A Simple Phrase That Can Make You Happier

As a parent, we try to teach our kids important life lessons from the day they enter our lives. We decide what lessons and character traits are the most important and we do our best to instill them.

For me, a heart of gratitude is a characteristic I hope and pray my children possess.

Photo Credit: Boudewijn Berends, Creative Commons

So daily I say to my four year old daughter:

Be grateful for what you have, not greedy for what you don’t have.

But sometimes in this world of bigger, better, faster, and stronger—where comparison has become the game of choice—having a heart of gratitude is an uphill battle (even for those of us who aren’t four years old).

And as a parent, I’m such a hypocrite.

I tell my daughter to be grateful and not greedy and then one second later find myself scrolling through Instagram wishing for more, better, faster and comparing my life to those around me.

I spend more time in my day thinking about what I do not have and what other’s do have than I do thanking God for the things right under my nose.

It amazes me how easy it is to teach and coach others on how to behave and respond to a situation, but how difficult it is to do it yourself.

Sometimes my four year old will come to me asking for something.

Let’s say it’s gum, because this happens multiple times a day. If my answer is “no” she immediately begins to tell me about how she never has gum and she’s never going to get gum again and all her friends get to have gum.

In the midst of her despair I stop her and say, “I’m sorry you feel that way. Now let’s think of three things we do have that we are grateful for.”

Her answers usually include rainbows and doughnuts, because who isn’t thankful for rainbows and doughnuts? And when we do this very simple thing—say out loud the things in life we are thankful for—she forgets about the gum.

The act of gratitude is simple, yet powerful.

This summer I’m pretty sure I am the only person who didn’t get to take a vacation.

I found myself on different social media platforms, looking at my friends’ photos at the lake or the beach or camping or on an airplane, headed to a far off land. I would look at these and in my heart I’d be saying, “But I never get to go anywhere, and I’m never going to get to go anywhere and everyone I know is going somewhere.”

My heart, void of gratitude.

And in these moments, which I ashamedly admit occurred multiple times this summer, I feel the Lord gently nudge me with his elbow,

“Heather, be grateful for what you have, not greedy for what you don’t have.”

And when I really stop to think about the things in my life I am grateful for, my attitude and the posture of my heart begin to change. Because no matter how mundane my life may feel, no matter how much I long to be doing the exciting things those around me are doing, I have at least one million things to be grateful for.

And so I begin to say them out loud, or write them down, as a way of giving them life and in so doing molding my heart into one of gratitude.

The power of a grateful heart, one that looks for what is, rather than for what is lacking, can change your day, your week, your summer, everything.

So I ask you, what is it your are grateful for today?