This post is the third in a series of posts. On the previous post, we reflected on Ikigai, and thought about how finding it and practicing it can lead to a deep and long lasting form of happiness. In the first post we reflected on the three forms of happiness: pleasure, flow, and meaning.

Now, I thought of sharing an intriguing brain hack I learned for positive thinking and resilience: gratitude.

Aside from the videos above, a Google search reveals an abundance of studies about the link between gratitude and happiness. My value-add is this:

1. A habit of gratitude is the habit of thinking more about what we have received instead of what we have not.

2. The world has already given us everything we have. Whether the world owes us anything or not is moot. We owe the world everything.

3. The sum-total of everything we received is much more than the sum-total of everything we gave throughout our lifetime.

To be sad and think the world is not giving us enough already is, well, ungrateful.

This thought shakes me to my core: we don't deserve most of what we received, and yet we did.

Gratitude reminds us to not act like we are a gift to the world. A life of gratitude is living in recognition that, in contrast, everything we experience is a gift.