How Daily Gratitude Rewires Your Brain And Protects Your Spirit During The Holidays

The holidays can feel like a sprint through crowded rooms, louder schedules, and a swirl of expectations. We slow it down and root into something steadier: gratitude as a daily, embodied practice that calms the nervous system, clarifies purpose, and brings the season’s meaning back into reach. Instead of pushing through, we show how simple rituals create real physiological change—so gatherings feel nourishing, not draining.

Join Lizzy as she unpacks seven science-backed shifts that make gratitude more than a feel-good idea. You’ll hear how the Reticular Activating System (RAS) learns to notice what supports you, why consistent gratitude lowers cortisol and softens amygdala reactivity, and how vagal activation moves your body into rest-and-digest. We also dig into the prefrontal cortex benefits—better decisions, more perspective, and kinder self-talk—so you can respond rather than react. From scarcity to enoughness, these tools help you walk into family spaces with a grounded presence and healthy boundaries.

You’ll get practical, doable rituals: a morning theta-state gratitude list with a clear why, a candle-lighting cue to shift out of autopilot, a small altar that anchors meaning, and a gratitude jar for quick resets. We invite you to define what the holidays truly mean for you and to choose one intention that threads through every plan—whether that’s protecting your peace, choosing enoughness, or leading with warmth. The result is a felt change: steadier breath, clearer choices, and a heart that’s open without being overwhelmed.

If this resonates, tap follow, share the episode with someone who needs a calmer season, and leave a quick review telling us the intention you’re choosing this year. Your support helps more listeners find practices that bring real peace.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Holiday Intentions
• 0:56 Reframing Gifts And Consumerism
• 4:35 Why Gratitude Matters Right Now
• 6:15 The RAS: Training Your Brain’s Filter
• 7:55 Cortisol, Safety Signals, And Breath
• 10:38 Activating The Parasympathetic State
• 12:40 Strengthening The Prefrontal Cortex
• 14:00 From Scarcity To Enoughness
• 15:00 Heart Coherence And Energetic Boundaries
• 17:32 Returning To The Present Moment
• 18:42 Daily Gratitude Rituals You’ll Keep
• 22:52 Define Your Holiday Purpose
• 25:04 Set One Intention For The Season
• 27:05 December Preview And Closing Gratitude
• 29:34 Practitioner Collective Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Hi, I'm Lizzie.

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And I'm Nikki. Together we welcome you to the Modern Sun Collective Podcast, a space where we explore holistic living, spiritual alignment, and personal growth.

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Each week, we'll share conversations, practices, and wisdom to help you live with more joy, effort, and connection.

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Let's elevate mind, body, and spirit together. And now on to play 10.

