Happiness: Always Be Grateful

By: Dr. Lynne Celli

I am sure that at this point in that we all are feeling “what is REALLY” happening here? Where has 2020 gone and what happened to us during this time? It is long overdue that we get to grateful through happiness and sharing love and happiness every day, even if it is in the smallest ways. If nothing else 2020 has tested us, provided us with alone time, time with our families, and even better it has given us time for self-reflection. These should be seen as positives and opportunities, not the negatives that some are always trying to say to us daily. The time that we have had during these past few months have given us the opportunity to step back, really take a deep look at our lives, and then assess what we have that is profoundly good and may have been overlooked in this “race” we call life. We are often have been too busy running the race of life and doing things too quickly, that we frequently miss what truly seeing the beauty around us and being happy and grateful for what we really have that are the diamonds in our lives. There is beauty within the people who are around us all of the time, there is beauty around us in the environment, and there is, most importantly the beauty in others that we love and all our friends and that are important in our lives.

To this end we must embrace the small things. We must look around and see the smiles that we may have missed and the smiles of reassurance that we should have given and did not, the hugs that may have been needed by those around us, and the small gestures of kindness that were sent our way and we did not recognize them or appreciate them. The positive that this time during 2020 has provided us has allowed us to step back and look around and get to the grateful and truly getting to our “happy place”. As I reflect, on all of this, and now realize that none of us really ever knows that people with whom we interact are having to face. By daily reflection, we can think of ways, big or small that we might do for others. We never really know or understand how these kind gestures might impact others and perhaps help them get to happiness and being grateful.

I count my blessings every day, even though at sometimes it is really difficult, no matter what I may face or what obstacles that come up in my life. This practice is a journey and a process; one that must be embraced. This journey is not something that I or anyone just does quickly. It is truly a process and a commitment to look within, so we can be grateful and get to happiness, no matter how hard that it is at any given time. We always must remember that there are people that who may struggle. They often struggle even during “normal” times. So looking within and committing to looking around us, helps us to gather people with us on the journey to being grateful and be happy, not always an easy process, but critical for all any times in our lives. My prayer for everyone is that we can be together now as much as possible, during this time, but also once we come out the other side. I believe that this is the real positive that has come from the “new normal”. This is truly a journey we all should have been always been committed to and is should never take a change in our world for all of us to understand this, embrace it, and commit to it as part of what is our inner selves.