Minisode: Grateful-ology is not a real word...

eleven fifty nine pm on Cyber Monday. Ready for this thirty percent off sale thirty percent off ologismerch dot com. There's enamel pins, tots, shirts, mugs, some insane science y holiday sweater pattern shirts, weggings, all of it thirty percent off. I can't even deal. This is my first year ever doing a Black Friday sale, and I've going deep. You'll need a discount code. I'll say it at the end of this minisode so that you have time right now to find a crusty pen in your parents drunk drawer.

You can write it on the back of a receipt for potatoes, so stand by. You're gonna want the code. I'm just gonna give it to you now. Also, it's black Fritology b l A c K frid l O. Guy. Got it great. I'll say it again at the end of the episode. Okay, first the minisode. Okay, Hi, hello, Hi, welcome to Ologies. I'm Ali. I realize I never tell you guys who I am at the beginning of these, but I'm the host of podcast called Ologies. You're listening to it. Let's do some free association. I'm gonna say

the word Thanksgiving. What do you think of first Thanksgiving? You got it? Okay, I myself, I think of gravy. You say Thanksgiving, I immediately conjure an image of a hot gravy dish that's kind of growing skin by the moment. Maybe you thought about layovers in a crowded airport or an itchy turtle neck. I can tell you that one of the last things I think about, to be honest is gratitude, because I felt like a garbage this week, and I don't know it's I don't know. Maybe I

had the flu. There's also this weird apocalyptic nationwide shortage of a thyroid medication I'm supposed to be taking. Maybe it's because every time I see anything in the news, I'm reminded that things are terrible and the world seems like a farce right now. And I've just been feeling like like if you took a burlap sack and you sighed heavily into it, but it had eyes and hair, that would be me. So I was going to make a mini episode this week, just a quickie about how

cells recognize each other. But I was in such a bad mood I googled is there a science of gratitude? And an article written by a husband and wife team of clinical psychologists, doctors Blair and Rita Justice popped up. It was called grateful Ology, and I rolled my eyes so hard I think I sprained one. Then I read

on because clearly I was paying a little bit. So this episode is a quickie about what dumb holidays are supposed to be about, Thanksgiving and gratitude and why it's not just a thing that Oprah uses to sell blank journals, but why neuroscientists say it's a good way to be less annoyed, less unhappy, and overall live longer. If you're into that kind of thing, just buckle up. I promise you it's worth it. Just me and you chit chatting privately about this. You don't even have to tell anyone

that you listen to this. Okay, So grateful bology heavier.

position in the White House. And sadly, doctor Blair Justice has since passed away, but he and Rita were married over forty years and that's amazing and adorable. So they were doing something right. And together they were huge advocates for gratitude in general. And they also study the effects of mood and emotional wellbeing on physical well being. They wrote books on it. Now, other players in the scientific field of appreciating your shit are doctor Robert Emmons, he

goes by Bob of the University of California Davis. He wrote a book called Thanks, How Practicing Gratitude can make You Happier. And doctor Michael mcculloff of the University of Miami. And together these two doctors just did a dumb truck or their research and I mean that in a good way, about how taking stock and the good stuff can help you be less miserable. Doctor mcculloff and doctor Emmons did

one study that had three sets of participants. Those who were asked to write down weekly the things they were grateful for or compose a letter of thanks to a person. They don't have to send it, they could eat it didn't matter. Another group wrote down their hassles of the week, and then another just jotted down neutral events. They found that those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercise more regularly, which is super weird. They reported fewer

physical ailments. They felt better about their lives as a whole, like twenty five percent happier, which is just you know, and they were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events. Now, participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important goals over a two month period compared to the other subjects. So, how how does it

do this? How does saying I'm really I really like muster or uh that this flower smells good?

feeling grateful activates the brainstem region that produces dopamine. He also says that gratitude can boost serotonin, and trying to think of things you're grateful for makes you focus on positive aspects of your life, and that increases serotonin production in the anterior singulate cortex, which is something that is bobbing around in your skull. He also said that it's not finding gratitude that matters most, it's remembering to look.

So it's just remembering to look that's important. So even if you're like, what's something I'm grateful for and then there's just like a long pause and then you say, horseshit, nothing, that's still better than not thinking. Isn't that great? They say, just looking for things to be grateful for found that it actually affected neuron density in certain parts of the brain, and it suggests that as emotional intelligence increases, the neurons

become more efficient. So with higher emotional intelligence, it takes less effort to be grateful and it has some lasting effects. How much of all of this is weird fringe research, it's actually not like U see, Berkeley has a whole

arm dedicated to positive psychology. It's called the Greater Goods Science Center at Berkeley, and they have also found that people who practice gratitude consistently have stronger immune systems, less depression, more joy, optimism, happiness, they have better relationships, and they have less feelings of isolation or loneliness. So they gave out three million dollars in research grants a few years ago on the topic, and there were fourteen winners, and

