Thank You for Being a Friend

I have been spinning a record lately, and more times than not, I have been talking about gratitude and how you can find it, how you can cultivate it, and, more importantly, how you can write it down. We need to write these things down because periodically, you may find your mouth full of lemons or utterly just forgetful that particular day. It helps us to remember and not forget when we read back that not everything in this world is terrible and that there is still some good stuff happening in your life.

I thought of another thing that gratitude could help us with. The Greater Good Science Center is based at UC Berkeley, and under the banner, The Science of Happiness has conducted some studies that have shown that thanking people we're most grateful to, and explaining why we're thankful, is one of the most powerful ways of enhancing our happiness. They have determined that people who wrote a note or even a small letter of gratitude to just one person, experienced a significant and immediate increase in positive feelings. Sharing those words also left them happier and less depressed for up to one month after doing it.

Day-to-day life happens, and most of us don't usually remember to say thank you to the people who do those little things we are grateful for. We especially need to do this for the people who have had the most significant impact on our lives. Don't waste a happiness opportunity by doing this when it's too late, and they're no longer around to hear it from us. Take a few minutes today and let someone know how much you appreciate them. Tell somebody how grateful you are that they are in your life. Get over the embarrassment of expressing yourself.

I leave you with these words from Mark Manson, "Challenge yourself to find the good and beautiful thing inside everyone you meet. It's your job to find it, not their job to show it.”