Breaking Free from Survival Mode: Why Your Mind Holds the Key to Energy and Joy

🎧 Listen on the go: All our articles are available as podcasts for your daily commute or workout routine.

Picture David. He’s 42, works as a project manager, earns a solid salary, has a nice home and loving family. By objective measures, his life is successful. But every morning when his alarm goes off, his first thought is dread and the question: “How am I going to get through this?”

He tells himself it’s temporary. Just this quarter with the big deadline. Just until his kids are older. Just until he gets that promotion. Just until retirement when he can start really living.

But David doesn’t realize he’s been telling himself versions of this story for twenty years. First it was “just until I finish my degree.” Then “just until I’m established in my career.” The waiting never ends – the goalpost just keeps moving.

By evening, David collapses in front of the television, too depleted to do anything meaningful. Over time, hobbies and friendships quietly disappeared -not by choice, but by exhaustion. He’s gained weight, developed chronic back pain, and increasingly finds himself snapping at his family over minor irritations.

On weekends, he tells himself he’ll finally do something for himself. Instead, he finds himself doing chores, feeling vaguely guilty, and scrolling through his phone in a fog of low-grade anxiety and exhaustion.

When his wife asks, “What do you want to do today?” he realizes with disturbing clarity that he has no idea. He’s so disconnected from his own desires that the question feels almost threatening.

What David doesn’t know: He’s trapped in what I call chronic survival mode – a pattern where your nervous system behaves as though you’re under constant threat, even when no immediate danger is present. When I use the term ‘survival mode,’ I’m not referring to a clinical diagnosis. I’m describing a pattern of chronic nervous system activation – commonly studied as prolonged stress or allostatic load – where the body systematically shuts down the very brain systems that generate joy, purpose, and vitality. Research suggests this state affects millions of adults in developed nations, creating what appears to be prosperity on the outside while hollowing out the experience of actually living.

Does this sound familiar? You roll out of bed every morning and your first thought isn’t excitement about the day ahead – it’s “just get through this.” Maybe you’re in your thirties, wondering if this crushing sense of “is this it?” means you’re already facing a midlife crisis. Or perhaps you’re forty, gritting your teeth as you tell yourself this exhausting routine is just temporary, that someday you’ll start actually living instead of merely surviving.

You catch yourself thinking, “just wait until evening, just wait until the weekend, just wait until retirement,” while each day blends into the next in a haze of responsibilities and fatigue.

If that sounds like you, I want you to know something important: you’re not alone. But here’s what’s really surprising – most people don’t recognize their own needs on a daily basis. They don’t attempt to set boundaries with family, loved ones, or work. As a result, they don’t even have an hour a week for their passions and goals. If they do have time for themselves, they spend it passively in front of the TV because they have no energy for anything else – and passive consumption isn’t the restoration they need.

Because they lack meaningful goals and objectives, they cease to experience satisfaction and joy. They cease to have dreams and aspirations. And by ceasing to care about these things, they lose the ability to organize such activities and goals. The muscle atrophies from disuse.

Let me show you where this path leads.

Meet Maria. She’s 65, recently retired after thirty years as a school administrator. For decades, she lived exactly like David – telling herself she was just waiting. Waiting to finish her education, waiting to establish her career, waiting for her children to become independent, waiting for retirement when she could finally start really living.

But when retirement day arrived, something terrifying happened. Maria had no idea what to do with herself.

Without the structure of work, she felt lost and purposeless. She filled her days, but nothing in them felt nourishing. The woman who once managed budgets and supervised staff now struggled with the simple question: “What do I want to do today?” Years of deferring her own needs and dreams had left her unable to recognize them. She found herself resenting her adult children for not calling more often, for not filling the void that she’d spent decades creating.

Maria’s story isn’t unique – it’s the predictable endpoint of a life spent entirely in survival mode. When you spend thirty or forty years telling yourself you’re just getting through this phase before real life begins, you never develop the capacity to actually enjoy life when the opportunity finally arrives.

