“What You Focus On Is What Grows”: Lainey Wilson Opens Up About The Power Of Gratitude

Lainey Wilson is offering some words of wisdom for fans, with the ‘Heart Like a Truck’ singer-songwriter recommending a couple of books that have had a big impact on her outlook.

Wilson has been making a habit of getting candid with followers in recent weeks, with the Louisiana native delving into her mental health, married life and more with fans.

Wilson captions the new video, “Been learning a lot about where I place my attention lately. What you focus on is what grows”. This last line captures the essence of her musings, with Wilson stressing to fans how important it is to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in our day-to-day lives, so we can attract more things to be grateful for.

Wilson begins, “Did y'all know that you have between 8,000 and 80,000 thoughts and feelings every single day, like automatic thoughts and feelings? But here's the scary part: two thirds of them are actually not real - they're false. And so, when you let thousands of automatic untrue thoughts run wild in your brain, they do something dangerous, and this is what I'm learning. They create a negative reality around you, and your world starts to really look like it worries”.

She goes on to underline how the things we give our attention to are the things we end up receiving and experiencing more of, “That's terrifying, because your life goes exactly where you place your attention. It's about where you position yourself, and what I'm learning is that you can take your thoughts captive. You can decide that you are not going to be a victim of your mind. You are the gatekeeper, and the Bible actually tells us that we can be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And I'm over here just trying to renew, renew, renew. Lord help me”.

She adds how gratitude is at the heart of this mentality-rest, “But I'm learning that if you shift your focus to a gratitude-focused life, that you can do it. And life and death lies in the power of the tongue. Your girl's tongue be over here doing crazy stuff! But what you speak and what you focus on, that is what you will grow. So I'm learning that through Christ we have the authority to speak to the problem”.

The ‘4X4XU’ crooner then recommends a couple of books that have been helping her adopt this revitalised mentality, “There are two books by Tara Sierra Mosley that have helped me just lean into that more, and I keep them right next to my Bible. This one right here [Declarations in the Desert] has been out for a minute, and I give it to all of my friends who come through the door. And her new book, right here, House of the Forest - it actually comes out on September 15, and I was able to get my hands on it early...And y'all, these books are really incredible”.

The 2025 CMA Entertainer of the Year underlines, “These books are for decrees and declarations, and it is teaching you how you can renew your mind and fight what is not true. I mean, these these books right here, they remind me to stand on His promise. It has specific decrees too, like a decree for widows, a decree for your husband, a decree for childhood cancer, and so on. The list goes on and on and on. Really, anything that you can imagine. I feel like this book has one specifically for that, and so I just wanted to share with y'all what I'm learning, and books like this are are helping me learn. So let's learn together. I love y'all. Be good”.

It's an encouraging clip from Wilson, with the ‘Phone, Keys, Wallet’ hitmaker touching on elements of the Law of Attraction, but delving into this through a Christ-centred lens.

As Wilson explains, the more things we make a conscious effort to express thanks for and be thankful for, the more things in turn will enter our lives to be thankful for.

Gratitude has long been hailed as key mindset-shift that can help people be happier, due to how it shifts the narrative around things that would otherwise be seen as “negative”.

For instance, if you make a mistake at work, rather than letting it ruin your day, if you have a gratitude-focussed mindset, you'll find a reason to view this as something to be grateful for. Perhaps the mistake taught you something that you wouldn't otherwise have been able to learn, had you not made the mistake in the first place.

Wilson isn't the only artist that has been sharing some spiritually-minded words of advice via socials in recent weeks, with Thomas Rhett, Brandon Lake and more outlining some nuggets of wisdom they've gleaned from devotionals and the Bible.

We're hoping Wilson infuses some of these lessons she's learning and Biblical wisdom she's sharing into her next project. The country titan has been dabbling in the Contemporary Christian Music space of late, collaborating with Lake on ‘The Jesus I Know Now’, and we're excited to see if she has more in this vein on the way.