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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 [email protected]. 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!
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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 [email protected]. 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 [email protected]. 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:
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. World Kindness Day is coming up on November 13th, so let’s make plans to change some of the negative energy permeating the news and social media outlets by finding ways to be kind. Read on to discover how kindness can positively impact brain health, and for a list of ideas for showing kindness to others! Being Kind to Your Mind and to All of Humankind
"Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool." —Syed Balkhi Kindness doesn't only benefit the recipient of the act. Science tells us being kind to others actually imparts health benefits upon the bestowed, in part by redirecting negative thoughts and emotions into positive ones, by:
As important as the immediate benefits are to you and the recipient of your behavior, kind behavior begets more kind behavior. As American Author Scott Adams said, "Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end." How will you celebrate World Kindness Day? Take a look at our acts of kindness list below and develop your plan for November 13th’s World Kindness Day. Use our log to write down your ideas, and to continue logging our past mini resolutions! 27 Acts of Kindness To help you get started, here are a few ideas that vary from simple acts to going the extra mile, (listed in no particular order):
See you next week as we start a new mini resolution using expressions of gratitude to stave off cognitive decline! |
MICHELE MCCAMBRIDGE, MPH, MSMichele is the Senior VP of Membership Development at Concierge Choice Physicians. She is also a professional in the areas of nutrition, fitness and wellness. Archives
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