I’m always trying to find ways to explain the importance of gratitude to people without sounding like I’m a paid influencer for the Hallmark Channel. It’s not uncommon for the word “gratitude” to make people think you’re a kook, or cheesy, or an old-school grandma, wearing an apron and dishing out platitudes like they’re chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven.

With a hideously violent, divisive, terrifying war on our hands (not to mention on our phones, computers, iPads, tvs, radios, and newspapers), who couldn’t use something to help us cope, something to help magnify the good in our lives?

There is a simplicity to a gratitude practice that’s easy. What’s more difficult is drilling down to the essence of what you’re grateful for and being able to take that thing in. You can write down or think about a number of things that would make your list, but to get the benefit, you have to give the object of your gratitude some real thought. That’s where the transformative magic percolates.

I know, I know, sometimes our endless To Do lists make it impossible to focus on ONE. MORE. THING. There are plenty of days when I have to kick myself in the head. “Hey, this. THIS is something to notice, ” I say out loud, (and hope nobody else hears me) But the more I do it, the more able I am to remember to do it.

Gratitude is $0, but it offers high stakes dividends. It’s quiet, but it can make a fiercely loud difference in how you roll. It’s all around us for the taking, even when we’re facing the worst of humanity…..

If you try, it’s really not that hard to notice good people, places or things in your everyday life, that fill you up like a Chef’s Kiss Italian meal. Or, if Italian is not your jam, a Mexican meal, or, you know what I’m saying, WHATEVER YOUR FAVORITE MEAL IS. Fifty years ago, who would have thought that hyper focusing on what you do have in your life versus what you don’t have in your life would have a profoundly impactful influence on your happiness, your health, and your overall well-being. Nobody is who. But here on gratitude-athon day 3,004, I can tell you, it does. It really does.