Developing an attitude of gratitude is an essential ingredient in my recipe for wellness.

It is a deliberate and conscious exercise of being, acknowledging the wonderful portions of your current circumstance, whatever that might be.

Not everything in this moment is awesome, but if you look about you there are certainly a few good things happening to or around you. If you are not used to thinking in this way, it is a good idea to keep a gratitude journal and to make yourself note down at least three things you have to be grateful for each day. Appreciate these good things and be mindful of them – the more you practice this attitude, the easier it becomes, until it becomes a habit of mind. Developing this attitude of mind can be hard and it requires effort, but it is so worthwhile.

Consciously challenge yourself to experience these better or more wonderful aspects of your present moment, your now. Make it a habit to pause in thankfulness. Share these thoughts with friends and colleagues, if this feels appropriate. Encourage and engage those near to you to share their blessings. Your life and your circle of friends will be blessed by your more positive attitude. 

Being joyful is an active and engaged state of being; wellness does not exist in a vacuum. Having an attitude of gratitude makes your joy deeper, more profound and re-generating. You know you are in a moment of joy because you are praising that moment in an active way.

Openness is essential as you should be deliberately aware and looking out for your good fortune and blessings.

Recounting the happiness and bounty you have experienced makes you the keener to re-experience that now moment again, but in a different way. What is repeated is the joyfulness.

Gratitude causes joy to synergize and multiply.