 90 minutes, and we go through about 4-6 sleep cycles per night. One full cycle consists of four stages.

Sleep Stages
 
The sleep stages happen in succession, and adequate time in each stage is required for the body to achieve the benefits of sleep.

STAGE 1
Lasts about 7 minutes
 
This is your “nodding off” stage, where you are easily awakened.
 
You know that sensation of falling and being awoken with a start? That is called a hypnic jerk and happens in Stage 1.
 
Fun Fact: These involuntary, rapid muscular movements fall into the same family as hiccups, called myoclonus.
 
Brain plasticity begins—this is the ability of the brain to re-wire itself (i.e., learn and modify behavior and as we already know this is critical for avoiding cognitive decline!)

STAGE 2
Lasts about 10-25 minutes
 
Still light sleep, but deeper sleep than Stage 1.
 
Blood pressure and body temperature drops (recall how a hot bath causes a sudden drop in body temperature inducing sleepiness).
 
Muscles relax.
 
Memories are consolidated from short to long term, also critical for preventing cognitive decline!

STAGE 3
Lasts about 20-40 minutes
 
Termed "slow wave sleep" (SWS)
It is quite difficult to be awoken from Stage 3 sleep and if you are awoken, you will be very groggy and likely will suffer from sleep inertia.
 
Stage 3 is where much of the sleep “magic” happens.
Stress hormones are reduced, also critical for preventing cognitive decline as these hormones can create oxidative stress in the brain.
 
Toxins washed from brain, also critical to prevent cognitive decline (Fun Fact: your brain swells during the day and at night it shrinks to its normal size through this glymphatic system process).
 
Human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone are secreted, encouraging tissue repair, muscle growth and development.
 
Immune cells are at peak levels improving immunity, also critical for preventing cognitive decline by protecting the blood/brain barrier.

STAGE 4
Lasts up to 4 minutes
 
Known as the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage where dreaming occurs.
This is when you achieve paradoxical sleep where the brain is very active, but the body is paralyzed so you don’t act out your dreams and injure yourself or others.
 
Here, the brain further consolidates memories and processes information, integrates them into the person’s world view, high level abstractions are formed, creative discovery is enhanced and problem solving occurs (hence the expression “sleep on it”).
 
Importantly, mood regulation and emotional processing also occur here via the amygdala.

 
The Effects of Inadequate Sleep Quality

What happens if you sleep with a snorer, or have a dog that barks when the wind blows or live on a busy street and as a result, your cycles are disrupted?
 
In other words, what if you get through stages 1 and 2, but as you are entering Stage 3 something arouses you?
 
Well, you go back to Stage 1 and miss out on the “magic” of Stages 3 and REM… uh oh!
 
Fragmented sleep, i.e., failing to complete the sleep cycles by awakening frequently, ravages the body, impacting all areas of our health-no cell is left unaffected.



NOT-SO-FUN FACT: If you oversleep, these health risks are the same! Yikes!
 
In addition, recent longitudinal studies have learned that the amount of time spent in each cycle changes with age. As we get older, we spend more time in Stage 1 and less time in the critical later stages and these changes are associated with cognitive decline.
 
To complete our sleep cycles and spend enough time in the later sleep stages, we need to build sleep pressure to fall asleep with relative ease (latency)and stay asleep for most of the night (quality) to achieve efficiency (time in bed vs. time spent sleeping) and reap the magic that sleep brings us.
 
All our sleep tips help achieve those goals! But the one tip that has the greatest impact on fragmented sleep is alcohol consumption. While a nightcap may help you conk out faster, alcohol will likely prevent you from entering the deeper/later stages of sleep, waking you in the middle of the night, increasing sleep debt, and preventing completion of sleep stages.
 
Alcohol needs time to be metabolized at an approximate rate of 0.016% per hour. If you choose to imbibe before bed, try calculating the time it will take for your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to drop to negligible amounts. (Please note we are not encouraging alcohol consumption). You can try this Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Calculator.

That’s all for now. Tune back in next week for a discussion about short sleep genes, sleeping pills, and “coffee naps.”

