Speaker 1: Imagine the place where you can escape for a day,
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Speaker 2: Okay, hey, uh, first off, so long weekend here in
Speaker 2: America and y'all might be on trains or buying butter
Speaker 2: or talking to your aunt. So I made you a
Speaker 2: short episode so you can listen while hiding in the
Speaker 2: bathroom in case you need some alone time. And also
Speaker 2: one fun offshoot of this podcast is making and selling
Speaker 2: cool merch Boy, Howdy, is there a sale you're going
Speaker 2: to want to get up in? Starting on Black Friday,
Speaker 2: which is a day after Turkey Day, all weekend until
Speaker 2: eleven fifty nine pm on Cyber Monday. Ready for this
Speaker 2: thirty percent off sale thirty percent off ologismerch dot com.
Speaker 2: There's enamel pins, tots, shirts, mugs, some insane science y
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Speaker 2: I can't even deal. This is my first year ever
Speaker 2: doing a Black Friday sale, and I've going deep. You'll
Speaker 2: need a discount code. I'll say it at the end
Speaker 2: of this minisode so that you have time right now
Speaker 2: to find a crusty pen in your parents drunk drawer.
Speaker 2: You can write it on the back of a receipt
Speaker 2: for potatoes, so stand by. You're gonna want the code.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna give it to you now. Also, it's
Speaker 2: black Fritology b l A c K frid l O. Guy.
Speaker 2: Got it great. I'll say it again at the end
Speaker 2: of the episode. Okay, first the minisode. Okay, Hi, hello, Hi,
Speaker 2: welcome to Ologies. I'm Ali. I realize I never tell
Speaker 2: you guys who I am at the beginning of these,
Speaker 2: but I'm the host of podcast called Ologies. You're listening
Speaker 2: to it. Let's do some free association. I'm gonna say
Speaker 2: the word Thanksgiving. What do you think of first Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2: You got it? Okay, I myself, I think of gravy.
Speaker 2: You say Thanksgiving, I immediately conjure an image of a
Speaker 2: hot gravy dish that's kind of growing skin by the moment.
Speaker 2: Maybe you thought about layovers in a crowded airport or
Speaker 2: an itchy turtle neck. I can tell you that one
Speaker 2: of the last things I think about, to be honest
Speaker 2: is gratitude, because I felt like a garbage this week,
Speaker 2: and I don't know it's I don't know. Maybe I
Speaker 2: had the flu. There's also this weird apocalyptic nationwide shortage
Speaker 2: of a thyroid medication I'm supposed to be taking. Maybe
Speaker 2: it's because every time I see anything in the news,
Speaker 2: I'm reminded that things are terrible and the world seems
Speaker 2: like a farce right now. And I've just been feeling
Speaker 2: like like if you took a burlap sack and you
Speaker 2: sighed heavily into it, but it had eyes and hair,
Speaker 2: that would be me. So I was going to make
Speaker 2: a mini episode this week, just a quickie about how
Speaker 2: cells recognize each other. But I was in such a
Speaker 2: bad mood I googled is there a science of gratitude?
Speaker 2: And an article written by a husband and wife team
Speaker 2: of clinical psychologists, doctors Blair and Rita Justice popped up.
Speaker 2: It was called grateful Ology, and I rolled my eyes
Speaker 2: so hard I think I sprained one. Then I read
Speaker 2: on because clearly I was paying a little bit. So
Speaker 2: this episode is a quickie about what dumb holidays are
Speaker 2: supposed to be about, Thanksgiving and gratitude and why it's
Speaker 2: not just a thing that Oprah uses to sell blank journals,
Speaker 2: but why neuroscientists say it's a good way to be
Speaker 2: less annoyed, less unhappy, and overall live longer. If you're
Speaker 2: into that kind of thing, just buckle up. I promise
Speaker 2: you it's worth it. Just me and you chit chatting
Speaker 2: privately about this. You don't even have to tell anyone
Speaker 2: that you listen to this. Okay, So grateful bology heavier.
Speaker 3: Pretty soon, pretty soon.
Speaker 2: So okay, first off, the players, the main players in
Speaker 2: the science of does being thankful for the life you
Speaker 2: have actually make you happier are doctor Blair Justice, professor
Speaker 2: of psychology at the University of Texas School of Public Health,
Speaker 2: and read a Justice who is a psychologist in Houston.
Speaker 2: So they wrote this article called grateful Ology. It's like
Speaker 2: ten years old. So I googled to make sure that
Speaker 2: they haven't been arrested or divorced or appointed a cabinet
Speaker 2: position in the White House. And sadly, doctor Blair Justice
Speaker 2: has since passed away, but he and Rita were married
Speaker 2: over forty years and that's amazing and adorable. So they
Speaker 2: were doing something right. And together they were huge advocates
Speaker 2: for gratitude in general. And they also study the effects
Speaker 2: of mood and emotional wellbeing on physical well being. They
Speaker 2: wrote books on it. Now, other players in the scientific
Speaker 2: field of appreciating your shit are doctor Robert Emmons, he
Speaker 2: goes by Bob of the University of California Davis. He
Speaker 2: wrote a book called Thanks, How Practicing Gratitude can make
Speaker 2: You Happier. And doctor Michael mcculloff of the University of Miami.
