“For my part, I am almost contented just now, and very thankful. Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.”

-Charlotte Bronte

Gratitude is a vital step towards happiness

Complaints, emotions, and thoughts out of control, low self-esteem, procrastination, unrealistic expectations often are the basis of our unhappiness. Living with a constant sense of anger at all that we don't have, rather than being grateful for what we have, can fuel frustration and a sense of helplessness. It is a question of attitude. The more we can give thanks for everything, even for the things we don't like, the more we will cultivate our happiness.

This may surprise come as a surprise, but we choose, more or less consciously, happiness or unhappiness. When life confronts us with something we don't like or don't want, we can appreciate that every situation offers us the ability to make different choices and change direction. And, often, it is precisely by changing direction that we take the brightest path.

Being grateful for what we have is a vital step towards happiness. Expressing gratitude for all the little-big blessings that fill our lives every day and that we often take for granted draws even more into our lives.

The benefits of gratitude

Gratitude offers us many benefits, including:

· nourishes optimism

· favors relationships with others

· increases self-esteem

· improves health and psychophysical well-being

· helps sleep longer and better,

· improves empathy and reduces aggression

· increases resilience

Being grateful makes us powerful

Gratitude is a powerful emotion that reminds us that we can be happy now, even though we have not yet achieved all our ambitious goals.

Entrusting our happiness to external events will not help us become happy. Happiness is a choice; the choice is power, and power we all have. This is why living with an attitude of gratitude and cultivating this feeling of gratitude daily can make a difference.

We don't need big gestures or special events to be grateful. Every day we can find a good reason to say thank you and start with the small things we often don't even notice. We are also grateful for the unforeseen events that give us a hard time because, almost certainly, there is a message for us.

What can we be grateful for?

Anything gives us a chance to express our gratitude. Thank anyone who does something for us and doesn't take things for granted. Smile at our body that supports us, thank ourselves for all the problems we don't have, we can be grateful for breathing and simply for being alive.

We can express gratitude to our family, friends, school, and work. We can be grateful for something we have learned, a stroll in nature, the beauty of a sunset, the flower that greets us in the morning, the coffee at the bar with a friend, the smile of a child when we come home in the evening or that of the cashier who helped us in line at the supermarket, the taste of chocolate, the sound of music, the phone call we were waiting for, the sweet sound of a purring cat.

We can even thank our enemies for helping us discover the best part of us, or for the stone that made us trip while training our ability to get up, or, again, for a mistake made that allowed us to understand what not to do.

As we can see, there is the gift of a lesson in every problematic situation. Our job is to learn the lesson and appreciate what it taught us. We can cultivate gratitude for a happier life!

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

- Melody Beattie