---

When you defer your own needs for decades, you don’t just lose time – you lose the very capacity to recognize what brings you joy.

---

Dr. Richard Wiseman, a psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire, has spent years studying why some people consistently describe themselves as “lucky” while others feel chronically unlucky. In his book The Luck Factor, he shares examples from his research, including simple scenarios designed to reveal how differently these two groups pay attention to the world. In one of these illustrative setups, “lucky” participants often notice small opportunities -like money on the ground or a chance conversation – while “unlucky” participants walk right past them without realizing anything was there.

What’s striking isn’t the money itself – it’s the mindset. When Wiseman interviewed people afterward, the “lucky” individuals described their day in vivid detail: the pleasant weather, the interesting barista, the small unexpected surprises. The “unlucky” group tended to report an uneventful or even disappointing day, completely missing what was right in front of them.

(This example is adaped from Wiseman’s research and the scenarios he describes in The Luck Factor.)

The environment was identical – only perception differed.

Wiseman’s work suggests that what we often call “luck” is really a matter of attention and perception. People who move through the world with a more open, relaxed awareness naturally notice possibilities. People who feel chronically stressed or anxious tend to narrow their attention, scanning for problems rather than opportunities.

And this is exactly what chronic survival mode does to your mind: it tightens your focus around threats and difficulties, creating a kind of mental tunnel vision where anything positive becomes easy to overlook.

The environment that surrounds us, what we do and how we think on a daily basis has a huge impact on how we feel and what opportunities we create for ourselves.

This is what survival mode does to your perception. When you’re constantly in a state of stress and overwhelm, your attention narrows. You develop tunnel vision focused entirely on threats and problems. Your brain filters out anything that isn’t immediately relevant to survival.

This made perfect sense for our ancestors facing actual life-or-death situations. But our modern lives rarely involve actual predators. Yet many of us live in a constant state of psychological threat – deadlines, financial pressure, social obligations, information overload. Our stress response system stays chronically activated. And when that happens, we lose our capacity to notice the good things naturally occurring in our lives.

The warm cup of coffee becomes invisible. The smile from a stranger goes unnoticed. The fact that we woke up healthy in a safe, comfortable bed fails to register. We develop what psychologists call hedonic adaptation – we get so used to comfort and convenience that these things no longer generate any positive emotion.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: When many basic needs are met effortlessly, fewer daily experiences naturally engage the brain’s reward systems – making it easier to lose touch with satisfaction unless we intentionally create challenge and meaning.

Our brains evolved over millions of years in environments where every comfort required effort. Warmth meant gathering firewood. Food meant hunting or foraging. Safety meant building shelter and maintaining social bonds. Each of these activities, when successful, triggered reward systems in our brains. Dopamine, serotonin, endorphins – these chemicals were released when we overcame challenges and met our needs.

But now? You press a button and food arrives. You turn a dial and your home becomes comfortable. You swipe and scroll for entertainment. Your brain’s reward systems are far less consistently engaged by daily life than they were designed to be.

This creates a paradox: people living in unprecedented prosperity can feel more miserable than previous generations who faced genuine hardships. When you’re accustomed to comfort, minor inconveniences feel like major crises. When you’ve never learned to cope with real difficulty, small setbacks become paralyzing.

The reality is that most of us living in highly developed countries are extraordinarily privileged. We have safe homes, reliable access to food and clean water, and freedoms that most humans throughout history could never imagine. Yet this very privilege has created an unexpected challenge: we’ve become so comfortable that we’ve lost touch with the fundamental human need for growth, challenge, and purpose.

---

Your brain’s reward systems were designed for overcoming challenges – when everything is easy, nothing feels rewarding.

---

The Four Pillars framework is my attempt to synthesize research into a coherent model that makes these hidden connections visible and understandable.

Now, just so we’re clear, this framework is for educational use only. It’s not a diagnostic or clinical tool.

