Speaker 1: Imagine the place where you can escape for a day,
Speaker 1: get immersed in a world of rooms, inspiration and expertise,
Speaker 1: where you can lay in luxury, accommodation and kids cam
Speaker 1: fees from ninety five sets. Take Its are free to
Speaker 1: everyone and include all the attractions you've just imagined. A
Speaker 1: day out at the kia Ikia the Wonderful every Day.
Speaker 2: Oh hey, it's your neighbor, Raking Leaves, who wears one
Speaker 2: of those marshmallow parkas that goes down to her ankles.
Speaker 2: Allie Ward back with the first ever rerun of Ologies. Listen.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be quick because this already has an introduction,
Speaker 2: but this is a timely episode. It was originally released
Speaker 2: last November when Ologies was just a tiny, maybe infant podcast,
Speaker 2: so so many of you may have missed it and
Speaker 2: I just listened to it and the refresher course on
Speaker 2: this topic was helpful as hell, so it might be
Speaker 2: worth your fifteen minutes. Maybe have a re listen. Okay,
Speaker 2: here we go. Allie warned, you're gonna record how many
Speaker 2: sald Maybe people will like it, maybe they won't, so
Speaker 2: what Okay, Hey, it's long weekend here in America and
Speaker 2: y'all might be on trains or buying butter or talking
Speaker 2: to your aunt. So I made you a short episode
Speaker 2: so you can listen while hiding in the bathroom in
Speaker 2: case you need some alone time. And also one fun
Speaker 2: offshoot of this podcast is making and selling cool merch Boy,
Speaker 2: Howdy is there a sale you're gonna want to get
Speaker 2: up in? Starting on Black Friday, which is the day
Speaker 2: after Turkey Day, all weekend until eleven fifty nine pm
Speaker 2: on Cyber Monday. Ready for this thirty sale thirty d
Speaker 2: percent off ologismerch dot com. There's enamel pins, tots, shirts, mugs,
Speaker 2: some insane science y holiday sweater pattern shirts, weggings, all
Speaker 2: of it thirty percent off. I can't even deal. They'll
Speaker 2: need a discount code, I'll say at the end of
Speaker 2: this minisode, so that you have time right now to
Speaker 2: find a crusty pen in your parents junk drawer. You
Speaker 2: can write it on the back of a receipt for potatoes,
Speaker 2: so stand by. You're gonna want the code. I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna give it to you now. Also, it's black Fritology
Speaker 2: b l A C K frid O l O G Y.
Speaker 2: Got it great. I'll say it again at the end
Speaker 2: of the episode. Okay, first the minisod, let's do some
Speaker 2: free association. I'm going to say the word Thanksgiving. What
Speaker 2: do you think of first Thanksgiving? You got it? Okay,
Speaker 2: I myself, I think of gravy. You say Thanksgiving, I
Speaker 2: immediately conjure an image of a hot gravy dish that's
Speaker 2: kind of growing skin by the moment. Maybe you thought
Speaker 2: about layovers in a crowded airport or an itchy turtleneck.
Speaker 2: I can tell you that one of the last things
Speaker 2: I think about, to be honest, is gratitude. Because I
Speaker 2: felt like a garbage this week, and I don't know
Speaker 2: it's I don't know. Maybe I had the flu and
Speaker 2: I've just been feeling like like if you took a
Speaker 2: burlap sack and you sighed heavily into it, but it
Speaker 2: had eyes and hair, that would be me. So I
Speaker 2: was going to make a mini episode this week, just
Speaker 2: a quickie about how cells recognize each other. But I
Speaker 2: was in such a bad mood I googled is there
Speaker 2: a Science of Gratitude? And an article written by a
Speaker 2: husband and wife team of clinical psychologists, doctors Blair and
Speaker 2: Rita Justice, popped up. It was called grateful Ology, and
Speaker 2: I rolled my eyes so hard I think I sprained one.
Speaker 2: Then I read on because clearly I was paying a
Speaker 2: little bit. So this episode is a quickie about what
Speaker 2: dumb holidays are supposed to be about, Thanksgiving and gratitude,
Speaker 2: and why it's not just a thing that Oprah uses
Speaker 2: to sell a blank journal. Sixteen years ago, I started
Speaker 2: a gratitude journal, and I will have to say it
Speaker 2: was the single most important thing I believe I've ever done.
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 Oology heavier.
Speaker 3: Soon, very soon, very soon. So okay.