Thanks again for participating in Motivated Mondays 2025, a special Brain Brawn edition! Please take a few minutes to provide feedback about your experience by taking our survey.
Please note this survey will expire January 16, 2026.

Need a refresher before completing the survey? Review all the 2025 content here.

Reminder: Your 2025 participation status in Motivated Mondays will roll over to 2026.
 
If you wish to opt out of Motivated Mondays for 2026, please send an email to erios@ccpmd.com. Please do not unsubscribe on your own, as doing so may cause you to also miss important emails from your concierge provider.​

Congratulations! You’ve completed Motivated Mondays 2025: A year of mini resolutions!
 
Today, in honor of our special “brain brawn” edition of Motivated Mondays, we’re sharing a special video looking at Einstein’s brain.

Don’t give up on your mini resolutions!
 
As we approach 2026, we hope you feel inspired to keep going with all our past mini resolutions to help you establish and maintain positive lifestyle habits and stave off cognitive decline. You can review all of our 2025 Motivated Mondays content here.
 
For questions or support, email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.

“My Love Affair with the Brain”

Earlier this year, we highlighted Dr. Marion Diamond's groundbreaking work on the study of Einstein's brain. For our newest participants of Motivated Mondays, we’re sharing her documentary, "My Love Affair with the Brain."
 
Our OG members have this link and are welcome to revisit it! 🙂
 
Click this link to view the video on Vimeo. The case-sensitive password is: BRAIN



A Final Note from CCP

Thank you for your participation throughout this year. We couldn't have done it without you!
 
Next week, we will be sending you a survey asking for your feedback, in hopes of improving future editions of this wellness program. We would love your input.
 
By the way—as a current participant, you'll be auto enrolled into Motivated Mondays 2026.

​When people think of mindfulness and mediation, they typically think of the seated version. Up until now we have sought to debunk this as your only option, because let’s be honest, it isn’t for everyone. However, you also really don’t know that until you try it! Here is a very interesting article (an oldie but goodie!) explaining how different types of seated meditation have altogether different effects on different parts of the brain.
 
Today, we’ll take a look at three types of seated meditation: Awareness Meditation, Non-Judgment Meditation and Metta Meditation.



Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Seated Meditation Techniques

Awareness Meditation

In this type of meditation, we sit comfortably for a period of time and just focus on breathing and the sensations in the body.
The brain averages 70,000 thoughts a day, clouding our ability to focus on what’s in front of us. So here, the goal is simply to empty the mind (ironically to be mindless to become more mindful!) and not allow it to wander beyond breath and awareness. If your mind takes a detour, simply guide it back, that’s it.
This is probably the style of meditation that is challenging for most people and often taught in guided meditation classes, either in-person or via an app. Because we promised to keep it simple, we will not be addressing this style of meditation, but feel to explore those apps to try it on your own.

Non-Judgment Meditation

The 70,000 thoughts that run through our minds each day are largely critical, judging everything within our experience: “It’s too hot!” “My shirt itches!” “My back aches!"  “The lights are too bright!" “That car is moving too slowly!” And so on, all day long, contributing to the monkey mind experience.
 
Learning to dismiss these thoughts (ironically without judging yourself for your thoughts) helps tie the puppy to the post and focus your attention on what is in front of you. This is called non-judgment meditation, a type of seated meditation. Here is a great 6-minute video for this practice.

Metta Meditation, AKA “Loving Kindness Meditation”

This type of seated meditation—believed to enhance our empathy and compassion—encourages us to think loving and kind thoughts for ourselves and others through mantra. And really, now more than ever we could use a little more loving kindness.
The practice is quite simple:
Day 1 starts with you

• Take a comfortable seat
• Center yourself with a few breaths. Eyes can be open or closed
• Read the following: "May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease."
• Pause and think about what you read for a moment
• Repeat for a few more cycles until you feel at ease