they went on to use that money to study. Here are some of the papers that they published, Cultivating Gratitude and a Consumerist Society, the impact of gratitude on biology and behavior in persons with heart disease, a model of bullying based on gratitude and its effects on social bonds. And even friend O Wall noted primatologist used some research money and studied gratitude and partner preference in chimpanzee cooperation. So people are working on it. People are like, yeah,

there's something to this. You got to force yourself to look on the bright side. Now. Doctor Emmons we talked about him before, says that the choice of gratitude doesn't come without effort. You got to put some effort. But each time we make the effort, it does get easier because remember, we're making those neural iways more efficient. He also says there's two types of gratitude. There's relational and conditional, and relational is focused on the giver and conditional on

the gift, and relational is more potent. So hey, thanks for being so thoughtful for the thing you did is more important than thank you for this bag of bees that you gave me, assuming that you liked bees. I myself, if you gave me a bag of bees, I'd be like, whoo. That might not be you anyway, but you know what I'm saying. So I was researching this episode and writing today, and I wish I had thought of the topic sooner,

and I wish I had an interview for you. But I did the next best thing, and I gently stock doctor Edmon's on Twitter and I lobbed a question at him. He doesn't know who I am, so what? And I said, Hey, this must be the busiest time of year for you, but how can people stay grateful with the deluge of tough news lately? And he he tweeted me back. I felt it was so exciting. It felt like bet Middler saying hello or something. He said, Gratitude is undentable, Joy

time's good, celebrate time's tough, find the opportunity. It's an attitude. It's not based on circumstances. So snap, okay. So He's like, even though things are garbage, it's very important to look for things to be appreciative of. Stay aware as you need to be be as active in the community as you need to be. Resist what you need to, but make time to appreciate the good. This is like doctor's orders. It will make you a better fighter of wrong. So

how do you do this? Nart in his book Thanks Doctor Emmon suggests keeping a gratitude journal daily and you can record in writing what you're grateful for. Come to your senses, so count bodily related things like being able to see here, walk, eat, breathe, listen to podcasts. Use visual reminders like pictures of loved ones or scenes of nature, and think outside the box. So think of the non obvious things to be grateful for, like the fact that aliens haven't come down on our planet yet, or maybe

they have and you're thankful for them. I don't know. There's also this site called thanks for dot org and it's t h nx four dot org. It's the opposite of Twitter. You can just sign up and have a twenty day challenge and just post and write things that you're thankful for. You open it up and just see what everyone's thankful for. And it, honestly is it's like

a weird Seinfeld. It's like the intro to the opposite sketches so you can do another thing, which I did and then I neglected it and I need to get back to it. You can open your own secret, private Twitter account and have it be locked and not tell anyone that you have it, and then whenever you want to scroll on depressing stuff, you just hop over to your secret private Twitter and just toss out a bunch of tweets listing what you're grateful for. No one has

to know about it. You look like you're scrolling, but really you're just tweeting things that you're like, Eh, pretzels are pretty good, and then later you can scroll through them for like an instant mood boost. But apparently, try and find a couple things today that you're like, thumbs up and about so happy start of the holidays. If you're having a tough time, No, you're not alone. It's kind of a weird time of year for a lot of people. It's a weird year for a lot of people.

It's it's weird. And just know that a list of what's good might bring you almost as much joy as a lackey. It might change your life even more than a nosehair trimmer. And you're stalking, Oh, speaking of gifts, if you're looking to do any shopping again Black Fried Ology on ologiesmerch dot com. That's the code. I told you, i'd tell you at the end B L A C K F R I D O L O G Y all one word thirty percent off your order. Okay, I told you i'd tell you. I hope you got a pen,

hit it, go for it, get some stuff. And as long as we're being grateful, I just want to say I'm very thankful for everyone who listens. If you're listening right now, it means a last me. Thank you to every person who's spread the word about Ologies on social media or told friends. Thank you to everyone who's rated, or reviewed or subscribed. It helps so much in keeping this up in the charts. Thank you to all the patrons on Patreon. I love you for the cool ass

vibe in the Ologies podcast Facebook group. Thanks to Shannon Feltis aka Urban farm Foods on Facebook and Bonnie Dutch bo n I Dutch on Etsy and Amazing Artists for helping me with merch. Thanks to Hannah Lippo and Aaron Talbert for being awesome friends and running the Facebook group. And to my parents and sisters. For listening and pretending that the square words don't bother them. So go ask smart people dumb questions, maybe even via Twitter, because it's

the only way to learn. I'm on Instagram and Twitter as Ali Ward and ologies on Instagram, ologies pot on Twitter. So go, I don't know, grab a journal, make a secret Twitter shots, and stuff down on a gravy stained paper napkin. Just look for things that are good. It will change your brain. All right, you got this? Okay?

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