Since Americans celebrate Thanksgiving in November, this is the perfect time of year to thank all the people who help us make it through the day. Many scientists have studied how practicing gratitude can positively affect the body. Dr. Melissa Madeson compiled the results from 15 different gratitude studies in Positive Psychology. Those studies found that the regular practice of gratitude can:
- Influence positive changes in mood and resilience
- Activate the prefrontal cortex and other regions of the brain
- Conditions the brain to filter negativity and focus on positive thoughts
- Boosts serotonin and dopamine
- Increases gray matter volume
- Changes neural structures in the brain
Considering how impactful gratitude is on the brain, LearningRx Shreveport wants to encourage all our clients, community partners, colleagues, and readers. Practice the attitude of gratitude for the entire month of November! To help you do this, we have some resources for you.
Each day on our social media, we will be posting a different person in your life that you can thank. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A simple call or text or even a social media post works. Tell that person in your life that you are grateful for them. If you’d like to see the entire calendar of who we will be thanking this month, check out this Facebook post. You can follow along each day on our page or print the whole calendar.
In our center, we are also encouraging our families to complete the Family Gratitude Challenge posted on Big Life Journal’s blog. It is a 21-day challenge that helps create a gratitude mindset. For each day you complete, your child or you can color in the challenge you completed. You can download the activity here.
We will have more blogs this month about the power of gratitude and positive talk and thoughts. As we enter this season of thanksgiving, we can all spread a little kindness.
We are so very grateful for the opportunity to change lives every day in our community. If you would like to learn more about LearningRx Shreveport, please call 318-797-8523 or email shreveport.la@learningrx.net. Read about us on our website.
To keep with what’s happening in our center, sign up for our monthly newsletter here!
You can also see where will be appearing and what fun activities we’re hosting on our Events and Facebook page.