How are gratitude and happiness related? Happiness itself can seem like a tricky thing to define, let alone experience. However, I do believe that we can choose to live in a happiness state of being. And the secret to that starts with gratitude. Let’s break it down.
Express Gratitude
When we express gratitude, it can take many forms. Maybe we’ll give a gift to someone who’s helped us or someone we care about. Perhaps we volunteer time or donate possessions to charitable causes. Some of us will help someone in a personal way, maybe even a stranger, with no expectations of anything in return. No matter what it is, when we express gratitude, we feel uplifted.
Practice Kindness
To practice kindness is to show our best selves to those who may not be at their own best. Yes, when others are low or vulnerable, a kind word or gesture may give them hope to carry on. Kindness needs to be practiced, and often. When we are kind to others, we see more kindness in the world around us.
The more we live by example, the more likely others will follow suit. But we cannot stop with just a handful of kind actions. We must practice kindness every day, in as many ways a we can. It contributes to positive energy out in the world, and comes back to us many times over. Any act of kindness you choose to perform is worth it, even if it’s only a kind word.
Spread Cheer
Ever notice how a simple smile can start a chain reaction of smiles in others? Or how a fit of giggles inspire more giggles – even if we don’t understand what inspired the originator? Spreading cheer is easily supported by kindness and smiles. It takes but a small moment to spread cheer, and cheer is good for any time of year (hint: don’t save up all your cheer the the holiday season).
Savor Joy
If you’ve started your day with gratitude, practiced kindness, and spread cheer, you have opened your heart to beautiful and universal delights of joy. When we recognize a joy filled moment, it is best to savor it. Taking a mental record of the sights, scents, and beings in our presence that contribute to the joy of a moment can reate a beautiful memory that can be recalled at a later time.
When we understand joy, we experience a state of being based in happiness. Choosing happiness as our preferred state of being crates a cycle of positivity. So begin with gratitude, and end with joy. This is one way we choose to be happy.
At the end of the day, we are simple humans, doing our best to navigate our mortal experience. When things go wrong for us, or circumstances out of our control bring about difficulty and strife, it can be incredibly hard to find that attitude of gratitude. On days when we find gratitude more difficult to achieve, memories we’ve recorded of joy filled moments can be just the remedy to turn our attention back to where we want to be.
To express even simple appreciation for those joy filled moments is an expression of gratitude that can begin the cycle again and again. How will you let gratitude being you to happiness this week, and every day?
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