Speaker 2: First off, the players, the main players in the science
Speaker 2: of does being thankful for the life you have actually
Speaker 2: make you happier are doctor Blair Justice, professor of psychology
Speaker 2: at the University of Texas School of Public Health, and
Speaker 2: read a Justice who is a psychologist in Houston. So
Speaker 2: they wrote this article called grateful Ology. It's like ten
Speaker 2: years old, so I googled to make sure that they
Speaker 2: haven't been arrested or divorced or appointed a cabinet position
Speaker 2: in the White House. And sadly, doctor Blair Justice has
Speaker 2: since passed away. But he and Rita were married over
Speaker 2: forty years and that's amazing and adorable. So they were
Speaker 2: doing something right when together. They were huge advocates for
Speaker 2: gratitude in general, and they also study the effects of
Speaker 2: mood and emotional wellbeing on physical wellbeing. There wrote books
Speaker 2: on it. Now. Other players in the scientific field of
Speaker 2: appreciating your shit are doctor Robert Emmons, he goes by
Speaker 2: Bob Hi of the University of California Davis. He wrote
Speaker 2: a book called Thanks, How Practicing Gratitude can make You Happier.
Speaker 2: And doctor Michael mcculloff of the University of Miami. And
Speaker 2: together these two doctors just did a dumb truck or
Speaker 2: their research, and I mean that in a good way
Speaker 2: about how taking stock of 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 yeah, and they
Speaker 2: were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those
Speaker 2: who recorded hassles or neutral life events. Now, participants who
Speaker 2: kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress
Speaker 2: toward important goals over a two month period compared to
Speaker 2: the other subjects. So, how how does it do this?
Speaker 2: How does saying I'm really I really like mustard or
Speaker 2: this is flower snows gay like? How does this? How
Speaker 2: does this help keep you healthy? How does it help
Speaker 2: you reach your goals? What's the deal? Well? According to
Speaker 2: UCLA neuroscience researcher doctor Alex Korb, the benefits of gratitude
Speaker 2: start with the dopamine system, and he says, feeling grateful
Speaker 2: activates the brain stem region that produces dopamine. He also
Speaker 2: says that gratitude can boost serotonin, and trying to think
Speaker 2: of things you're grateful for makes you focus on positive
Speaker 2: aspects of your life and that increases serotonin production in
Speaker 2: the anterior singulate cortex, which is something that is bobbing
Speaker 2: around in your skull. He also said that it's not
Speaker 2: finding gratitude that matters most, it's remembering to look. So
Speaker 2: it's just remembering to look that's important. So even if
Speaker 2: you're like, what's something I'm grateful for and then there's
Speaker 2: 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 UC Berkeley has a whole arm
Speaker 2: dedicated to positive psychology. It's called the Greater Goods Science
Speaker 2: Center at Berkeley, and they have also found that people
Speaker 2: 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 a Wall noted primatologists 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 highways 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 ha 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 mmns 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. I felt like Bett Middler
Speaker 2: saying hello or something. Oh, he said, gratitude is undentable,
Speaker 2: joy time's good, Celebrate time's tough, find the opportunity. It's
Speaker 2: an attitude. It's not based on circumstances. So snap, okay.
Speaker 2: So he was like, even though things are garbage, it's
Speaker 2: very important to look for things to be appreciative of.
Speaker 2: Stay aware as you need to be, be as active
Speaker 2: in the community as you need to be. Resist what
Speaker 2: you need to, but make time to appreciate the good.
Speaker 2: This is like doctor's orders. It will make you a
Speaker 2: better fighter of wrong. So how do you do this?
Speaker 2: Nart in his book Thanks Doctor Emmon suggests keeping a
Speaker 2: gratitude journal daily and you can record in writing what
Speaker 2: you're grateful for. One time, it was just two squirrels
Speaker 2: eat and I said, I better write that down. Come
Speaker 2: to your set is so count bodily related things like
Speaker 2: being able to see here, walk, eat, breathe, listen to podcasts.
Speaker 2: Use visual reminders like pictures of loved ones or scenes
Speaker 2: of nature, and think outside the box. So think of
Speaker 2: the non obvious things to be grateful for, like the
Speaker 2: fact that aliens haven't come down on our planet yet,
Speaker 2: or maybe they have and you're thankful for them. I
Speaker 2: don't know. There's also this site called thanks for dot
Speaker 2: org and it's t h n x four dot org.