Speaker 2: And together these two doctors just did a dumb truck
Speaker 2: or their research and I mean that in a good way,
Speaker 2: about how taking stock and the good stuff can help
Speaker 2: you be less miserable. Doctor mcculloff and doctor Emmons did
Speaker 2: one study that had three sets of participants. Those who
Speaker 2: were asked to write down weekly the things they were
Speaker 2: grateful for or compose a letter of thanks to a person.
Speaker 2: They don't have to send it, they could eat it
Speaker 2: didn't matter. Another group wrote down their hassles of the week,
Speaker 2: and then another just jotted down neutral events. They found
Speaker 2: that those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis
Speaker 2: exercise more regularly, which is super weird. They reported fewer
Speaker 2: physical ailments. They felt better about their lives as a whole,
Speaker 2: like twenty five percent happier, which is just you know,
Speaker 2: and they were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared
Speaker 2: to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events. Now,
Speaker 2: participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have
Speaker 2: made progress toward important goals over a two month period
Speaker 2: compared to the other subjects. So, how how does it
Speaker 2: do this? How does saying I'm really I really like
Speaker 2: muster or uh that this flower smells good?
Speaker 4: Like?
Speaker 2: How does this? How does this help keep you healthy?
Speaker 2: How does it help you reach your goals? What's the deal? Well?
Speaker 2: According to UCLA neuroscience researcher doctor Alex Korb, the benefits
Speaker 2: of gratitude start with the dopamine system, and he says
Speaker 2: feeling grateful activates the brainstem region that produces dopamine. He
Speaker 2: also says that gratitude can boost serotonin, and trying to
Speaker 2: think of things you're grateful for makes you focus on
Speaker 2: positive aspects of your life, and that increases serotonin production
Speaker 2: in the anterior singulate cortex, which is something that is
Speaker 2: bobbing around in your skull. He also said that it's
Speaker 2: not finding gratitude that matters most, it's remembering to look.
Speaker 2: So it's just remembering to look that's important. So even
Speaker 2: if you're like, what's something I'm grateful for and then
Speaker 2: there's just like a long pause and then you say, horseshit, nothing,
Speaker 2: that's still better than not thinking. Isn't that great? They say,
Speaker 2: just looking for things to be grateful for found that
Speaker 2: it actually affected neuron density in certain parts of the brain,
Speaker 2: and it suggests that as emotional intelligence increases, the neurons
Speaker 2: become more efficient. So with higher emotional intelligence, it takes
Speaker 2: less effort to be grateful and it has some lasting effects.
Speaker 2: How much of all of this is weird fringe research,
Speaker 2: it's actually not like U see, Berkeley has a whole
Speaker 2: arm dedicated to positive psychology. It's called the Greater Goods
Speaker 2: Science Center at Berkeley, and they have also found that
Speaker 2: people who practice gratitude consistently have stronger immune systems, less depression,
Speaker 2: more joy, optimism, happiness, they have better relationships, and they
Speaker 2: have less feelings of isolation or loneliness. So they gave
Speaker 2: out three million dollars in research grants a few years
Speaker 2: ago on the topic, and there were fourteen winners, and
Speaker 2: they went on to use that money to study. Here
Speaker 2: are some of the papers that they published, Cultivating Gratitude
Speaker 2: and a Consumerist Society, the impact of gratitude on biology
Speaker 2: and behavior in persons with heart disease, a model of
Speaker 2: bullying based on gratitude and its effects on social bonds.
Speaker 2: And even friend O Wall noted primatologist used some research
Speaker 2: money and studied gratitude and partner preference in chimpanzee cooperation.
Speaker 2: So people are working on it. People are like, yeah,
Speaker 2: there's something to this. You got to force yourself to
Speaker 2: look on the bright side. Now. Doctor Emmons we talked
Speaker 2: about him before, says that the choice of gratitude doesn't
Speaker 2: come without effort. You got to put some effort. But
Speaker 2: each time we make the effort, it does get easier
Speaker 2: because remember, we're making those neural iways more efficient. He
Speaker 2: also says there's two types of gratitude. There's relational and conditional,
Speaker 2: and relational is focused on the giver and conditional on
Speaker 2: the gift, and relational is more potent. So hey, thanks
Speaker 2: for being so thoughtful for the thing you did is
Speaker 2: more important than thank you for this bag of bees
Speaker 2: that you gave me, assuming that you liked bees. I myself,
Speaker 2: if you gave me a bag of bees, I'd be like, whoo.
Speaker 2: That might not be you anyway, but you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. So I was researching this episode and writing today,
Speaker 2: and I wish I had thought of the topic sooner,
Speaker 2: and I wish I had an interview for you. But
Speaker 2: I did the next best thing, and I gently stock
Speaker 2: doctor Edmon's on Twitter and I lobbed a question at him.