SPEAKER_01: 0:56

Lizzie here with you today to wrap up our November month, all about preparing your whole self, mind, body, energetics, and spirit for the holiday season. All of these episodes this month are really here to help you move through the holidays with intention, with connection, and with peace as we spend so much time with our loved ones, our family, our friends, our colleagues, and everyone in between with all these holiday parties, gatherings, and get-togethers that we have going on. So today I want to talk to you about really anchoring in to gratitude and purpose during this season and protecting your spirit. You know, spiritual grounding really matters this time of year because we have so many external factors going on. The environments that we're going to be in, the people that we're going to be with, the conversations that we're going to be having, all these different things that are just really kind of happening at warp speed, along with the time moving quicker. I don't know if you've noticed this, but time has shifted. And it's all relative. No, it's just a construct we made up. So I'm curious if you've noticed how much time has been speeding up. And so, in addition to that, we've just got so many different things that get added to our calendars this time of year. So it really matters to have a really good base, a really good foundation, a really good spiritual practice that you can come back to to help you feel grounded in yourself and held and safe and feeling good as you are in these rooms with all these other people and all these other energies. The holidays have gotten, you know, it's so funny because I always loved getting gifts and like lots of gifts. I just love it. But now that I've gotten older, especially now that I have kids, it's so interesting how now I've been seeing all of the consumerism and uh obligations of gift giving and things like that that I'm starting to feel. And I have had these discussions with my family in the past year or two because we have gone to um just giving a gift to one person in the family and drawing names. But even the dollar amount that we had set to it just feels a little ridiculous at this point. And it's not about that, it's about spending the time with everyone. And so I really want you to think about connecting with the essence of the holiday season. What are we celebrating this time of year? There's so much joy in the air. There are so many miracles that happened around us. There's so much love, there's so much togetherness, there's so much generosity, there's so much help that's given. There's so much help that's received. So, what do the holiday seasons really mean to you? What is the essence of the holidays to you? Outside of the gifts, outside of the spending, what do the holidays underneath it all mean to you? And today I want to spend quite a bit of time talking about how gratitude shifts your perspective and your nervous system state. I think a lot of times Nikki and I talk about these different ways to help you get into a better state, a higher state to shift your nervous system, to shift yourself. And we don't always go into the science behind what's going on. We know they work because we do them and we have looked into them, we have researched them, but we also just trust. We also trust but verify. Like we try these things and we know what works for us, and that's where we normally share from. But today I really wanted to give you seven different ways that gratitude shifts your perspective and your nervous system state, because I know that there are a lot of people out there that really need this scientific backing to trust that these things actually do work. And, you know, the deeper you get into your spiritual journey, the deeper you get into these different kinds of practices, the more you notice the shift in yourself, the more you will be able to just have faith that these things work instead of needing to know why they work. But if you're not there yet, that's totally fine. And I like to know the way things work too sometimes. You know, it's just interesting to know how our chemistry shifts, how our body moves, how the mind, body, and spirit are all interconnected and how they play off each other and affect each other. So I just wanted to talk about that a little bit with you today. So the first way that gratitude affects your chemistry is it shifts your brain's filter, your reticular activating system or your RAS. I don't know if you've heard of it before, but it gets thrown around a lot these days. So I'd be surprised if you haven't. But pretty much what's going on is that there is a lot of input going on around us constantly. And our brain is always scanning our environment for information, deciding what to bring to our mind, what to prioritize, and what to ignore and just let go. And this filter is called our reticular activating system. And it literally organizes our entire perception of the world around us. And when you practice gratitude, you train your RAS to look for what's working, to look for what's peaceful, to look for what's supportive and what's meaningful to you instead of what's wrong or what's missing or it feels threatening. So gratitude literally rewires your brain to see more of what you want and less of what activates fear or stress. So if you don't hear anything else, just know that be coming from a state of gratitude every day, having a gratitude practice, a daily gratitude practice, will train your brain to look for more of those things that you're grateful for, of more things to be grateful for instead of what might not be the best thing that's going on for you in that moment. The second way that gratitude changes your body chemistry is it reduces your cortisol levels, your stress levels, and it activates safety signals in your body. So consistent gratitude practices have really shown to lower cortisol, to decrease activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that signals threats, and increase communication between your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex, which is where your calming emotional reactivity is. So these changes result in fewer stress responses, quicker emotional recovery, and a more flexible and resilient nervous system. So when gratitude becomes a practice, a consistent practice, your nervous system learns that you're safe and it responds accordingly. So instead of being in that fight or flight mode that a lot of us can be born into as our background nervous system state, depending on how our mothers were when they were pregnant, or can be a learned trait and also how you breathe. That directly affects if you're in your sympathetic or parasympathetic state. So if you just take a moment here to focus on your breath, when you inhale, does your belly expand, or does your belly draw back? And when you exhale, does your belly expand or does your belly draw back? How you're supposed to be breathing is when you inhale, your belly expands, your chest inflates, your shoulders lift, and when you exhale, your shoulders fall, your chest falls, and your belly gets pulled back towards your spine. So if you are breathing opposite, meaning when you inhale, your belly comes in instead of going out, that's one thing that I can offer you right now to start focusing on is switching your breathing back to the regular, normal breathing pattern. Because when you're breathing opposite or taking a lot of chest breaths instead of breathing into your diaphragm, into your belly first before