What cultivates an attitude of gratitude? What’s the relationship between happiness and gratitude?
If you were going to say that sounds like a TED talk, well, you’re onto something. In 2013, David Steindl-Rast spoke about the importance of gratitude in the pursuit of happiness — and what has to come before what.
Gratitude comes from the realization that you’ve been given a gift.
You haven’t “earned” something; you haven’t spent any money, you haven’t put in any hours. You’ve been given something just because.
The realization that everything we have is random, that everything is a gift, is what leads to gratitude.
And that gratefulness, in kind, is what leads to happiness.