Let's Get Science-y

Now, I’m the first to admit that I have changed my life according to some techniques I’ve learned from a group of channeled beings and yes, that is damn weird. But, this has had some extremely positive impacts on my life. I’ve always had the mindset that anything’s possible. Do you believe in ghosts? Life after death? Past lives? And my response is typically “Sure, why not? Anything’s possible. I’m sure there are so many things we human beings can’t begin to comprehend.” So, why not find wisdom and life lessons from a group of channeled beings?

But, rational me comes out from time to time, and I get an urge to “see the science.” This happened recently while re-reading the book, The Magic. In the book, Rhonda Byrnes kept telling me about all the wonderful physical and mental benefits having a gratitude practice would bring to my life. But, a little voice in the back of my head, kept saying, “Oh yeah, prove it.” So, what does the person living in 2023 do when wanting to prove something? Turn to Google, of course.

During my Google search of “medical benefits of gratitude,” I stumbled across a podcast episode called, The Science of Gratitude & How to Build a Gratitude Practice from the podcast show, The Huberman Lab. The host, Dr. Andrew Huberman, is a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford School of Medicine. Jackpot! This guy is legit!

I listened attentively for all 84 minutes of the episode right away. I couldn’t tear myself away from it. I was eating up all the science and totally geeking out. This guy was explaining the actual physical and chemical changes that are happening in our brains when practicing gratitude. He was citing studies and everything! I thought, “Ok Rhonda, maybe you are right.”

Dr. Huberman shared about studies that found that to get the most benefit from a gratitude practice there are certain techniques to use. Those didn’t really align to what I had been doing in the past nor those recommended in The Magic, so I was very intrigued. Basically, to get the most benefit from a gratitude practice, you need to digest content that expresses gratitude towards you. For example, you could read a letter from a friend thanking you for some way you've helped them. But, he acknowledges that can be kind of hard - unless you want to go around to all your friends and ask them to express their gratitude for you. He offered the alternative is to digest stories about gratitude, like through a book, movie, or podcast, as long as it's in story format. I've been trying to think of good examples, but I haven't come up with any. Feel free to share some if you have ideas in the comments.

So, I have some work to still do in this area, and I really appreciate learning about how science backs up the benefits of any of these spiritually fit tools. I HIGHLY recommend checking out this podcast for more science-backed information about many similar topics. I’m just starting to dig in, and it’s a goldmine!