In my Four Pillars framework, I look at how wellbeing rests on four foundations: FUEL, MOVEMENT, MIND, and RHYTHM. Today, we’re exploring how survival mode doesn’t just affect one area – it systematically undermines all four, creating a cascade where each falling pillar pulls the others down.

The FUEL pillar represents how you nourish and sustain your body. When you’re in survival mode, your relationship with food becomes purely functional. You eat to get through the day, not to nourish yourself. David grabs whatever is convenient – often highly processed foods that provide quick energy but little real nutrition. He skips meals when he’s busy, then overeats when he finally has a moment.

But chronic stress disrupts your entire metabolic system. This is consistent with the allostasis model described by Sterling & Eyer (1988) and later expanded by McEwen (2007). Cortisol (stress hormone) signals your body to store fat, particularly around your midsection. It increases cravings for sugar and fat – foods that would have provided quick energy for our ancestors facing true threats. Research shows that elevated cortisol levels are associated with increased appetite for high-calorie foods, creating a biological drive toward the very foods that perpetuate the cycle.

Chronic stress also depletes crucial nutrients. Studies indicate that stress requires higher amounts of B vitamins, magnesium, and vitamin C. Over time, these deficiencies create their own symptoms: fatigue, muscle cramps, poor sleep, irritability, difficulty concentrating.

David’s body is running on empty even while consuming plenty of calories. In survival mode, you’re metabolically starving even while technically well-fed.

---

Chronic stress doesn’t just make you crave junk food – it depletes the very nutrients your body needs to handle stress, creating a vicious cycle.

---

The MOVEMENT pillar represents your physical foundation – not just exercise, but how you inhabit and use your body. David used to play basketball on weekends. He used to go hiking. But somewhere along the way, movement became just another obligation on an already overwhelming list.

When you’re chronically stressed and exhausted, exercise feels impossible. You tell yourself you’ll start when you have more energy, not realizing that movement is one of the primary ways you build energy. It’s a catch-22: you need energy to move, but you need to move to have energy.

Research on the neuroscience of exercise demonstrates that physical activity increases production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which supports the growth and maintenance of neurons. Exercise also triggers the release of endorphins and other neurotransmitters that improve mood and cognitive function. But when you’re in survival mode, accessing these benefits feels like climbing a mountain.

Chronic survival mode often leads to chronic pain. Tension headaches, back pain, neck stiffness – these are symptoms of a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight. Studies show that chronic stress increases muscle tension and inflammation, contributing to widespread pain. And when movement hurts, you move less. When you move less, you get weaker. When you’re weaker, movement hurts more. It’s a downward spiral.

David’s back pain isn’t just age – it’s his body literally carrying the weight of chronic stress.

The MIND pillar represents your mental health, emotional regulation, and sense of meaning and purpose. Survival mode does its most devastating damage here.

When you’re constantly in stress mode, your brain truly begins to change. Neuroimaging research shows that chronic stress reduces the functioning of the prefrontal cortex – the part of your brain responsible for rational thinking and emotional regulation – while increasing the reactivity of the amygdala, your fear center. This shift makes you more emotionally reactive and less able to calm yourself. You become quicker to spot threats, slower to notice opportunities, and less able to think things through before responding.

David finds himself snapping at his kids over minor things. He catastrophizes small setbacks at work. He lies awake ruminating about conversations from days ago. His inner dialogue has become harsh and critical. He feels constant low-grade anxiety he can’t quite identify.

When your body believes it’s under constant threat, your brain prioritizes survival over everything else. Long-term planning, creativity, empathy, joy -these are luxuries your brain can’t afford when it thinks you’re in danger.

Research on stress and cognition demonstrates that chronic stress impairs working memory, attention, and decision-making. Studies show that prolonged elevated cortisol levels are associated with reduced hippocampal volume and impaired memory formation. Your capacity to think clearly, plan effectively, and regulate emotions all diminish under chronic stress.

