The holidays are here again.

If you’re in the United States, this week may be full of Thanksgiving plans, travel, grocery lists, and a calendar that feels more packed than your pantry. And even if you’re not in the U.S., your inbox is probably already overflowing with Black Friday deals, promotions, and “must-have” things that promise happiness.

This week, instead of asking you to buy or sign up for anything, I want to give you something.

Giving is one of the ways I stay in the energy of abundance. I grew up with a lot of scarcity thinking, and it’s been a journey to shift into believing there is enough: enough time, enough love, enough provision, enough goodness. One of the most powerful tools that has helped me make that shift is something simple and accessible: Gratitude

And not just vague “I should be grateful” thinking, but a very specific practice that literally changes your brain.

Today, I’m sharing Chapter 3 of my book, Secrets to Authentic Happiness, as an audio experience. It’s all about the power of gratitude and how it can help you rewire your brain for joy, peace, and emotional steadiness.

You can listen to the full chapter in this week’s Living Inspired podcast episode, and if you enjoy it, you can grab the full audiobook here:

👉 SecretsToAuthenticHappiness.com/audiobook

This Isn’t About Forced Positivity

Before we go any further, I want to be really clear:

This is not about pretending everything is fine when it isn’t.

I am completely against “just think positive” or bypassing real pain with fake smiles. Life is hard. There are seasons of grief, loss, illness, overwhelm, and deep exhaustion. You never need to deny that.

Gratitude, the way I teach it, is not about ignoring reality.

It’s about training your brain to also see what is good, even in the middle of what is hard.

That’s where neuroplasticity comes in.

Gratitude, Neuroplasticity, and Your “Gratitude Circuit”

Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to change and form new pathways.

Every time you repeat a thought or a behavior, you’re strengthening a certain “path” in your brain. Most of us are unintentionally strengthening the pathways of worry, fear, and self-criticism.

We also have something called a negativity bias. Your brain is wired to notice what’s wrong more than what’s right. That helped keep us alive a long time ago, but now it often leaves us stuck in loops of anxiety, worst-case thinking, and constant scanning for danger.

Gratitude is one of the simplest ways to start building new neural pathways that point toward calm, clarity, and hope.

When you consistently practice gratitude, you:

- Teach your brain to look for what is good

- Soften the impact of daily stress

- Become more resilient when hard things happen

- Feel more grounded and less reactive

Research has shown that gratitude practices can improve sleep, reduce depressive symptoms and physical complaints, and increase feelings of connection and well-being. But beyond the statistics, I’ve watched it change real lives, over and over.

My Practice: Living in Extreme Gratitude

In the chapter I share on the podcast, I introduce a practice I call: Living in Extreme Gratitude

Here’s how it works:

- For 90 days, you write down 1–3 things you’re grateful for every day

- The twist: they need to be different each day

Most people, when asked what they’re grateful for, will say “my home, my family, my health” every single time. Those things matter deeply, but I want you to go smaller and more specific.

The way the light looks on your kitchen table in the morning

The moment your child squeezed your hand

The quiet when everyone finally went to bed

The nurse who smiled at you

The song that made you cry in the car, in a good way

One of my clients once told me she was annoyed at me because she now walks around looking for tiny things to be grateful for so she can write them down later.

Honestly? If that’s what someone is annoyed with me about, I’ll take it.

Because it means her brain is shifting.

Her mind is learning to scan for goodness rather than only danger.

Real Stories of Change

In the chapter, I share stories from women who were overwhelmed, exhausted, and stuck in patterns they didn’t know how to break.

One woman felt like a black cloud was always hanging over her. She yelled at her kids, snapped at her husband, and wanted to disappear. On the outside, she looked “fine.” On the inside, she was drowning in anxiety, anger, and depression.

She started a simple gratitude journal and a short meditation practice. At first, it felt pointless. One bad day at work and she thought, “This doesn’t work. I should have done laundry instead.”

But something in her nudged her to go back and read her gratitude list. As she did, her anger began to melt. She remembered what was still good, what still mattered, and that she had a choice. She decided to leave work at work and show up differently at home that night. That moment was a turning point.

Another client was caught in a painful cycle of yelling at her kids and then staying up half the night beating herself up for it. After a couple of weeks of daily gratitude and using other tools from our work together, she noticed she was different:

Less reactive

Less stuck in guilt

More present with her children

The circumstances of her life didn’t magically change. But she did.