Day 2, extend your thoughts to someone you love

• Take a comfortable seat
• Center yourself with a few breaths. Eyes can be open or closed. Think of someone you love, let’s say it’s "Jack"
• Read the following: "May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease. May Jack be happy. May Jack be well. May Jack be safe. May Jack be peaceful and at ease."
• Pause and think about what you read for a moment
• Repeat for a few more cycles until you feel at ease

Day 3, extend your thoughts to someone in need

• Take a comfortable seat
• Center yourself with a few breaths. Eyes can be open or closed. Think of someone you know who is hurting in some way, let’s say it’s "Mary"
• Read the following: "May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease. May Mary be happy. May Mary be well. May Mary be safe. May Mary be peaceful and at ease."
• Pause and think about what you read for a moment
• Repeat for a few more cycles until you feel at ease

Day 4, extend your thoughts to someone with whom you are in conflict

• Take a comfortable seat
• Center yourself with a few breaths. Eyes can be open or closed. Think of someone with whom you don’t get along, let’s say it’s "Joe"
• Read the following: "May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease. May Joe be happy. May Joe be well. May Joe be safe. May Joe be peaceful and at ease."
• Pause and think about what you read for a moment
• Repeat for a few more cycles until you feel at ease

Day 5, extend your thoughts to all beings

• Take a comfortable seat
• Center yourself with a few breaths. Eyes can be open or closed. Think of all the beings on the planet
• Read the following: "May I be happy. May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease. May all beings be happy. May all beings be well. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful and at ease.
• Pause and think about what you read for a moment
• Repeat for a few more cycles until you feel at ease

Playing theta music (from Week One) during a seated meditation will facilitate entrance into a meditative state more quickly and more deeply. You can also consider adding “olfactory enrichment” AKA essential oils.
 
A 2023 RCT on 43 adults aged 60-85 found that using a scent diffuser for two hours a night for 6 months yielded a statistically significant improvement in diffusivity of the major pathway connecting the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, as measured by MRIs. This pathway, the uncinate fasciculus, deteriorates with advanced age and in Alzheimer’s Disease.
 
Another astounding finding, was a 226% improvement in a test of verbal learning and memory, known as the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test.

We’ll see you next week!

We hope you had a great weekend and are feeling more centered and mindful! This week we tune out our “monkey mind” and tune into our food.


Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Practicing Mindfulness While Eating

What is the "monkey mind?" It's a term meant to convey unsettled, restless, indecisive, and whimsical thoughts which distract us from the present moment. Mindful activities are intended to tame the "monkey mind."
 
How often do you plop on the couch in front of the TV to eat your meal? Or do you not even bother with a plate and stand in front of the refrigerator picking at what’s in front of you? Or maybe you get a plate, even silverware and make it to the dining table even, but then mindlessly scroll through your social media accounts while eating? Typically, in these scenarios we end up not really tasting/enjoying our food or recognizing our satiety, thus consuming far more calories than were necessary.
 
Here is a technique to dial into your meal:

First, ask yourself are you hungry or thirsty? As discussed in June when we covered Hydration, hunger is often a mask for thirst. If you aren’t sure, have a glass of water, wait a few minutes and see if you still want to eat. If so, continue.
 
Next prepare your plate and sit at the table with no TV, no music, no cell phones, no computers.
 
Take a breath and enjoy the aroma of your food and the colors on the plate. Appreciate the effort that went into its preparation, farm to table.
 
Set a timer for 20 minutes and allow the full time to complete the food on your plate. This will likely require smaller bites and more thorough chewing of your food. There are theories out there recommending a minimum of 16-30 bites per mouthful. You may even wish to close your eyes to enjoy the flavors and textures on your tongue.
 
Consider: what did you observe/experience? Were you full before the plate was empty? Was this meal more satisfying than most?
 
Before you go back for seconds, ask yourself: are you really hungry?

Listening to Theta music may be beneficial during this activity. Once you have mastered this exercise, you may wish to try eating with your non-dominant hand or chopsticks!

We’ll see you next week!

Happy Monday! We hope you are breathing better after last week. This week we will take our mindful activities up a notch with centering and walking meditation.


Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Centering/Counting Breaths

Centering is a very basic, yet powerful technique that helps quiet the mind and body inducing focus either during or prior to a stress-inducing moment. It has been used by professional athletes, public speakers and actors, to name a few.
 
One simple technique is counting breaths. It can be accomplished anywhere, anytime. It is terrific for sitting in traffic and upon retiring to bed at night to extract thoughts from the day:
 
Sit, stand or lay down, whichever position the moment allows or feels right.
 
Take a moment to initiate your diaphragmatic breath (consider using your Theta brain wave music as an adjunct).
 
Count each inhale and exhale up to 30 counts

• Inhale one
• Exhale one
• Inhale two
• Exhale two
• And so on…

 
If your mind wanders or if you are interrupted, start over from the top. It may be challenging at first to get to 30, but don’t be discouraged! The results are in the process!
 
If your mind wanders or if you are interrupted, start over from the top. It may be challenging at first to get to 30, but don’t be discouraged! The results are in the process! Listening to Theta music may be beneficial during this activity.

Walking Meditation
 
Sitting meditations are a struggle for people who don’t sit in one place easily, and for others it just may seem too “new-agey.” Walking meditation is an alternative for those folks. As with the other exercises, there are a number of variations available. We have selected what we believe is the most accessible option.
The walk is much slower than even a stroll in the park and attention to the breath is again a large part of what makes it beneficial. You can do it indoors or outdoors as the weather permits. Select a straight path that you can maintain for about 30 paces. If outdoors, try to avoid overly loud or congested areas – and, of course, make sure to remain safe. Barefoot provides a better experience if that is available to you.

1. Start by anchoring your mind, body and breath
   • Close your eyes, if possible, for a moment
   • Scan the body for tension
   • Take a few diaphragmatic breaths
   • Open your eyes and take your gaze to a point a few feet in front of you, avoid exploring your surroundings with your vision

       

1. Inhale, lifting one foot

      

1. Exhale, as you place the foot down on the ground, in doing so, become aware of each point of the foot as it contacts the ground

      

1. Inhale, lifting the other foot

 

1. Exhale as you place the foot down on the ground, in doing so, become aware of each point of the foot as it contacts the ground.

      

1. Continue this way until you reach the end of your designated path, then turn around, reset/re-anchor and begin again

If your mind wanders, bring it back to the sensations in the sole of your foot and your breath. Of course, you can try counting breaths with this exercise to enhance this experience if you find it helpful.

We’ll see you next week!

Introducing your NEW mini resolution: Mindfulness! Today we’re looking into three facets of mindfulness: Diaphragmatic breathing technique, brain music, and humming!



Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

How & Why to Be “Mindful”

It seems as though this decade attempts to outdo itself each year with the level of stress generated by the turmoil in the world. As discussed in September, when we resolved to “Best Our Stress,” responding to stress causes a physiological response, which, when chronic, taxes the brain and cognitive health. In that resolution, we learned to manage our physiological response to stress by activating the “Rest and Digest” system, which is the brake on the “Fight or Flight” response. We treated that as a shortcut to the benefits of cultivating a practice of mindfulness.

Mindfulness & Cognitive Decline
 
As with our other resolutions, the practice of mindfulness is a non-pharmaceutical intervention that can prevent cognitive decline. How does it work?


Mindfulness is about reducing attention distractions and improving focus on the moment, thereby reducing stress and improving one’s quality of life, increasing positivity, and enhancing the mind-body connection. It has a similar physiological impact as meditation and is considered a form of meditation by some but does not necessarily need to involve sitting for hours to clear the mind. In research, mindfulness-based activities have been shown to increase brain thickness in multiple areas, importantly in the hippocampus and amygdala. You may recall the hippocampus is important for memory, learning, and emotion. The amygdala is the stress interpreter and is responsible for managing fear, anxiety, and anger. Thus, mindfulness not only reduces stress, and the physiological actions associated with it, but also how we respond in the moment to stressful situations.
 