the chest, then you are automatically signaling to your body that you are not safe and it will be in the sympathetic state. So that's one thing I can give you right now, just to check in with your body, see how you breathe. And if you're not breathing properly, take care of that first and foremost because that affects everything. Back to our list. The third way that gratitude alters your chemistry is it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is just what we're talking about right now. The rest and digest, the restoration, the rejuvenation. Gratitude has been shown to increase activity in your vagus nerve, which is the longest nerve in your body, and it's the main regulator of your heart rate, deepening your breath, improving your digestion because it's rest and digest, your emotional regulation because when you come from a space of feeling safe and secure and calm, you have a lot better of a chance of regulating your emotional emotions. And it also helps with a nice grounded presence. So even one genuine moment of gratitude can begin to shift your body into the parasympathetic, regulated state. How crazy is that? Just thinking about something can legitimately change the state of your nervous system. And this is why gratitude can feel like a warm feeling spreading through your chest. It's not just conceptual, like it's literally physiological, these effects that it has on your body. So I'm just really trying to hit home to you how important and how much of a game changer adding a gratitude practice into your life can be for you and how you feel and how you feel every day, which is what this is all about, right? Allowing us to feel our best and live in our highest each and every day as much as possible. The fourth way that it changes your chemistry, gratitude also strengthens your prefental cortex, which I mentioned a little bit earlier. And that brings along clarity, compassion, perspective. It's the part of your brain that's responsible for decision making, for emotional regulation, empathy, your perspective, and remembering what really matters. So practicing gratitude can strengthen this area, which means you can think clearer. You have less emotional overwhelm. You have more compassion for yourself and others. How great would that be to have more grace for ourselves? Because I know I made a mistake yesterday and I've been beating myself up for it. And anytime anyone else mentions a mistake, I'm beating myself up even more. How great would it be if I could just have some more grace for myself in this moment? And a greater ability to stay present in the tough moments. So it helps you respond instead of react, which is something that everybody tells us to do. Like, don't react, respond. Right? I don't know how many times I've heard it, but a lot. So the fifth way that gratitude helps us is it creates a sense of enoughness. So on a psychological level, gratitude shifts our internal state from scarcity to enough. It changes our internal narrative from I'm not doing enough, I don't have enough time, things aren't working out for me, over to I have support, I am resourced, there's beauty all around me. Even in challenges, there is meaning. So always seeing that silver lining. And this is why people who practice gratitude regularly report being more optimistic, greater emotional resilience, stronger relationships, and really having a overall life satisfaction that's a lot higher than people who don't have gratitude practice. The sixth way that gratitude literally affects your body is it shifts your heart's electromagnetic field, the energetic layer around your heart. And there have been countless studies from the Heart Math Institute that show that gratitude creates heart coherence, which is a harmonized, steady rhythm in the heart. And in this state, it sends safety signals to the brain, it balances your nervous system, it increases your intuitive clarity, which is fantastic. Being able to listen to your inner self, to that inner compass, to the divinity within, the ability to listen to that easier and hear it more clearly, that's that's something that can take a lot of time and practice. So knowing that gratitude can shift your heart to be able to deepen your intuitive clarity, that's pretty amazing. It expands your emotional openness and it creates a measurable, measurable energetic field that influences those around you. I'm sure you've seen all the things on Instagram where they show how when something is vibrating at one hertz and something tries to come to it, it literally repels it or it draws it to it. So this is why when you enter a room with a grateful, grounded energy, you change the vibe of the space. You draw people to you, the right people, because the people who aren't feeling that same way, they're going to be repelled from you. That's protection right there. Making sure that you are feeling grounded, grateful, positive, clear, safe, held. That helps with the people around you. Not only affects them, but keeps maybe the ones that you don't really want to chat with away because they're vibrating at a different frequency here. I only say that because a lot of us have some crazy families. It's hard to get along with everyone at all times. That's why I'm saying this. I mean, if you're one of those blessed people that just gets along with every single person in your family and you never have any issues at your family gatherings, I love that for you so much. And that's not the reality for the more majority of us, sadly. And the seventh way that gratitude helps us is it anchors you into the present moment. Fear lives in the future. Regret lives in the past. Gratitude brings you home to right now. When your attention returns to the present moment, your nervous system calms, your breath deepens, your mind quiets, your heart softens. It is internally anchoring. Which is exactly what we're here to try and help you do. So now that I've given you the science behind why gratitude can change your life and really help you get through this holiday season feeling grounded and secure and aligned in yourself as you move through all these different things that you're going to be coming and going from. I want to share some gratitude rituals. Daily gratitude practice is so important, as we've talked about. And it really can be best to do in your theta brainwave state. So right when you wake up in the morning, first thing in the morning, grabbing your little gratitude journal, piece of paper from your bedside table and writing down at least three things you're grateful for and why. It's very important to have the why because the why connects to you to the feeling of gratitude. And that's what we're really going after. The way that gratitude really helps you shift your state of your body, mind, and spirit is by feeling the gratitude, cultivating that within your body, within your mind, within your energetic field, by thinking or writing down the things that you're gratitude and why, why you're grateful for them, because that cultivates the feeling. And that's the difference maker. If you're not feeling the gratitude when you are writing these things or when you read them back to yourself, you're missing out on the juice. You're missing out on the juice. So after you write down these few things you're grateful for, three to ten things and different things each day. If you can do different things each day, you are going to be so like just impressed with how many things in your life you can be grateful for if you really try