DAILY HAPPINESS TIP #42- Spread Holiday Cheers: Express Gratitude

The holiday season is not only a time for revelry but also of gratitude. Celebrated at the end of the year, it is a good time to reflect on the year that was and to look forward to the new one as well.

Counting our blessings, remembering those that have been there for us and expressing our gratitude to them is the best way to spread more happiness this holiday season. There are many ways to do this, here are some of them:

1. dropping by and personally say thank you
2. sending out a letter of thanks or a greeting card
3. emailing photos and reconnect
4. calling to express appreciation
5. texting a cheerful message and letting the person know s/he is thought about
6. giving a hug to show that your loved one is appreciated
7. expressing gratefulness to God through prayers

C’mon, do yourself a favor and express gratefulness. It’ll not only make another person happy, but amazingly it’s also a sure way to lift your spirits…and the joy it brings will last longer than the good feeling one gets from eating delicious treats and sumptuous dishes or drinking expensive wines!

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

-William Arthur Ward

Related tip: DAILY HAPPINESS TIP #13- Start a Gratitude Ritual

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DAILY HAPPINESS TIP #14- Accept the Things You Cannot Change

This is the first line in the serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Our inherent stubbornness is often the culprit why we find it so difficult to follow this advice (or perhaps we basically are not yet wise enough to know the difference). We need to always remind ourselves that by insisting on trying to change the things we simply cannot change, we set ourselves up to become frustrated no end.

You cannot change your situation if you got stuck in traffic because of a road accident and you’re running late for an appointment…Dang! But you can change your attitude towards the incident. You can call the person you are meeting and advise that you’ll be late, then turn on the radio or CD player and listen to good music as you thank the Lord that it was not you who is involved in that accident.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kengz//CC BY 2.0

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DAILY HAPPINESS TIP #13- Start a Gratitude Ritual

Daily Happiness Tip #2 is about counting our blessings. Its recommendation is to make a daily list of things we freely enjoy and we then feel very blessed in the process. This is like having a gratitude journal.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexbarrow//CC BY-SA 2.0

An alternative to writing down our daily thanks is saying our gratefulness aloud.  Do this during or after dinner or at any convenient time to encourage interaction among family members (or friends or other groupings). Let the other members hear what you are thankful for that particular day and listen to theirs as well.  Don’t forget to acknowledge the source of all your blessings each day. It is good that a Thanksgiving Day is celebrated and has been a tradition in many parts of the world, but a daily thanksgiving is even more powerful, because it is a practice that invites more happiness every single day of our lives.

Lastly, please read through this short story (circulated through email). It talks about things to ponder upon, smile about, and be thankful for.

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