As always, we’re starting with the basics this week and progress. We encourage you to try them all and then continue to apply whichever one works for you. Our hope is that you will find a few things that resonate with you and can be kept in your toolbox to use when life feels like it’s getting ahead of you.

Our resolution this month is to try one mindful activity each day for 5 minutes a day. Do more if you want! But commit to a minimum of 5 minutes daily.

Diaphragmatic Breathing Technique

We have covered this technique in our past resolutions to “Sleep Better” and “Best our Stress;” repeated again here due to its significance to overall health, and because it is abundantly absent in stressed individuals. The diaphragmatic breathing technique is the ability to belly-breathe or engage the diaphragm when breathing.
In prehistoric times, when faced with a saber-tooth tiger, our ancestors experienced what is known as the stress response, called “Fight or Flight.” When in Fight or Flight mode, the body experiences physiological changes to do just that—run or stand and do battle with the tiger. One of these is a change in the breath where in it becomes more rapid, shallow and occurs through the mouth. Think about how your breathing changes when you are running—makes sense, right?
 
But this primitive system has not adapted to modern living, where all day long we are in “fight or flight” mode due to traffic, work, and other daily stressors. Essentially, this means that all day long we are hyperventilating, using our neck muscles and not our belly (diaphragm) to breathe. (Ironically, this neck breathing stimulates the “fight or flight” response even more!) The diaphragmatic breath is the counter to the stress response; it is what tells the body the threat has gone and it’s OK to relax.
 
So that takes us to your home base for the next five weeks: a diaphragmatic breathing technique. This is where we will often return with other weekly tips and techniques. It is also probably the single best thing you can learn to do for yourself to reduce stress. It is great when driving (leave your hands on the wheel!) or when you retire to bed for the night to help you sleep.
Check out this video to learn the technique.



Music for Your Brain
 
You have probably heard or read somewhere that the brain operates on five different frequencies. All five are virtually always active, but during certain types of activity, one of the five frequencies will dominate and result in a different physiological effect on the body.
 
For example, Beta dominates when you are active, alert, and consciously thinking. Delta dominates deep, dreamless sleep, while Theta dominates meditation and REM (dreaming) sleep.

Physiologically, when Theta dominates, we are less anxious, more creative and we experience less pain. But you don’t have to take a nap or meditate to elevate your Theta brainwave activity. Music can help!
 
Here is a link to eight hours of music designed to enhance your Theta brainwaves. Try listening to it as background music while driving, working, or anytime you feel stressed; it is even a great adjunct to any of the other December Motivated Mondays activities we have planned!
 
If you don’t love what we selected, you can search Google for Theta brainwave music and see what else pops up.

Humming Your Theme Song

Most people are aware of the physiological benefits of meditation: reduced blood pressure, improved cognition, reduced inflammation, increased creativity, reduced pain, etc. But what is less well-known is that humming produces the same physiological benefits!
 
Select your theme song; it should be a song that puts a smile on your face, a skip in your step, and makes you want to sing the words out loud. Rather than sing the song, when you are unhappy or anxious, hum it. It’s a non-intimidating technique that can be done anywhere, anytime, and no one is the wiser.
 
Can’t think of a theme song? No worries—hum the "Happy Birthday" song! It is the perfect length of time to experience results.

We’ll see you next week!

​Happy Monday! We’re keeping it short and sweet today ahead of Thanksgiving preparations.


Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Gratitude for Others
An Abundance Mindset

“To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch heaven.”
 
-Johannes A. Gaertner,
Art history professor, theologian and poet

Today’s exercise is likely to help raise your compassion levels and reduce your simmer if your loved ones’ opinions generally tend to ruffle your feathers.

This week, we’re asking you to jot down the names of those you’re spending Thanksgiving with and, after each name, write down three things you are grateful for in that person.

This concludes our gratitude practice. We hope you decide gratitude shouldn't be left at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Rather, we hope you carry it forward into the holidays, into 2026 and beyond. After all, research shows people who have a daily gratitude practice are 25% happier than those who do not—and couldn’t we all use a little more happiness these days?

