November 22, 2006 4:00 PM
- Text
Katie Couric's Notebook: Gratitude
Hi, everyone.
Video: Thanksgiving is tomorrow and, for millions of Americans -- genuinely struggling with all kinds of problems -- it seems hard to be grateful...when it's hard to be happy.
And yet, psychologists have come to some interesting new conclusions about happiness, one of which is that gratitude -- for whatever we have -- actually makes us happier.
Time magazine did a fascinating report on this research, and it turns out a lot of what we think will make us happy really doesn't.
Not money, not education, not even a high IQ.
A sunnier climate does nothing to make us sunnier people.
What CAN make us happier?
Religious faith...forgiveness...exercise...friendship...and, above all, gratitude. One psychologist recommends keeping a gratitude journal, as a place to honor our blessings instead of our complaints.
A lot of us will be giving thanks tomorrow. Maybe we'd be happier if we did it every day of the year.
That's a page from my notebook.
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