In The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky, offers a comprehensive guide to what happiness is, isn’t and how we can get closer to the happy life we envision for ourselves. After studying thousands of men and women at the University of California, Sonja recommends cultivating an attitude of gratitude.
Robert Emmons, a prominent researcher and writer about gratitude, defines gratitude as “a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life.”
The practice of gratitude involves our focusing on the present moment, on appreciating our life as it is today, and what has made it so. Grateful thinking helps us savor our positive life experiences and extract the most satisfaction and enjoyment from them. An attitude of gratitude can help us cope with stress and trauma when we positively reinterpret stressful or painful life experiences. Although it is challenging to celebrate your blessings when you experience adversity, Sonja believes it is the most important thing you can do. She offers many possible paths to gratitude, including keeping a gratitude journal, or finding a fixed time to contemplate and reflect on why you are grateful.
Perhaps you can identify one thing each day that you usually take for granted and that ordinarily goes unappreciated. Another idea she suggests is to procure a gratitude partner with whom you can share your blessings list. She recommends keeping the strategy fresh and varying it, so it continues to bolster happiness. Expressing gratitude directly to another (by phone, letter, e-mail, face-to-face) can be be uplifting for you and for the recipient of your gratitude.
As I write this, I contemplate how grateful I am to be living in an age when I can communicate these things to you in this format on my blog!