to do different things each day. So after you write your list, is you go back and you read them one by one, out loud or in your mind, whatever feels better to you, and you cultivate that feeling of gratitude for that thing. Can be just as simple as that. Another thing you can do is light candles. If you're someone that likes to light candles, you can intentionally light your candle. And when you're lighting your candle, you are saying what you're grateful for, and you're bringing that feeling again into your body, making sure you have that gratitude, that feeling. You can also create a gratitude altar if you love crystals, if you love card decks, if you love looking at something to help remind you to cultivate gratitude, to have a gratitude practice, create an altar somewhere in your home with whatever brings gratitude to your mind. Some nice things, maybe some flowers, maybe some candles, maybe some leaves or acorns or something from outside. Maybe crystals, a favorite book that means something to you. Maybe there's some small things that you're grateful for that you can put around your altar, or you can put your altar in that space, that place with those things that you're grateful for. Another little gratitude ritual you can do if you're one of those crafty people and likes to actually do some different kinds of things, is you can get yourself a little jar and you can write down things you're grateful for on little scraps of paper and fold them up and put them in your jar. And you can have a little gratitude jar. You can put them on your desk, you can put it at your home. And anytime you feel like you need a little pick-nee up, you can just reach your hand into the jar and pull out a little piece of paper of something that you had written down previously that you're grateful for. So that could be another thing that you do if you're interested. So if any of these sound like something you might want to try, just pick one to try. And if it works out for you in your habit stacking, if it works out for you in the way that your days flow in your life is right now, great, keep it. If it doesn't work out for you, try a different one of the rituals that I mentioned. Or go look up some different gratitude rituals. Do some different things that other people try. Um, whatever you do, make it work for you. The other thing that I really want to talk about today is really thinking about what the holidays truly mean for you. So asking yourself right now, as you listen to this, let's not wait, what do the holidays truly mean for me? For me, that means uninterrupted family time. That means choosing if I'm going to work or not and what I'm going to do. It means laughter, love, food, yummy food, cozy fires, spending a lot of time outside, hunting, eating, again, family and friends. That's what it means to me. It means joy, it means miracles, it means magic, it means giving. It means generosity. It means that everyone is in a little bit of a better mood this time of year and just treats everyone a little bit nicer. That's one of the that's like the big reason why I love the holiday season. I love the whole holiday season, is because everyone just seems to treat everyone a little bit better. And I just love that so much. I wish we could carry that throughout the rest of the year. But I know I'll always get it in November and December. So, really finding that purpose of the holidays for you and carrying that purpose with you into all of these gatherings that you're going to to allow you to feel replenished instead of drained. This is all about setting your intention ahead of time. So that way when you show up in these places, you don't have to do anything extra to be good. You're already set up for success. So, what I want to invite you to do today is to name one intention for your holiday season that's rooted in gratitude and or purpose. If you want to focus on the gratitude piece, focus on that. If you want to focus on your purpose of the holidays and making sure you're anchored in that when you show up, focus on that. If you can do both, fan freaking tastic and do both. I think for me, I really want to focus on gratitude. So I love that we're talking about this right now because as Nikki and I have said, you know, these episodes, they help us. They help us just as much as they help you. These are great reminders to bring these things back into our lives if we have let them lapse. Because I'm sure at some point in your life you've had a gratitude practice. Maybe it's not happening right now. Well, this is your reminder to bring it back in because it's a freaking game changer. And when we're living from a place of gratitude, we have the ability to draw more miracles, more magic, more things to be grateful for into our orbit, into our life because of that energetic frequency that we're putting off. That we are so thankful for everything that we have in each day that we're given, and our bodies that allow us to be in this earthly plane, that the universe, God wants to give us more. And we're ready, we're in a place to accept and be grateful for that more. So thank you so much for joining us this month. It's been a really great time, really focusing on the holiday season for everyone, like having this as our little textbook on how to make it through the holidays. Mind, body, spirit, fully charged and not drained. So if you're curious, if this is the only one you've listened to so far in November, take a look back at our other November episodes because they're good. And if you're interested in any of that, just take a listen. So that's what's so great about podcasts, is you can be doing other things while you listen. So just hit play. And as we step into the final month of 2025, December, I'm so excited. Nikki and I wanted to do something a little bit special. And December is a celebration of all the moments, the people, the practices, everything that have filled this year with magic. Because magic was my word for 2025. And I'm pretty sure it was Nikki's too. Like we both chose magic, and it has been a magical year. And so December is all about our favorite things: the rituals that ground us, tools that guide us, the lessons that transformed us, and the souls who have inspired us along the way. So tune in this December for all of Nikki and I's favorite things. And we have some guests that are going to be sharing on our conversations and our interviews. And we also have a guest practice episode that is going to be coming from some of our practitioners. So if you have loved our interviews with our practitioners in the past, you're not going to want to miss the ones coming up in December. So thank you so much for staying with me to the end. Sending so much love and gratitude, gratitude for each and every one of you out there that spends your precious time and your precious energy with Nikki and I. This is nothing without you. It's true. So thank you. I am grateful for you. And I hope you can feel it because I'm feeling it right now. Have a great rest of your day, and we'll see you next time. Thank you so much for spending time with us on the Modern Zen Collective Podcast. This podcast is at the heart of everything that we do, created to guide, inspire, and walk alongside you on your journey. If you're ready for more, explore our Practitioner Collective, a trusted resource of experts in healing and wellness, to help you deepen your practice or fast practice transformation. And until next time, keep trusting your path and honoring your unfolding.