And it started with this deceptively simple habit.

Why Gratitude Is Such a Powerful First Step

Gratitude is not the only thing I teach my clients. We also work on nutrition, nervous system support, mindset, boundaries, and more.

But gratitude is often the gateway habit:

It’s simple and doable, even on low-energy days

It doesn’t require money, a gym, or a perfect schedule

It nudges you out of survival mode, so other changes become easier

It’s like opening a window in a stuffy room. The room might still be a mess, but now there’s fresh air. Now you can breathe. Now you can see what needs to change.

Building the Habit: Triggers, Stacking, and 1% Better

If the idea of writing daily gratitudes feels overwhelming, please know:

You don’t have to do this perfectly.

A few gentle ways to make it stick:

1. Habit stacking

Attach your gratitude practice to something you already do:

- Keep your notebook next to your coffee maker and write while the coffee brews

- Put it on top of the book you read at night so you see it first

2. Create triggers

Choose simple cues that remind you to come back to gratitude:

- Walking through your front door

- Opening the fridge

- Laying your head on the pillow

When that trigger happens, pause for a breath and name one thing you’re grateful for in that moment.

3. Aim for 1% better

You don’t need to overhaul your whole life overnight.

Maybe:

- Today, your 1% is writing just one gratitude

- Tomorrow, your 1% is unrolling your yoga mat, even if you don’t do a full workout

- Another day, your 1% is adding one extra vegetable to your plate

Tiny steps count. They stack. Over time, they become who you are.

Be Careful with All-or-Nothing Thinking

If you’re wired like I am, you might be tempted to think:

“I missed three days. I blew it. I failed. Why even bother?”

That’s called all-or-nothing thinking, and it can derail even the most beautiful intentions.

Instead of deciding you’ve failed if you miss a day or a week, try this:

- Take a bird’s-eye view of your week or month

- Look at what you are doing, not only what you aren’t

- Let yourself adjust the time of day or the “rules” so it fits your real life

The goal is not perfection.

The goal is continued movement forward, even in tiny ways.

Fall off. Get back up. Repeat. That rhythm alone will change your life.

The Moments That Really Matter

In the chapter, I share some deeply personal stories from my work in hospice and my own life.

Moments like:

A dying patient holding my hand, whispering “I’ll see you tomorrow,” when we both knew tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed

Asking my best friend, just days before she died, what her favorite food was and treasuring her answer

Catching a rare hug from my son as he grows older and consciously savoring the feel of his body against mine, the smell of his hair, the explosion of love in my chest

These are the kinds of details gratitude helps us notice and cherish.

There are no ordinary moments.

Gratitude trains us to see that.

When you practice living in extreme gratitude, you start to see the miracles hiding in plain sight. You loosen your grip on old resentments and bitterness. And you remember that the small things are the big things.

Your 90-Day Extreme Gratitude Challenge

If you feel something stirring as you read this, consider this your invitation.

Here’s the simple challenge straight from Chapter 3:

For the next 90 days, write down 1–3 things you’re grateful for each day.

Make them as different as possible from day to day.

Decide what time of day you’ll do it.

Choose a trigger or habit to stack it with.

When you miss a day, gently begin again. No drama, no shame.

If you like, you can even write and sign a statement like this:

I will start today and write down one to three things I am grateful for each day.

I will make them different things each day.

I will search for joy in the hard places.

I am a person who will live in extreme gratitude from this day forward.

Sign it. Date it. Put it somewhere you’ll see it.

You are growing.

And your brain is capable of changing, one small habit at a time.

Want to Go Deeper? Listen to the Full Chapter on Apple or Spotify or at the top of this post. You’ll hear the complete stories, the science, and the step-by-step encouragement in my own voice.

And if you want to take this work deeper and have access to the entire book in audio form, you can grab the full audiobook here:

🎧 Get the audiobook: SecretsToAuthenticHappiness.com/audiobook

Lots of love,

Rachel

About Rachel Carta, RN

As a Registered Nurse, Author, Functional Nutrition Counselor, & Life Coach, I help women who are tired of feeling off—low energy, digestive issues, brain fog, mood swings, or just not feeling like yourself. You can wake up with energy. You can feel good again in your body. You can reconnect to the vibrant, grounded you. You don't have to do this alone. Book a free consultation here:

RachelCartaRN.com/schedule.

Need help with your Moods ASAP: Grab the free Mood Swing SOS audio here.