Do this one thing to ease anxiety

Hello, and happy Thanksgiving week!

It's a challenge for me to believe that Thanksgiving is here, and Christmas and all the holidays are around the corner. And, what a year for all of us. A roller coaster of a year...two, really. I don't need to tell you!

At a time in our lives when the holidays can bring mixed emotion, and oftentimes increased anxiety (especially for your early adolescent), I wanted to offer you a simple reminder of the heart and soul of this season.

It's about love. Plain and simple. Love, acceptance, and gratitude for who and what you have.

Since you're inundated with gratitude-speak this week, I want to keep this simple and actionable.

First I'll share the science of how gratitude affects the very real anxiety you and your early adolescent might be feeling, and second, I'll share simple ways you can cultivate more of it.

First, the science behind gratitude practice - what does it do to the brain and the body:

• Benefits areas of your life such as sleep, relationships (romantic or otherwise), happiness, motivation, and physical health. We talk all about why this happens in EA's latest blog post!

• Your early adolescent's brain is under construction, and you want to guide them towards ways of thinking and experiencing the world so they build positive neural connections in there that will not only last, but that will enable them to lead a high-quality life. 

• Expressing or receiving gratitude triggers the brain to release dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our good or positive emotions.

The four parts of gratitude:

• What you notice

• How you feel

• How you think

• What you do

Second, simple ways you can cultivate more gratitude:

So, how do you practice gratitude in a way that doesn't feel cheesy, or one-off around the Thanksgiving table once a year?

• Ask questions - before bed, at dinner, in the car (when not forced and woven into conversation)

• What's something that made you laugh today?

• What do you have in your life right now that you're grateful for? Is that thing something you were born with or given? If it's given, who gave it to you and how important is that person in your life?

• Model the behavior - you are their first and best teacher!

• Express your own gratitude: "I'm so grateful for the sun, clean laundry, to be able to sleep in, no traffic this morning." (All things I've said in the last week.)

• Show them what you do when you are grateful, reciprocate the action/thing that made you feel that way. Say thank you, give someone a hug, write in a journal. Keep it simple and do something that works for you.

• Feeling inspired? Create a ritual:

• Create a jar or bowl where throughout the week your family can write notes of something that made them feel grateful and read them out loud at the end of the week

Get more suggestions from listening to the full episode or checking out our latest blog post!

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Glenn Fox, & Fox, G. F. G. (n.d.). What can the brain reveal about gratitude? Greater Good. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_can_the_brain_reveal_about_gratitude?utm_source=Greater%2BGood%2BScience%2BCenter&utm_campaign=a1fcac6170-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_Dedicated_November_2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5ae73e326e-a1fcac6170-73213471.

Henning, M., Fox, G. R., Kaplan, J., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. (1AD, January 1). A potential role for mu-opioids in mediating the positive effects of gratitude. Frontiers. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00868/full.

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