If you've ever tried to feel more grateful, writing down a few things every night, saying thank you more often, but it never quite sank in. This episode is for you. Today we're exploring one of the most powerful ways to move gratitude from a mental checklist into a full-body feeling. Something that truly softens and opens you. Welcome to Roots of the Rise with me, Sarah Hope, where spiritual wisdom meets practical tools in short episodes. Each one is a taster, not a deep dive, meant to spark curiosity and guide you toward authentic alignment. If you've been following along, you know this isn't just a fluffy spiritual practice. Gratitude is a very real emotional skill that can reshape your brain, your mood, and honestly, your entire outlook on life. I'll link the previous episodes below if you want to go deeper into understanding this foundational spiritual tenet. But today we're talking about what research, specifically what Dr. Andrew Huberman, who is a neuroscientist and tenured professor at Stanford, says is the second most powerful way to cultivate gratitude. And that is story-based gratitude. Not lists, not vague, I'm grateful for my house, my dog, my bed. I mean, those are great, but they don't stick. And we'll actually talk about all of that in a later episode about how to make that kind of gratitude practice more powerful. Spoiler alert, it has everything to do with what we're talking about today, connecting the event to the emotional impact. But what actually produces a bigger emotional shift and starts to establish trait gratitude is recalling a specific story of struggle and meaningful help. A real moment where a real person was up against something hard, and then something or someone stepped in to change the trajectory. I guess I should caveat that because it actually doesn't have to be a real person. A lot of people talk about the uh sense of like gratitude and gratefulness they feel when we watch that um moment in Marvel where Captain America is all by himself, and then you hear on your left, and the whole team kind of appears. I mean, that's real struggle. And this person gets real help. And there is, it's an incredibly impactful moment in cinema. And honestly, that kind of works for this whole process. Because when you revisit a story like that, any story where there's real struggle and real help that creates an emotional impact, your brain replays the emotional arc, the context, the meaning, and the impact. Every time you replay it, you strengthen the circuits responsible for reward, safety, and connection. And that's what builds gratitude, not the list itself, if you're going down the three gratitude practice, but the emotional simulation. You know, stories are how humans make meaning. We tell stories every single day to ourselves and to each other. In the next episode, we're going to talk about how the stories you tell yourself shape your identity and how you experience your life. But for today, we're focusing on gratitude and specifically how simply remembering a story where someone received meaningful help, whether it was you or someone else, can open your heart. You don't even need to be the one who received the help, which is crazy. So let me give you a few examples other than that Marvel moment, and as I do, see if one triggers something in you: a memory, a story you've seen or heard that has similar impact. For instance, a child is dangerously ill and needs a kidney transplant. You see a video of a hundred people lined up to be tested, and later the update that one matched, and the surgery happened, and that child is now living a full, happy life. Or the classic animal rescue story: the dog who is skin and bones, terrified, shut down on the side of the highway. And three months later, you see the update of them bounding through a field, tail high, completely transformed by a loving home. Or maybe it's something smaller, a woman in the checkout line who realizes she can't afford all her groceries, and without hesitation, the person behind her steps in and pays. No attention, no praise, just kindness. Your body knows these moments. We've seen them, we've all seen them, and they soften something inside of us. And of course, I'll share mine. Almost exactly a decade ago, I had a house fire that destroyed about 80% of our belongings. And worst of all, it killed my two beautiful dogs. It was devastating on so many levels. The loss of stuff was heartbreaking enough. I mean, I've talked about this before. I am a deeply sentimental person. I don't keep things that don't matter. Every little thing has a memory attached to it. You know, the piece of art from that trip to Kennybunkport with my aunt, one of my favorite places in the world, by the way. Uh, the Miss Piggy pen holder that sat on my mom's desk my entire childhood, the wooden boxes I'd collected for years, all of my books. Ugh, over a thousand. I used to get a book or multiple books for like every little holiday, including the Nancy Drew collection. I mean, I had them all. Such good memories of getting those from my mom. Losing all of that stuff, while it is just stuff, was painful for me. But of course, nothing compared to seeing my dogs covered with a sheet under a tree in the front yard. I mean, that memory is seared into me. Obviously, it still gets to me. And yet, that season of life was marked not only by devastation, but by the most staggering outpouring of love I have ever experienced. Local businesses put out donation jars. My friends made a gofund me. People I hadn't talked to in a decade or more donated, people I didn't even know. And like someone I didn't know sent me this beautiful box of clothing. Somehow it all fit and was way nicer than anything I could afford at the time. A sales lady hugged me while I was crying my eyes out from the overwhelm of trying to choose socks of all things. I remember documenting some of it on Facebook, and one comment has always stayed with me. It said, You sharing how your community has supported you has restored my faith in humanity. Mine too. I mean, every time I recall this story, I feel that same swell of gratitude. I get emotional every single time. That is the power of story-based gratitude. It moves something deep. So right now, just take a moment, and you don't need to force anything, but see if a story comes to mind of someone struggling, someone helping, a moment of relief or transformation. Remembering that it could be a big thing, it could be tiny, it could be in a movie, in your life, in a stranger's life. Just notice what arises. This practice is incredibly simple and also incredibly effective. So let's break it down. Step one, you find your story. Pick one story that truly moves you. That little chest tightening, heart squeezing, maybe it brings tears to your eyes moment. That's the one. Step two, do a five-minute stream of consciousness writing. Write down the story in as much detail as you can remember. You want to focus especially on the struggle itself and everything that that the thought of that struggle brings up for you, the help that was given. Again, be specific about what help was uh given. And lastly, why you chose this story? What is the emotional impact on you? You want to include these sensory details, like where do you feel it in your body, what emotions arise, how do the emotions feel in your body? Step three, you want to turn it into three bullet points, just three. Just very simply, one sentence for each bullet point, the struggle, the help, and the impact on you. And you want to think of that as being your cheat sheet, so to speak. Step four, three times a week, let's say Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for two minutes, revisit the story. Bring it to mind. Look at your little cheat sheet, let yourself feel the difficulty, let yourself feel the help and the relief that help brought. And then recall why this story moves you. Why does it touch you so deeply? Not why it's objectively inspiring, but why you personally feel something deep when you recall it. Two minutes, three times a week for one month. Try this and notice what shifts: your mood, your patience, your compassion, your sense of connection. Gratitude isn't just a spiritual nicety, it's a rewiring. It's an emotional alchemy. If you want the science, the full rundown of the science, then listen to the gratitude episode of Dr. Huberman Huberman on Huberman Labs that I'll post in the show notes. He can get way more into the actual science behind why this is so effective. As for me, in the next episode, we're going to talk about how the stories you tell yourself shape your identity in ways you don't even realize. You won't want to miss it, so make sure you follow or subscribe. Until next time, remember, know who you are, love who you've been, and be willing to do the work to become who you want to be. Just a quick reminder this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed therapist, and nothing shared here is meant to replace the guidance of a physician, therapist, or any other qualified provider. That said, I hope it inspires you to grow, heal, and seek the support you need to thrive.