These past few days, I have been reminded both directly and indirectly, that to be happy is to be grateful. And vice versa.

For silly reasons and serious ones, you are undoubtedly as guilty as I am for often feeling emotions that bring us down – anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, irritation, stress, worry. 

Often we just let these negative emotions run their course – for a few minutes or many days – until something happens that lifts us out of our various funks to make us feel better.

This weekend, I listened as a Buddhist monk gave one answer to address this: Don’t wait for something to happen, instead train your mind to have a different attitude. Be mindful, be happy. It’s intrinsic, not extrinsic and we are in complete control about how we feel. If we only know it.

The best articulation of this advice that I heard was in a TED talk that I watched recently.

Have a watch, and listen carefully. Hopefully, you won’t be sorry.  Instead, perhaps it can be a life-changing fourteen and a half minutes? I hope.

Filmed June 2013 at TEDGlobal 2013

David Steindl-Rast: Want to be happy? Be grateful

The one thing all humans have in common is that each of us wants to be happy, says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. And happiness, he suggests, is born from gratitude. An inspiring lesson in slowing down, looking where you’re going, and above all, being grateful.

Stop. Look. Go.

And don’t ever underestimate gratitude!

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