Half a century. That’s me! I just turned 50, and with that comes a desire to reflect. It’s a glass half-empty/half-full situation. Reflecting on both, the riches in life I already have in the way of people and experiences, and thinking about what’s to come. 
Yesterday I sat down to list 100 things I’m grateful for. My hand just couldn’t keep up with things were popping into my mind. The first time I did this, the number 100 seemed so big! Honestly, you can probably count 1000 things before you know it. Just listing the people in my life got me there (thanks to Don’s big Irish-Catholic family, I suppose).
You don’t need me to list the research-based benefits of being grateful (reduced stress, etc.). I think most of us are figuring out that it’s hard to be negative, to have an attitude of “lack” or to be angry when you have just counted your blessings.
Robert Emmons of the University of California, has been researching gratitude for 10+ years. He has an interesting take on why gratitude helps us so much:
“Part of gratitude is figuring out where that goodness comes from. We recognize the sources of this goodness as being outside of ourselves. It didn’t stem from anything we necessarily did ourselves in which we might take pride. We can appreciate positive traits in ourselves, but I think true gratitude involves a humble dependence on others: We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”
Give yourself a few minutes here in your “Grateful Place.” Click in the co
mments and write five people or events from the past week that you are grateful for. Then bask in the feeling.
