Page 100 - Advance Copy: Todd Kaufman, Author

TODD KAUFMAN
little work, making those neurons have to search and stretch a bit. It is much like doing that last rep at the gym when lifting weights: It is the stretch that makes the biggest difference.
At the end of your day, have the last thing you do before you turn off the lights and put your head on the pillow be to read out loud what you wrote that morning. If you have a partner to read it to, awesome, and if not, it is fine to read it out loud to your dog, cat or the universe! Just read it out loud.
Over time, and possibly in short order, you will begin to notice your gratitude muscle (those growing neuronal connections in your brain that notice gratitude) alerting you to things quite unexpectedly, and seemingly quite randomly. For example, you will find yourself going through your day, perhaps on your usual walk to lunch, and suddenly your brain will shout out at you: “Squirrel! They are cute little things, and they are going on tomorrow’s list!” In a very cool way you are actually getting Homer to work for you by practicing gratitude and both creating and strengthening those neurons!
And this is true in another way as well: You might find there is some positive anxiety attached to keeping the commitment to write your list every day. This is Homer, ever looking out for you, giving you enough of a poke to change your thoughts and notice something that will prepare you for success in the future. Now look at that: We are not only no longer fighting with Homer, we can actually thank him!
Over time, this wonderful little exercise builds neuro pathways so strong that they hum along all day.
One of my clients loved the outcome of this exercise so much he turned it into a family ritual. He had a beautiful antique wooden lectern he bought at the sale of a closing church. He installed the lectern at his front door and instituted a new family rule: Every time each person came home at the end of their day, they were to enter into the Family Gratitude Journal at least one thing they were grateful for that day. At first the teenaged twin daughters weren’t so excited about it,
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