In a year when everything seemingly has gone to H-E-double hockey sticks – it is easy to get bogged down in the “woe is me” mentality. Our lives have been terribly disrupted, a lot of activities that used to bring us joy we can no longer do, and we are seeing great disruptions and disagreements everywhere we look. It is a time of turmoil and it would be easy to crawl into our sweatpants and retreat from the world in our little bubble of sadness. BUT what kind of story would that be? No movie worth watching ends that way – that is not the life we are meant to live!
So that is not what we are going to do. Repeat – that is NOT AT ALL what we are going to do! Right now, right this very minute – we are going to be thankful. We are going to count our blessings, no matter how limited we think they are right now.
A few years ago, at the LTEN Annual Conference, Shawn Achor the noted speaker and author of Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage spoke to the audience about pursuing happiness and fulfillment. He spent time talking about an exercise that he does every morning. To condense his speech down into just a few nuggets – recognizing things/people you are thankful for and sharing your gratitude with them helps us have a more positive outlook on life and helps them feel appreciated. The more we look for the joy in life – the more joyous we will be. The more we lift others up – the more we will be lifted.