Inside a Mind of Gratitude

Dear friends,

If you could step inside my mind for just a moment, you would feel something different.

Not just happiness. Not just positivity.

A pure, electric joy for life.

That joy — the thing I wish everyone could feel — is built on something deeper than mood: it’s built on gratitude.

Gratitude isn’t a feeling. It’s a way of thinking. A way of living.

Most people think gratitude is something that happens after life gets good.

But the truth is — it’s the opposite.

Gratitude makes life good, no matter what’s happening around you, and practicing it daily doesn’t just make you feel better — it changes who you are.

You know that I always encourage you to think for yourself and not take what I say at face value, so here is the evidence to back me up.

Let’s get this clear: gratitude is not just nice. It’s scientifically necessary for a fulfilling life.

Why?

Across dozens of studies, psychologists have found a strong link between gratitude and life satisfaction.

A 2023 meta-analysis covering more than 16,000 people concluded that gratitude and life satisfaction are substantially positively correlated.

Simply put, the more grateful you are, the more likely you are to wake up loving your life.

That’s the whole goal isn’t it? Loving your life.

Even more powerful: research shows that gratitude and satisfaction create a positive spiral.

In a three-month longitudinal study, people who felt more grateful ended up more satisfied — and then became even more grateful over time.

Gratitude feeds life satisfaction, and satisfaction feeds gratitude.

It’s a virtuous cycle that lifts your entire experience of living.

Meanwhile, grateful people also report better physical health, stronger relationships, more resilience, and deeper purpose.

In other words, gratitude isn’t a bonus.

It’s a foundation.

Gratitude Literally Changes Your Brain (literally)

Thanks to brain scans and new neuroscience, we know that gratitude literally rewires the brain. When you practice gratitude, your medial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex light up.

As a incoming behavioral neuroscience major, I didn’t even know what these areas did, so I don’t expect you to.

Basically, from the research I did, I found that these two areas control much of your moral judgement, emotional regulation, and long-term happiness. I guess they are pretty important.

What I found even crazier is that gratitude triggers our brain’s reward circuitry— YES! DOPAMINE, the only thing people know about neuroscience. This means that gratitude is scratching the same itch that your tiktok addiction does (kinda).

And it doesn’t stop there:

Studies from UCLA show that gratitude activates parts of the brain tied to social bonding and stress reduction — calming your amygdala (your brain’s threat detector) and even lowering inflammatory markers in your body.

In other words, gratitude makes you feel safer, more connected, and more alive at a neurochemical level.

It’s not just a nice emotion.

It’s a biological upgrade.

It Only Takes Small Shifts

You might think, “Okay, Jack, but isn’t gratitude just writing in a journal sometimes?”

Wrong. Gratitude is a way of seeing — and a way of being.

That said, even small practices have massive effects.

In a classic study, adults who simply listed a few blessings each week reported higher well-being compared to those who listed hassles.

More recent studies confirm it:

8 weeks of simple gratitude journaling led to significant increases in life satisfaction, happiness, and resilience — while people who didn’t practice gratitude stayed exactly the same.

One meta-analysis found that about 64% of gratitude interventions resulted in meaningful well-being improvements, compared to only 22% in control groups.

These numbers matter.

Because they prove something the most joyful people already live by:

Gratitude is a choice.

It’s not about what happens to you — it’s about how you choose to see what happens to you.

The Real Secret of Grateful People

When you start to notice the gifts around you — the people, the chances, the quiet moments — you naturally start to believe that your life has depth, and that you matter.

That belief changes everything.

Gratitude strengthens your relationships.

It boosts your self-esteem.

It retrains your brain to see beauty instead of lack.

It lifts your mood moment to moment — and eventually, it lifts your life.

And because of that — grateful people experience life on a whole different level.

They feel connected.

They feel alive.

They feel free.

Final Thought

Inside a life of gratitude, at least my life of gratitude, life seems to be different. This idea, the one that inspired me to launch this entire platform, is confirmed by substantial scientific research.

Being grateful may not be the end-all be-all solution to the world. It’s not perfect, even if that’s not what you want to hear.

Practicing gratitude is good though. It’s really, really good. It is so deeply and vibrantly good that your happiness is no longer a dependent variable contingent upon the outcomes of your moment to moment experience.

Living in gratitude doesn’t mean life is always easy.

It means life is always meaningful.

It’s not about pretending bad things don’t happen.

It’s about realizing the good was always there too — and that it’s bigger.

Gratitude doesn’t just change your day.

It changes you.

And it’s available to you right now.

Here’s your challenge this week:

👉 Take 5 minutes today.

👉 Write down 3 small things you’re grateful for.

👉 Watch how it shifts the way you feel — and the way you live.

I’ll be right there with you.

If you want a clearer, personal walk through on gratitude, I can make that happen too.

I am excited to announce I will be starting my journey as a gratitude coach.

Email [email protected] to learn more or become my first client.

The Grateful Podcast:

I have a podcast where I interview people much smarter and more qualified than me talking about how you can live a more purposeful life full of gratitude and ambition. 
I release episodes every Monday where I go over a lesson I’ve recently learned.

Every Wednesday and Saturday I release an episode with a very cool guest. 

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or find the video version on YouTube.

This week’s episodes:

Monday: Inside The Mind of Gratitude

I will dive into my thought process writing this newsletter and more personal examples.

Wednesday: The Intersection of Spirituality and Clinical Psychology with Dr. Katie Turner

Saturday: Chase Your Goals Like a Buddhist with Susan Piver

Coaching:

If you’re ready to take action and need guidance, I’d love to help.

I have limited space available so if you’re interested, book a free 15-minute call with me to discuss how you can implement gratitude in your life. 

You can shoot me an email at [email protected] where we can get scheduled.

Make this week rock. Thank you so much for reading this; I’ll see you next week.

With love,

Jack Wagoner