This is why David has lost touch with what he actually wants. Goals and dreams require a sense of safety and possibility. When you’re in survival mode, your brain can’t access those states.

---

Chronic stress doesn’t just make you tired – it rewires your brain to see threats everywhere and possibilities nowhere.

---

The RHYTHM pillar represents your daily patterns and circadian health – the natural cycles that govern when you sleep, wake, eat, and recover. When you’re in survival mode, your natural rhythms break down. You stay up too late scrolling because it’s the only time you feel you have to yourself. You wake up exhausted because your sleep quality is poor. You grab caffeine to force alertness rather than addressing why you’re tired.

Your cortisol rhythm – which should peak in the morning and gradually decline through the day – becomes chaotic. Research shows that chronic stress can flatten or reverse normal cortisol rhythms. You might have high cortisol at night, making it hard to fall asleep, and low cortisol in the morning, making it impossible to wake up feeling refreshed.

Poor sleep affects everything else. Studies demonstrate that sleep deprivation impairs your metabolism, increases inflammation, weakens your immune system, disrupts hormone production, impairs cognitive function, and increases emotional reactivity. Research shows that just a single night of partial sleep deprivation can reduce insulin sensitivity by approximately 25% (Donga et al., 2010), while repeated nights of restricted sleep can produce changes in fat tissue insulin sensitivity of nearly 30% (Spiegel et al., 1999).

Chronic poor sleep is associated with increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and cognitive decline. David’s exhaustion isn’t just in his head – his disrupted sleep rhythm is creating biological dysfunction throughout his entire system.

This is the interconnected collapse. Watch David’s morning: He wakes up exhausted (RHYTHM) and skips breakfast, grabbing a pastry and coffee instead (FUEL). His blood sugar spikes then crashes by mid-morning, leaving him foggy and irritable (MIND). He’s too tired to take the stairs, so he takes the elevator (MOVEMENT). By afternoon, he’s consumed with anxiety about his workload, which keeps his stress hormones elevated (MIND), which disrupts his hunger signals so he overeats at dinner (FUEL), which makes him feel sluggish so he collapses on the couch (MOVEMENT), which means he stays up late because he hasn’t done anything meaningful with his evening (RHYTHM).

Each weakened pillar stresses the others, creating a cascade of dysfunction that feeds back on itself. Poor nutrition makes movement feel impossible. Lack of movement disrupts sleep. Poor sleep impairs cognitive function and emotional regulation. Mental and emotional struggles make it harder to make good food choices or maintain healthy habits.

But here’s the hopeful part: the same interconnectedness that creates the problem can also drive the solution. When you address these systems together, even small changes create cascading positive effects through all four pillars. When David takes a short walk after lunch (MOVEMENT), it improves his mood (MIND), helps regulate his blood sugar (FUEL), and contributes to better sleep that night (RHYTHM). One small action ripples through the entire system.

The uncomfortable truth is that there are no shortcuts to recovering from chronic survival mode.

I know that’s not what you want to hear. We all want the magic pill, the one weird trick, the quick fix. But here’s the thing: the very mindset that seeks quick fixes is part of what created this problem. The belief that you can just push through, just work harder, just optimize one more thing – that’s survival mode thinking. It’s the same narrowed, threat-focused attention that got you here in the first place.

This doesn’t mean recovery is impossible. It absolutely doesn’t. It just means it requires a systematic approach that addresses the interconnected nature of these four pillars.

Think of it like trying to fix a house with a cracked foundation. You can repaint the walls, replace the carpet, update the kitchen – but if you don’t address the foundation, those cracks are going to keep appearing. You can’t just patch the symptoms and expect lasting results. You need to understand the structure and work with it systematically.

If you just try to force better habits through willpower while your nervous system is still in survival mode, it’s going to come back. The stress will return, the exhaustion will return, the sense of being overwhelmed will return -because you haven’t addressed the underlying state that’s generating these symptoms.