Speaker 2: It's the opposite of Twitter. You can just sign up
Speaker 2: and have a twenty day challenge and just post and
Speaker 2: write things that you're thankful for. You open it up
Speaker 2: and just see what everyone's thankful for, and it's it,
Speaker 2: honestly is It's like a weird Seinfeld.
Speaker 3: Jerry George Kramer.
Speaker 1: This is Kevin gene and Feld him.
Speaker 2: It's like the intro to the opposite sketches. So you
Speaker 2: can do another thing, which I did and then I
Speaker 2: negleg it and I need to get back to it.
Speaker 2: You can open your own secret private Twitter account and
Speaker 2: have it be locked and not tell anyone that you
Speaker 2: have it, and then whenever you want to scroll on
Speaker 2: depressing stuff, you just hop over to your secret private
Speaker 2: Twitter and just toss out a bunch of tweets listing
Speaker 2: what you're grateful for. No one has to know about it.
Speaker 2: You look like you're scrolling, but really you're just tweeting
Speaker 2: things that you're like, Eh, pretzels are pretty good, and
Speaker 2: then later you can scroll through them for like an
Speaker 2: instant mood boost. But apparently try and find a couple
Speaker 2: things today that you're like thumbs up and about so
Speaker 2: happy started the holidays. If you're having a tough time, No,
Speaker 2: you're not alone. It's kind of a weird time of
Speaker 2: year for a lot of people. It's a weird year
Speaker 2: for a lot of people. It's weird. And just know
Speaker 2: the list of what's good might bring you almost as
Speaker 2: much joy as a lackey. It might change your life
Speaker 2: even more than a nosehair trimmer and you're stalking. Oh,
Speaker 2: speaking of gifts, if you're looking to do any shopping again,
Speaker 2: Black fried Oology on ologiesmerch dot com. That's the code.
Speaker 2: I told you, I'd tell you at the end B
Speaker 2: L A C K F R I D O l
Speaker 2: O G Y all one word thirty percent off your order. Okay,
Speaker 2: I told you, i'd tell you. I hope you got
Speaker 2: a pen. Thanks to Shannon Feltis aka Urban Farm Foods
Speaker 2: on Facebook and Bonnie Dutch b O n I Dutch
Speaker 2: on Etsy and Amazing Artist for helping me with merch.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Hannah Lippo and Aaron Talbert for being awesome
Speaker 2: friends and running the Facebook group, and my parents and
Speaker 2: sisters for listening and pretending that the swear words don't
Speaker 2: bother them. So go ask smart people dumb questions, maybe
Speaker 2: even via Twitter, because it's the only way to learn.
Speaker 2: I'm on Instagram and Twitter as Ali Ward and ologies
Speaker 2: on Instagram, ologies pot on Twitter. So go, I don't know,
Speaker 2: grab a journal, make a secret Twitter shot, some stuff
Speaker 2: down on a gravy stained paper napkin. Just look for
Speaker 2: things that are good. It will change your brain. All right,
Speaker 2: you got this? Okay? Hi, Okay, this was before I
Speaker 2: recorded Secrets at the Ends. Also, it was before I
Speaker 2: had Stephen Ray Morris helping me do all the edits,
Speaker 2: and I'm grateful for him so much. Also, okay, I'm
Speaker 2: going to give you for my secret at the end.
Speaker 2: Five things I'm thankful for pine incense, frozen berries, dusk
Speaker 2: and or dawn. When one of my sisters remembers a
Speaker 2: movie line from like decades ago that I totally forgot
Speaker 2: about and it kills me dead laughing. And when I
Speaker 2: hear my parents in another room and they're still giggling
Speaker 2: at each other's jokes after like fifty years of marriage,
Speaker 2: which is cute as hell. Also ice craffee okay, bayebye, pacadermatology, hombiology,
Speaker 2: ydo zoology, lithology, technology, meteorology, paratology, anthology, seriology, seminology, listen
Speaker 2: to yourselves. All you can do is complain about what
Speaker 2: you don't have. What about being thankful for all the
Speaker 2: things you do have?
Speaker 3: Huh?
Speaker 1: Imagine the place where you can escape for a day,
Speaker 1: get immersed in a world of rooms, inspiration, and expertise,
Speaker 1: where you can lay in luxury accommodation and kids can
Speaker 1: feast from ninety five sets. Tickets are free to everyone
Speaker 1: and include all the attractions you've just imagined a day
Speaker 1: out at the Caia Aikia the Wonderful every Day