I watched a TV show recently on happiness. It was an hour-long episode, first of a series. I don't need to watch the others. It was quite scientific, with a number of University PHD people from various places in the US giving testimony to their research detailing the measurements from all sorts of experiments, on the brain and its function, using a lot of technical terms that went way over my head.
The one that registered with me was a guy who had his students write a diary for three months. Every night before retiring to bed they were required to write down three things that they were grateful for. At the end of three months when these people were tested it was found this group was way happier by the brain measurement of whatever they used to measure, compared to the control group who were not asked to do this.
I understood immediately that this is what I do in my own way. Most nights when I lie down before sleep comes, I review the day, thinking of what I'm happy about and grateful for. This is like a prayer of thanks to God or Mother Earth or whatever it is that has bestowed on me the many things I'm grateful for. Years ago, I wrote the words "Love and Gratitude" on two slips of paper. One I stuck on the fridge, so I see it every day in the kitchen, the other I stuck inside my wallet, so I often see it when I extract notes.
The TV show concluded that by writing down each night what they are grateful for, it caused a focus of thinking to be on these things rather than things you did not have and thinking that acquiring them would be a solution to finding happiness. Pretty basic. I concur precisely and was pleased I already knew what all these professors and costly research were discovering.
I hope I'm not sounding smug. I know it's a simplification, but the words "keep it simple stupid", are often most appropriate.