The good news—and there really is good news here – is that once you begin addressing these interconnected issues, improvements in one area naturally support improvements in others. The same interconnectedness that made the problem complex also makes recovery more effective once you understand how to work with it rather than against it.

If you’ve recognized yourself in David’s or Maria’s story, you might feel overwhelmed. That’s normal. But hear this: you’re not broken or weak. Your nervous system is responding exactly as it was designed to respond to chronic stress. The solution isn’t more willpower – it’s understanding how to shift your nervous system out of survival mode and back into a state where thriving is possible.

Knowledge gives you leverage. Once you understand your biology, you can work with your body, not against it.

Before changing anything, simply observe.

As you move through the next 14 days, ask yourself honestly:

1. How many times this week did I postpone something I wanted to do, telling myself “later” or “when I have time”?
2. When someone asked me “How are you?” this week, did I automatically say “fine” or “busy” without actually checking in with myself?
3. How many hours did I spend this week on activities that genuinely energized me versus activities that depleted me?
4. When was the last time I felt genuine excitement about something in my day-to-day life – not a vacation or future event, but something in my regular routine?
5. Did I notice any moments this week where I felt present and engaged, or was I mostly thinking about the next thing I needed to do?
6. How many times did I eat a meal without multitasking – just eating, without screens or work?
7. When I had free time this week, did I spend it doing what I actually wanted, or did I default to passive consumption out of exhaustion?

You don’t need to fix everything at once. Just start noticing. Patterns will begin to emerge – and with awareness, you gain power. In just 14 days, you may be surprised by what you discover.

Then, when you’re ready, you can begin making small, sustainable changes – the kind that help your energy and vitality return naturally.

For the next 14 days, try a small experiment. It costs nothing, and the benefits may surprise you. It might sound too simple to be effective, but bear with me – the science supports it.

Get a clear jar. An old jam jar works perfectly. Each evening, take a small piece of paper and write down one small positive thing that happened that day. Just one thing. Drop it in the jar.

If you’re thinking “nothing positive happens in my daily life,” that’s exactly why you need to do this exercise. Your perception has been trained to filter out the positive and focus only on problems and threats. This exercise retrains your attention.

Examples to get you started:

• You made eye contact with a stranger and shared a genuine smile
• You took five minutes to enjoy your morning coffee without distractions
• You chose to take the stairs instead of the elevator
• You had a brief but pleasant conversation with a colleague
• You chose music that lifted your mood during your commute

These aren’t big things. They’re not Instagram-worthy achievements. They’re small moments of agency, connection, pleasure, or accomplishments that are happening every day but you’ve stopped noticing them.

Remember, awareness always comes before transformation.

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s research on positive emotions demonstrates what she calls the “broaden-and-build” effect. Experimental work – especially the film-clip studies by Fredrickson and Branigan (2005) – shows that when people experience positive emotions like amusement or contentment, their scope of attention literally widens. Participants who watched positive-emotion film clips showed broader visual attention and more flexible thinking compared with those who viewed neutral or negative clips.

When you’re in survival mode, your attention is narrowed to threats. You literally cannot see opportunities or solutions right in front of you – just like those “unlucky” people walking past the £5 note. But when you train your attention to notice positive experiences, your perspective broadens. Studies show that experiencing positive emotions widens your field of attention, enhances creative problem-solving, and builds enduring personal resources like resilience and social connections.

This isn’t wishful thinking. This is evidence-based neuroscience. You’re not denying reality – you’re training yourself to see reality more accurately. Because the truth is, both good and bad things happen every day. Survival mode has trained you to only see the bad. This exercise restores balance.

Research demonstrates that practicing gratitude and intentionally directing attention toward positive experiences improves wellbeing and can shift long-term emotional patterns (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Wood et al., 2010). When you consistently direct your attention toward positive experiences—even small ones – you create new neural connections that make it easier to notice positive aspects of your experience in the future. You’re not just feeling better temporarily; you’re restructuring how your brain processes information.

