Gratitude and Happiness

Earlier this month I had written about my sources of happiness and the relative effort. Gratitude was something that figured on top of the list which means it gives me immense happiness to be grateful plus it does not take too much effort to be grateful or express gratitude.

Gratitude or expressing gratefulness goes back to the age old question of: is the glass half empty or half full? My glass is always half full. That is a choice I made and it helps me derive happiness no matter what the situtation is.

Every weekend, if not every evening, I sit down and count my blessings - a wonderful & supportive family, a great workplace, awesome colleagues who make a great team, reliable friends who drop everything to spend quality time together, a healthy body & mind. I also take time to express gratefulness. There are so many people who touch my life to make it better, who's paths I cross and I feel the world is a whole lot better by just knowing them.

Not only that it is important to let people know you are grateful but also it gives me happiness to let people around me know how thankful I am to their presence in my life. So one of the rituals that I don't break is saying "THANK YOU".

• Writing thank you notes - I am very old fashioned when it comes to expressing myself. I still prefer handwritten notes rather than sending a text or an email. Every weekend, I sit down to write a handful of THANK YOU notes to people who have influenced me the most, positively.
• Writing a Gratitude journal - I have a diary where I write down all the things I am grateful for in life on a daily basis. So on the day I hit the lowest low, all I have to do is take out the journal and read. It is a gentle reminder of all the wonderful things in my life.
• Praying - I don't necessarily believe in luck but I do believe each of our paths are charted differently. There are so many scientifically inexplainable things and this goes to the different paths that we are destined to take. I pray daily, thanking the Power above me for all the blessings in life.
• Paying it forward - For every blessing I have, I try and pay it forward. Helping others to lead a better life is my way of expressing gratitude for everything I have.

How do you express gratefulness?