We’ll see you next week for the final mini resolution of Motivated Mondays 2025! Have a great Thanksgiving!

This week, we present to you perhaps the toughest gratitude topic to conquer: trials in life.

Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Gratitude for All
Gaining Perspective from Things that Challenge Our Happiness

“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time. The more we say thanks, the more we find to be thankful for. And the more we find to be thankful for, the happier we become. We don't give thanks because we're happy. We are happy because we give thanks.”
 
Douglas Wood, American Author

We hope you’ve being finding it easier to see the good in life and be grateful for what is abundant and joyful when you take a moment to write it down and really appreciate it. But tough times and tough people can sometimes cause us to take a step back from our gratitude practice.

This week, we challenge you to dig deeper and write down a reason to be grateful for each of challenging people and/or circumstances you’ve faced.

How have they benefited you? What life lessons did they teach you, in what ways did they make you stronger and more resilient, or force you out of your comfort zones into new ways of thinking and seeing?
 
This teaches us to be grateful for it all—not just for the things that seem “good” on the surface.
 
And at the end of this week, we encourage you to look back over your gratitude log and take some time to reflect. How have your entries made you feel? Is it getting easier to write 1-3 items each day?

See you next week to conclude this month’s mini resolution!

Good morning and welcome to a NEW mini resolution: GRATITUDE! You may be wondering… how exactly can gratitude improve cognitive function?


Track Your Progress!
 
We urge you to stick with all our past mini resolutions, too. Use our new log to to track all your progress!
 
Questions? Email your Motivated Mondays Coach Michele at mmccambridge@ccpmd.com.
 
If you are new to Motivated Mondays, you can review the 2025 content here.

Developing an Attitude of Gratitude
Cognitive Function and a Gratitude Mindset

 
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”
 
-Lao Tzu,
Chinese philosopher and writer

Using brain MRIs, researchers have discovered an abundance mindset (AKA gratitude) leads to positive brain changes and improves neural networks. In addition, practicing gratitude has been shown to lower heart rates, owing to an activation of the “rest and digest” system (AKA the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The rest and digest system is the counter to the "fight or flight" stress response, which we discussed in September.


The chemicals released by the "fight or flight" response are detrimental and contribute to cognitive decline. In addition, a gratitude practice has been found to improve insomnia. And after our mini resolution to improve sleep back in March, we are now aware of the impact sleep has on the brain.
 
 
Also, gratitude is a positive social behavior which can improve social bonds and we had a past micro resolution around loneliness and social isolation and know how a lack of social connections can impact on the brain.
 
Finally, individuals with a strong capacity for gratitude tend to engage in other healthy behaviors with positive effects on the brain, such as exercise and a healthy diet (also past mini resolutions!).
 
Researchers at University of Berkeley have concluded “grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations… a grateful heart is a healthy heart.” So, let's get started!

Each day of our Gratitude Resolution, write down 1-3 items you are grateful for!

Getting Started
 
We know it can be tough getting started, so here is a list of basics to consider:
​

• Housing
• Heat/hot running water
• Food/water
• Employment (or retirement!)
• Hobbies
• Loved ones
• Technology
• Special skills or talents of yours
• Places you have visited or lived
• Objects which have made your life better
• People who have impacted your life

 
If you would like to go beyond a few notes on our log, you may wish to consider a gratitude journal, a gratitude jar (jotting down your thoughts on a scrap piece of paper, dating it and then stuffing it in a jar), or a gratitude collage. You may even wish to download an app to help keep your gratitude journal, such as the 365 gratitude journal, or the brighter gratitude journal.
 
As with any new habits, plan for obstacles that may get in the way of your daily practice. Is the best time of day first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee—or maybe at night before bed? Will you need a reminder? If so, try alarms on your cell phone, conspicuous post-its, or recruit a family member and make it a joint activity. Miss a day? Double down on your list!

 
We’ll see you next week!
 
And don’t forget Wednesday is World Kindness Day! Let us know how you practice and observe kindness that day.