After 14 days of noticing what’s already working, something interesting happens. You’ll have a jar full of small pieces of paper – physical evidence that positive things happen in your life regularly. You’ll find that your perspective has shifted enough that small additional changes feel possible rather than overwhelming.

This creates the foundation for addressing the other pillars. When your nervous system recognizes some degree of safety and possibility, you have the psychological resources needed to tackle bigger changes in nutrition, movement, and daily rhythms.

You might notice you have slightly more energy to make a real breakfast instead of grabbing something quick. You might find yourself choosing to take a short walk because it sounds pleasant rather than like another obligation. You might discover you can fall asleep a bit easier because your anxiety is slightly lower. Small shifts create momentum for bigger ones.

This awareness exercise is just the beginning. You still need to address your nutrition, your movement, your sleep, your stress. But you can’t do that effectively from a state of depletion and overwhelm. You need some solid ground under your feet first.

Six months from now, if you do this work, your life could look radically different. Not because everything will be perfect, but because you’ll have reconnected with your capacity to notice, appreciate, and actively create positive experiences.

You might wake up with actual energy – not just the absence of exhaustion, but genuine vitality. Your mental fog might clear, revealing focus and creativity you forgot you had. That chronic tension you’ve been carrying might ease. Your mood might stabilize, allowing you to show up fully for the people you love.

These are potential outcomes supported by research when people shift their nervous systems out of chronic survival mode.

The path forward isn’t easy, but it’s straightforward once you understand what you’re working with. Every time you pause to notice something positive, every time you choose nourishment over convenience, every time you move your body with intention, every time you protect your sleep – these aren’t acts of deprivation. They’re acts of self-respect. You’re choosing long-term vitality over short-term convenience.

You can start right now – not tomorrow, not Monday, not after the holidays. Right now.

Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Because let’s be honest, the perfect moment never comes. You have to create it.

Your future self – the one who wakes up energized, who engages fully with life, who experiences genuine joy in daily moments – is waiting for you to take that first step.

Stop guessing, start knowing.
This is Your Space Today – delivering the science-backed clarity you need every week because your health journey deserves expert guidance.

If you found value in this article, I’d really appreciate it if you’d share it with friends or family who might be struggling with similar issues. Sometimes, understanding that we’re not alone in this struggle, and that there are real, science-based explanations for what we’re experiencing – that knowledge alone can be incredibly empowering.

This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with your healthcare provider regarding any health concerns.

Thank you so much for spending this time with me today. Until next time, take care of yourself. You deserve it.

---

If you’d like to explore the research behind this article, here are selected peer-reviewed studies supporting the key points discussed:

1. Donga, E., van Dijk, M., van Dijk, J. G., Biermasz, N. R., Lammers, G. J., van Kralingen, K. W., Corssmit, E. P. M., & Romijn, J. A. (2010). A single night of partial sleep deprivation induces insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 95(6), 2963-2968. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2009-2430
2. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12585811/
3. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11315248/
4. Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19(3), 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238
5. Fredrickson, B. L., & Joiner, T. (2002). Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science, 13(2), 172-175. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00431
6. Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439
7. Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111
8. McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873-904. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00041.2006
9. Ratey, J. J., & Loehr, J. E. (2011). The positive impact of physical activity on cognition during adulthood: A review of underlying mechanisms, evidence and recommendations. Reviews in Neurosciences, 22(2), 171-185. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21417955/
10. Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16045394/
11. Spiegel, K., Leproult, R., & Van Cauter, E. (1999). Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function. The Lancet, 354(9188), 1435-1439. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)01376-8
12. Sterling, P., & Eyer, J. (1988). Allostasis: A new paradigm to explain arousal pathology. In S. Fisher & J. Reason (Eds.), Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health (pp. 629-649). John Wiley & Sons.
13. Walker, M. P. (2009). The role of sleep in cognition and emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156(1), 168-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04416.x
14. Wiseman, R. (2003). The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind. Arrow Books.
15. Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890-905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005