Our priest gave a homily on Sunday that was very thought provoking. He talked of a study that was done worldwide that rated countries on their gratitude quotient. In other words the level of gratitude that people in each country felt about their lives. Surprising to discover how the United States was around the 48th most grateful countries.

There was a disproportion to the wealth of the country and its people compared to how it’s people felt the most gratitude for their lives and situation. It seems the poorest countries had the largest percentage of it’s populace expressing gratitude for their lives. India was in the teens and Bangladesh was fifth!

I find this fascinating: Americans possibly the most free and privileged people in history to have the least gratitude for all they have.

Wow! This really kind of blows me away. But you know I can sort of see it. We have all these material possessions but how many of us are really happy? Is it possible that our consumer oriented society breeds such discontent? Or is it just conditioning for us to not allow ourselves to feel satisfied.

Dissatisfaction breeds discontent, discontent among free people can also breed innovation. Innovation breeds advance and progress. But can we be dissatisfied and still be grateful for what we have now?

Just look around you and see all there is to be grateful for. Gratitude breeds appreciation and joy and not only that it’ss healthier. To be grateful takes a certain humility I think, or maybe I should say humbleness.

It’s been scientifically proven that an attitude of gratitude is one of the healthiest things physically and psychologically one can do for not only oneself but for the people and the world around them. Just google gratitude and you’ll see many references and articles about this.

We all want to be happy. Could being grateful throughout the day be the quickest road to happiness? Turns out science says “yes.” Those who are the most grateful for whatever is in their lives seem to be the most happy.

And what can we be grateful for? For our lives, for the people in our lives, for our homes, our cars, our friends, family, for simple things like the coffee or tea we drink, for our health, for the blood flowing through our veins, for this incredible thing we call a computer and all the technology we have that makes our lives easier.

We can even be thankful for the things we want to manifest in our lives, our goals and dreams. Why not be grateful for them even before receiving them?  We can say, “I am so grateful for my extraordinary prosperity and abundance.”

You might want to set aside a time of the day where you take a few minutes to write out all you are grateful for. Once it becomes a habit you can leave off the writing and just do it mentally.

Tony Robbins gives an exercise where the first thing you do in the morning is take a walk and go through all the things in your life you are grateful for. It turns out that once you can find one are two things to be grateful for your mind will start flooding you with more. Eventually it just becomes a way of life.

For some real inspiration about someone whose gratitude is infectious check out Nick Vujicic, a beautiful man born with no arms and legs who has become an inspiring public speaker.

Leave a comment. Tell me what you think!