Boost your happiness with gratitude

How to reap the benefits of thankfulness

Some people consider the ability to be grateful the key to happiness. Focusing on what you do have instead of what you don’t is basic to the experience of joy. Some of the most grateful people are those who have faced death, maybe because they truly understand the gift of simply being alive. Dawn Nelson was a massage therapist working with the frail and dying when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She writes eloquently about gratitude in her book, Making Friends with Cancer.

“If I cannot get out of bed, I can be thankful for the fact that I am able to turn my head, wriggle my toes, feel the smoothness of silk, smell the fragrance of the roses…. The simple act of noticing what one has to be grateful for has tremendous power over the mind. I use this process to get through difficult moments during my cancer treatment and recovery. I use it to shift my mood when I am feeling ‘down’ or to cope with unpleasant tasks.”

Plan a gratitude session.

1. Get comfortable in a quiet place, inside or out. Turn off the TV and computer and don’t answer your phone.

2. Think about what you have to be thankful for, what and who you cherish. 

3. Silently thank people who have done something for you. 

4. Write a personal wish for someone you are grateful for on a peace of paper. Sit quietly, repeating the wish several times. Then burn the paper, watching the smoke dissipate into the atmosphere.

5. Call or email one of those people to thank them.

Practicing gratitude is a simple way to bring more meaning, joy and satisfaction into your daily life.