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Welcome to the Gratitude Diaries, a

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production of My Heart Radio. Hi.

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I'm Janice Kaplan. Thanks for joining

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me for more practical ideas on how to

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be happier. Today's

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tip have a glass of wine

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and realize how much your mindset

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determines how it tastes. I

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talk all the time about how it's not events

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that make us happy or not, but our responses

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and attitudes toward them. I got

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an email from one listener who said he liked

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that concept, but it seemed to him

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that events are pretty important. Did

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I have any examples that could make

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him really believe that how

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we think about things changes them.

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It's a great question, and I agree that events

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are often a strong force in our lives,

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but so is our mindset. What

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we expect to happen often becomes

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how we experience it. When we

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believe some thing, we virtually make it

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true. Do I have an example

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of that. Well, here's one of my favorites,

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because dozens of studies have been

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done with wine drinkers, and

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virtually all of them show that if you think

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you're drinking something expensive

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and highly rated, you'll enjoy

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it more. In one study,

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wine experts were given bottles with the

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labels changed, and then they were

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asked to rate them. Some of

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the experts who got the wine with a cheap label

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thought it was worth drinking, but

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three times as many approved when

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it had a fancy label. All

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of the wines were exactly the same.

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Apparently, all the area dyite opinions

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about a wine tasting oaky, earthy,

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or silky are affected at least

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in part by labels as

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much as by taste buds. Actually,

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it's even more subtle than that, because

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how you view the experience

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or event actually changes it.

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In one really impress of study, people

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agreed to have their brains scanned

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in m r I machines while they sipped

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wine through straws okay

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anything for science I guess. Screens

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set up in front of the volunteers provided

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information about each wine, including

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where it came from and what it cost. And

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here's what's amazing, the pleasure

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centers of the volunteers brains

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lit up when they believed they were

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tasting and expensive or rare wine,

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and didn't light up in pleasure when

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they thought the wine they were tasting was

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not so fancy. Once

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again, every wine and every sip was

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really the same. That

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experiment is truly stunning to

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me because it shows that when we think

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we like something, we actually experience

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it in a more positive way. Remember,

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the brains were actually lighting

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up differently, responding differently

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to what the people thought they were drinking.

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When I was writing The Gratitude Diary and

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first heard about these experiments, I tended

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not to be a lot of fun at dinner parties. One

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night, as friends could over a Napa

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Valley CHEBLI, I suggested

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they were drinking the label rather than the

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liquid. They shot back that

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I just didn't know how to appreciate a great

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wine. It could be that all

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of us were right with different expectations.

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Our pleasure centers fire different

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messages. We all like to think

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that we are the one having the truly authentic

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experience, responding to the event

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or the wine as it actually is, But

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it's possible that there's no such

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thing. A couple of years

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ago, my husband and I took a trip to

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South Africa and we visited the wine

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country there. It was a glorious

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trip, and now I'm convinced that South

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African wines are the very best in the world.

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At least they're my favorites. Whenever

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my husband brings out a bottle of wine, he knows

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I'm going to rave about how good it is.

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Fortunately he hasn't tried switching

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labels on me, but I'm pretty

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sure that if he did, I'd love whatever

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he labeled as being from the region where

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I have such fond memories. What

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works for wine can be expanded

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to a general view of life. If

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you're expecting an event to be good and positive

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and make you happy, the actual

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details of it don't matter nearly so

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much. Your brain is primed

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to look for the best of the situation.

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Expressing gratitude and finding the

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good in any situation is like

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amending a nice label to a

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cheap bottle of wine. It

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doesn't change the day, but it

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does change how you experience

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it. Putting a positive spin

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on an event means that you make it

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easier to light up your brain's pleasure

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centers. You are truly experiencing

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the event with pleasure and gratitude.

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So today realize that whatever

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events occur will have an influence

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on you. But how you are primed

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to experience the event and the perspective

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your mind brings to it are equally

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or probably more important, all

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the experts in the world can tell you that

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you're drinking a not so great model

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of wine, but if you're prepared

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to love it and enjoy every sip,

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you probably will. Thanks

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for joining me, I'll be back tomorrow with more

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ideas on how your mindset can

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change your day and your life and

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make you happier and more grateful. Have

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a great day. The

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Gratitude Diaries is a production of I heart

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Radio. For more podcasts from I heart

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Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get

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your favorite shows.