Speaker 2: He doesn't know who I am, so what? And I said, Hey,
Speaker 2: this must be the busiest time of year for you,
Speaker 2: but how can people stay grateful with the deluge of
Speaker 2: tough news lately? And he he tweeted me back. I
Speaker 2: felt it was so exciting. It felt like bet Middler
Speaker 2: saying hello or something. He said, Gratitude is undentable, Joy
Speaker 2: time's good, celebrate time's tough, find the opportunity. It's an attitude.
Speaker 2: It's not based on circumstances. So snap, okay. So He's like,
Speaker 2: even though things are garbage, it's very important to look
Speaker 2: for things to be appreciative of. Stay aware as you
Speaker 2: need to be be as active in the community as
Speaker 2: you need to be. Resist what you need to, but
Speaker 2: make time to appreciate the good. This is like doctor's orders.
Speaker 2: It will make you a better fighter of wrong. So
Speaker 2: how do you do this? Nart in his book Thanks
Speaker 2: Doctor Emmon suggests keeping a gratitude journal daily and you
Speaker 2: can record in writing what you're grateful for. Come to
Speaker 2: your senses, so count bodily related things like being able
Speaker 2: to see here, walk, eat, breathe, listen to podcasts. Use
Speaker 2: visual reminders like pictures of loved ones or scenes of nature,
Speaker 2: and think outside the box. So think of the non
Speaker 2: obvious things to be grateful for, like the fact that
Speaker 2: aliens haven't come down on our planet yet, or maybe
Speaker 2: they have and you're thankful for them. I don't know.
Speaker 2: There's also this site called thanks for dot org and
Speaker 2: it's t h nx four dot org. It's the opposite
Speaker 2: of Twitter. You can just sign up and have a
Speaker 2: twenty day challenge and just post and write things that
Speaker 2: you're thankful for. You open it up and just see
Speaker 2: what everyone's thankful for. And it, honestly is it's like
Speaker 2: a weird Seinfeld. It's like the intro to the opposite
Speaker 2: sketches so you can do another thing, which I did
Speaker 2: and then I neglected it and I need to get
Speaker 2: back to it. You can open your own secret, private
Speaker 2: Twitter account and have it be locked and not tell
Speaker 2: anyone that you have it, and then whenever you want
Speaker 2: to scroll on depressing stuff, you just hop over to
Speaker 2: your secret private Twitter and just toss out a bunch
Speaker 2: of tweets listing what you're grateful for. No one has
Speaker 2: to know about it. You look like you're scrolling, but
Speaker 2: really you're just tweeting things that you're like, Eh, pretzels
Speaker 2: are pretty good, and then later you can scroll through
Speaker 2: them for like an instant mood boost. But apparently, try
Speaker 2: and find a couple things today that you're like, thumbs
Speaker 2: up and about so happy start of the holidays. If
Speaker 2: you're having a tough time, No, you're not alone. It's
Speaker 2: kind of a weird time of year for a lot
Speaker 2: of people. It's a weird year for a lot of people.
Speaker 2: It's it's weird. And just know that a list of
Speaker 2: what's good might bring you almost as much joy as
Speaker 2: a lackey. It might change your life even more than
Speaker 2: a nosehair trimmer. And you're stalking, Oh, speaking of gifts,
Speaker 2: if you're looking to do any shopping again Black Fried
Speaker 2: Ology on ologiesmerch dot com. That's the code. I told you,
Speaker 2: i'd tell you at the end B L A C
Speaker 2: K F R I D O L O G Y
Speaker 2: all one word thirty percent off your order. Okay, I
Speaker 2: told you i'd tell you. I hope you got a pen,
Speaker 2: hit it, go for it, get some stuff. And as
Speaker 2: long as we're being grateful, I just want to say
Speaker 2: I'm very thankful for everyone who listens. If you're listening
Speaker 2: right now, it means a last me. Thank you to
Speaker 2: every person who's spread the word about Ologies on social
Speaker 2: media or told friends. Thank you to everyone who's rated,
Speaker 2: or reviewed or subscribed. It helps so much in keeping
Speaker 2: this up in the charts. Thank you to all the
Speaker 2: patrons on Patreon. I love you for the cool ass
Speaker 2: vibe in the Ologies podcast Facebook group. Thanks to Shannon
Speaker 2: Feltis aka Urban farm Foods on Facebook and Bonnie Dutch
Speaker 2: bo n I Dutch on Etsy and Amazing Artists for
Speaker 2: helping me with merch. Thanks to Hannah Lippo and Aaron
Speaker 2: Talbert for being awesome friends and running the Facebook group.
Speaker 2: And to my parents and sisters. For listening and pretending
Speaker 2: that the square words don't bother them. So go ask
Speaker 2: smart people dumb questions, maybe even via Twitter, because it's
Speaker 2: the only way to learn. I'm on Instagram and Twitter
Speaker 2: as Ali Ward and ologies on Instagram, ologies pot on Twitter.
Speaker 2: So go, I don't know, grab a journal, make a
Speaker 2: secret Twitter shots, and stuff down on a gravy stained
Speaker 2: paper napkin. Just look for things that are good. It
Speaker 2: will change your brain. All right, you got this? Okay?
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