serotonin – Pam Grout

Why I’m the luckiest person on the planet and other perks of brazen gratitude

May 7, 2013 25 Comments

“Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” –Helen Keller

While I was hot air ballooning over Albuquerque last Friday, looking out over the Rio Grande Valley for what my balloon pilot described as 100 miles, I thought “I must be the luckiest person on the planet.” Not only do I regularly get to do the most awesome things, but I stay at five-star hotels, get treated to scrumptious meals (complete with dessert and cocktails) and meet what I consider to be the world’s most fascinating people. I shared my gratitude about “being so lucky” with my Vortex group on Sunday and my friend Linda pointed out there’s scientific proof that “feeling lucky” brings good rushing to your doorstep.

She cited a study at Stanford University where students were divided into two groups: those who identified themselves as being lucky and those who said they weren’t. Both groups were given a newspaper section and asked to count the number of pictures. The “lucky group” reported seeing 41 pictures. The “unlucky group” didn’t come close. Not one of them.

As it turns out, there was a line on the last page of the newspaper section that said, “Tell your professor you saw 41 pictures.” Every one of the self-identified lucky students, the ones who perceive themselves as drawing good fortune to their lives, noticed that little tip. Not one of the “unlucky” students was “lucky enough” to see it.

Coincidence? I don’t think so. That study, done by one of the top research universities in the country, more or less proves my Volkswagen Jetta principle: You impact the field and draw from it according to your beliefs and expectations.

Gratitude, feeling lucky, seeking things to be thankful for results in abundance. By focusing on positives, on how lucky and blessed you are, you will be rewarded not only with great drugs (neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin and other feel-good chemicals), but your neural pathways will sculpt a path to even more good things. We truly receive whatever we focus upon.

Tell me in the comments section below. Why are you the luckiest person on the planet?

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.

Your brain on gratitude: the perks of brazen thankfulness

February 26, 2013 11 Comments

“Gratitude is some seriously powerful stuff.”
–Emily Wenstrom

I just returned from the Cook Islands, a tiny nation of 15 spits of land, surrounded by millions of miles of ocean.

The 15,000 or so people who live in the Cooks rightfully believe they are blessed, that God has given them everything they could possibly need.

It’s an attitude that can’t help but provide. When someone shows up on this planet with a grateful heart and eyes seeking only things for which to be thankful, that’s exactly what they’ll find. Abundance aplenty.

Cook Islanders don’t need researchers to tell them that their feelings of thankfulness have a direct and beneficial effect on their brains, a finding scientists are reporting from labs all over Western universities.

By naturally focusing on positives, on how lucky and blessed they are living in these beautiful South Pacific islands, they’re rewarded with neurotransmitters like dopamine and other feel-good chemicals that form neural patterns of happiness. Their unending gratitude literally sculpts their brains which in turn increases their enthusiasm and energy and lowers their stress.

Consequently, their neural pathways are markedly different than those of us in the West that are conditioned to shine our spotlights on what we resent or regret or what we think is “wrong with the world.”

Renee Jain, a coach of positive psychology, says most Westerners have a negativity bias where “bad stuff” outweighs the good 3:1. Think of all the good drugs (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin) we’re missing out on by our bitching.

That’s why my mission in life is to be like the Cook Islanders, to focus only on the supreme beneficence of the universe.

I consciously choose to believe such thoughts as:

Life is freaking awesome.
The universe is bounteous and forever generous.
Something amazing is bound to happen to me today.

Today, I say thank you for all the blessings that are barreling my way, all the abundance, the joy, the peace of mind that I count on day after day. To my way of thinking, responding to any other reality is simply irresponsible.

So tell me … what are you grateful for?