Want to be happy? Be grateful.

I am a huge fan of TedTalks and whenever I get some free time I typically watch one and then fall into a rabbit hole of a totally different topic then where I began. This week I wanted to share a talk that I found that makes a good point.

It is a simple idea but it is so easy to forget within the chaos of our own lives.

"It's not happiness that makes us grateful, it's gratefulness that makes us happy." - David Steindl-Rast

He makes a good point about how we don't have to just have grateful experiences but if we live as grateful people that will help us and those around us. How do we do that you may ask? By being aware that every moment is given to us, we haven't earned it, it's just here. We can't just assume we will keep getting moments.

He goes on to talk about how we cannot be grateful for everything. War, violence, poverty, etc. We can address it's happening but it's not always best to be grateful for it.

To be able to be conscious that it's bad then gives us an opportunity to make it better in whatever way we can. That is another gift, opportunities.

I used to have a ritual where every night before I went to sleep I would write down something I was grateful for that day and put it in a jar. That way on the days where I was down I had something to pick me up and remind me that life isn't so bad.

I would recommend this to anyone. Some days it was hard because I really felt like the world was kicking me but those were some of the coolest chances because I really had to think or just realize that waking up and having my health was enough.