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Try This Today: How to Use Gratitude to Feel Happier & Improve Your Relationships

2025-11-27 People & Blogs
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Mel Robbins
Mel Robbins
5.7m subscribers

Three Science-Backed Gratitude Tools to Rewire Your Brain

Stop letting negativity control your emotional state by implementing three simple, research-backed gratitude practices today. These methods rewire your brain, lower stress, and improve connection with loved ones instantly.

Short Summary

  • Apply cognitive reframing to shift your brain out of survival mode into clarity and calm.
  • Achieve biological benefits, including lowered stress markers and improved heart rate variability (HRV).
  • Utilize practices simple enough to integrate into daily life via journaling, morning routines, or text messages.

Mel outlines how the world programs our minds toward negativity and how intentional gratitude acts as defiance. This episode delivers three concrete, science-backed tools—the Unscent Letter, the 3-Minute Night Journal, and the Gratitude Text Chain—that shift your focus, reset your nervous system, and enhance relationships in real-time.

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Description

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory 👉 https://melrob.co/let-them-theory 👈 The #1 Best Selling Book of 2025 🔥 Discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words. Let Them. — In today’s episode, you’ll learn a simple tool you can use to feel happier and more connected to your loved ones. Mel is teaching you a few simple gratitude practices, ones you can do with your family, your partner, or even in a group text, that are proven to lower stress and make any relationship better. Mel used to cringe at the word gratitude. The fake smiles. The toxic positivity. The pressure to be “thankful” while your life is falling apart. But then she uncovered the real science – and what it does to your brain and body is shocking. This episode is not about keeping a journal or faking a smile. This is about rewiring your brain, resetting your nervous system, and reclaiming control of your emotional state using simple, proven tools backed by cutting-edge research. You’ll learn: -How gratitude shifts your brain out of survival mode and into clarity and calm -The surprising link between gratitude and inflammation, heart health, and sleep -How one group text a day can make gratitude stick (and make it contagious) Want to be happier? Want to feel more grounded, more emotionally in control, and less hijacked by your stress? Start here. These tools are simple enough to try with your partner. They’re powerful enough to shift the tone in your home. And they’re easy enough to send in your favorite group text. By the end of this episode, you’ll walk away with 3 science-backed practices that change how you think, how you feel, and how you move through your day – starting today. For more resources related to today’s episode, click here for the podcast episode page: https://www.melrobbins.com/episode/episode-346/ Follow The Mel Robbins Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themelrobbinspodcast I’m just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is NOT intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I’ll see you in the next episode. In this episode: 00:00 Welcome 01:29 How Gratitude Rewires Your Brain: What the Research Shows 06:55 How to Express Gratitude to Others in Your Life 16:19 The Real Benefits of a Gratitude Journal (And Why It Works) 22:48 The Morning Gratitude Ritual to Boost Your Mood All Day 25:02 The Neuroscience of Gratitude & Its Effects on the Brain 28:29 Use This 60-Second Habit to Feel More Grateful and Grounded 33:44 How to Build a Culture of Gratitude at Home, Work, and in Your Relationships 36:39 The Life-Changing Effects of Gratitude — Follow Mel: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melrobbins/ TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@melrobbins Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melrobbins LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melrobbins Website: http://melrobbins.com​ — Sign up for Mel’s newsletter: https://melrob.co/sign-up-newsletter A note from Mel to you, twice a week, sharing simple, practical ways to build the life you want. — Subscribe to Mel’s channel here: https://www.youtube.com/melrobbins​?sub_confirmation=1 — Listen to The Mel Robbins Podcast 🎧 New episodes drop every Monday & Thursday! https://melrob.co/spotify https://melrob.co/applepodcasts https://melrob.co/amazonmusic — Looking for Mel’s books on Amazon? Find them here: The Let Them Theory: https://amzn.to/3IQ21Oe The Let Them Theory Audiobook: https://amzn.to/413SObp The High 5 Habit: https://amzn.to/3fMvfPQ The 5 Second Rule: https://amzn.to/4l54fah

Top Comments (10)

@michaelbuono5099 2025-11-27

Hey Mel it's your friend Michael. Your book let them has helped me immensely. This podcast has made me realize I have to be intentional with my gratitude and spend a few minutes in the morning and several minutes at night showing gratitude.The morning exercise moves my day and heads me in a more positive direction the evening practice let's me realize I have a great wife good friends and reminds me how great God has been to me. Mel I've been plagued with anxiety for a long time 40 years and have been in therapy on and off most of the 40. Your podcasts Your guests Your let them book has done so much to improve my life. I recently found out that I have a bad heart valve that needs repair during the testing period the doctors were amazed to find out I had several blockages that needed stents. I've always been concerned with my health since I was a child. Never smoked I don't drink I exercise almost every day. I'm 70 now and I'm finally realizing that I need to let go and live life without so much control. Surgery is in late January it's Thanksgiving morning here in NY. Just wanted to say how much you're appreciated. God Bless you Mel. 💖

142 16 replies
@shimaanaji92 2025-11-28

Gratitude that makes me alive! I am from Palestine, Gaza, a survivor of the war, and I am always grateful for what I have, even though I live in the worst time in my life. I am so grateful that I am still alive and still able to work, learn, and make all my dreams come true.

64 2 replies
@RussellPhumlani 2025-11-27

Gratitude shifts your mind from scarcity to Abundance ❤💪✍️

22 1 replies
@hot004 2025-11-29

I do this with my 9 year old son every night. 3 good things from that day. Sometimes we have more than 3. And we look forward to this special daily moment. And then you invite more good things. Even on your worst days. And then I do this weekly, every Sunday. For 52 weeks. 52 notes with 1 good thing from the week, and I go back and read everything at the end of the year. Just lovely! 52 things to be grateful for from the year😊 Gratitude is a game changer for me.

20
@kates6793 2025-11-27

I once heard someone refer to a gratitude journal as a “things that didn’t suck today” journal. I like that!

16 1 replies
@LauraHernandez-n8p 2025-11-27

Hey Mel ! I’m Carol … a 60 year old mother of 3 adult children and I’m recently widowed. I want you to know that I read your book as soon as it came out - Let Them … and it CHANGED MY LIFE… healed me in ways I didn’t know I needed… and has helped me develop the most beautiful and rewarding relationships with the my adult children. I’m forever grateful ❤

9
@Habibmayar 2025-12-04

Dear Mel, This is my first “letter of gratitude” to you, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks. It had been a long time since I watched or read any self-help content, until I came across your podcast earlier this year. Every episode has taught me something new, and many of the insights you share have already made a real difference in my life. I’ve been applying the tools you discuss, and they’ve helped me grow in ways I didn’t expect. Through your podcast, I’ve also discovered other inspiring voices—one of them being Jefferson Fisher—for which I’m equally grateful. Thank you so much for the work you do. In today’s world, it truly feels like one of the greatest contributions to humanity. Habib

8
@tribute1965 2025-12-17

I'm grateful for my new friend Mel. Tears of happiness as I write this.

8
@ActiveWellnessbyGAIL 2025-11-27

I’m eating an avocado as I listen to you an thinking how grateful I am to have it.

8
@cncbmx 2026-03-25

The most difficult part of this is doing the first step but as soon as we do it everything will be better.

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