Gratitude Chapel: Rewiring Our Brains with Compassion

Before the community breaks for the Thanksgiving holiday, it is a Belmont Hill tradition to gather in the Hamilton Chapel for a reflection on gratitude from a member of the Faculty. This year’s speaker was science faculty member Dr. Maureen Courtney, a current Belmont Hill parent and spouse of former faculty member Jared Courtney ‘97. Combining her mastery of the sciences, love for the Philadelphia Phillies, and sharp sense of humor, Dr. Courtney used her Chapel Talk to examine the lasting impact of stepping up for others in their most stressful moments. 

Dr. Courtney is a former research neuroscientist with a Ph.D. in psychological and brain sciences and an M.A. and B.A. in biological psychology from Boston University. Over her career, she has published several scientific manuscripts and presented her research at a number of international conferences. 

Using a recent Phillies playoff collapse as her test case, Dr. Courtney explained how moments of embarrassment, fear, and shock activate the brain’s amygdala which identifies memories of emotional significance to bypass the brain’s normal process for making memories. This act imprints these charged memories straight to the hippocampus where lasting memories are stored. In other words, high stress moments–like when Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering’s extra innings error ended their season– can almost immediately become a permanent memory. 

As intense as this process can seem, Dr. Courtney revealed the profound impact that can be made when those low moments are not faced alone. “Something incredible happens when we feel supported,” Dr. Courtney said. “When we feel connected socially and engage with other people, we release the hormone oxytocin. It’s associated with relaxation, trust, and psychological stability and connection.” 

This increase of oxytocin decreases the brain’s stress hormone cortisol, relaxing the hippocampus and delaying the memory creation process. “With compassion we can literally rewire someone’s brain. We can hijack that amygdala hippocampus pathway so that there’s a secondary memory of human kindness left behind.”

In the case of the Phillies, that kindness came from the teammates who immediately rallied to Kerkering’s side and faced the heartbreaking loss together. For Dr. Courtney, those types of moments arrived in an embarrassing high school performance of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Bells,” or an allergic reaction during a presentation at the National Institutes of Health. And yet, for each of those personal stories that could have been defined by shame and disappointment, Dr. Courtney instead recalls the people who stepped up and offered encouragement and support. These are the types of actions she urged students to make upon their return to campus. 

“Expressing gratitude is an important and wonderful act, but we’re Belmont Hill. Take it a step further. Strive to be the person someone else is grateful for,” Dr. Courtney said. “Be the person that makes such an impact that someone is expressing gratitude for you more than three decades after an act of kindness.” 

A recording of the remarks is provided in the video below.