GRATITUDE

The Key To Happiness

By Peter M. Kalellis

If you want to be happy learn to be grateful for the small things in life. If you do not want to be satisfied, then it is easy: never say thank you for anything. A better way is to start each day with few words: Thank you God for another day.

Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude. It is a blessing. Reality points out that both abundance and lack of thereof exist simultaneously in our lives. It is always our conscious choice to choose better health, family, friends, work, and the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness.

A MATTER OF TIME
President Abraham Lincoln stated, “We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown; but we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.”

This is a tremendously powerful statement! Since the time President Lincoln gave this speech, the wealth, prosperity and peace experienced by the United States are far greater—along with the attitude of pride, selfishness, and ingratitude. But if this same speech were given today, there would be quite an uproar! In contrast to Lincoln’s day, or even to fifty years ago, today’s ungrateful attitude is worse by far. In this world of being obsessed with what’s “in”—from the newest fashions, to the latest songs and absurd political correctness—gratitude has been all but declared unconstitutional!

THE LITTLE THINGS
If you want to be happy, start your day by being grateful for the things that you take for granted. An unknown author offers some practical thoughts on gratitude.

• Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
• Be thankful when you don’t know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
• Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
• Be thankful for your limitations because they give you opportunities for improvement.
• Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.
• Be thankful for your mistakes; they will teach you valuable lessons.
• Be thankful when you’re tired and weary because it means you’ve made a difference.