Did you know that gratitude causes multiple areas of the brain to light up like a Christmas tree, triggers our reward pathways, and produces both serotonin and dopamine results similar to Prozac? Or that having a gratitude practice improves metabolism, sleep, and mental health? It does. (Source below if you’re a cynic/like reading scientific studies.) But gratitude isn’t an emotional by-product of fortunate events showering upon you like unicorn kisses. It’s a muscle. And just like you can’t get killer abs without doing at least one plank, we can’t expect to feel grateful when we haven’t wired our brains to practice it.