I know.

“Practice gratitude.” What a cute Instagram-worthy phrase.

I’m not here to change your behavior. I’m not here to indoctrinate you into my philosophies. You must think for yourself.

I am merely here to share ideas. I challenge you to stick around and read below—it may transform your life.

We have many blessings that go unaccounted for in our lives.

Recovering from illness, being able to share a warm meal with family, even waking up today—blessings come in many forms.

Yes, we will never be able to note every single blessing our lives experience with—there are too many to count.

But even so, why don’t we count them? What’s the harm in taking time to appreciate someone you care about, or simply focusing your attention on something positive that’s happened to you?

“Well, no duh.”

It may seem like common sense to be grateful. And that’s why we overlook our blessings—because it’s easy. We fail to remember just how blessed we are.

Life is hard. Seriously, who said it was going to be easy? We are bound to encounter problems and hardships—it’s an inevitability of the human experience.

It can be very easy to allow the negativity in our lives to amass a clouded, perverted view of life. But if we stop focusing on the negativity and instead commit to realizing the wonderful positivity of our lives—to practice gratitude—something magical happens…

The magic of practicing gratitude

We can begin to see life not merely as suffering. We will discover beauty in places we never thought we’d find in—even in this world of chaos and confusion. Better yet, we can understand that the world is neither good nor bad. It is what it is (yes, I had to).

And in knowing so, we can move forward with our lives with a physical and spiritual smile. We can experience feelings of compassion, joy, and pleasure never experienced before. We can spread good vibes freely to others.

Through practicing gratitude.

How to practice gratitude

“Uh, yeah, I feel grateful,” doesn’t cut it.

Right now, try this 2-minute exercise:

Think of 5 reasons why you should be grateful for today. They can be as basic as “I had a good breakfast.” Write them down. Speak them out. Or simply just acknowledge them.

Notice how you feel warmer, softer, and more tender inside. You will find that you are already in a better mood. You are practicing gratitude!

Through continuous, daily execution, you will find it in yourself that your why-I-should-be-grateful will transform into why-I-AM-grateful.

To practice gratitude, you must sincerely feel it. Conversely, by practicing gratitude, makes you sincerely recognize and note your blessings.

Even for the most heartbroken, troubled individuals, believe you can find things to be grateful for, and you will.

Practice gratitude daily.

• Remember all of your past blessings.

• Put your thoughts down in a dedicated gratitude journal.

• Share your appreciation openly for those you keep close to heart.

• Count your blessings in the silence of prayer.

Feel from the heart.

And throughout this new way of life—of affirming what is good—allow your light to shine onto others for you are a beacon of blessings.

That’s it for this week.

Have a blessed day!

—Chris Son