Submitted by Daniel Taylor, Dec 31, 2007 20:12

One of our featured books at www.parentcaresolution.com and at www.americanpetcross.com is a book called The Gratitude Principle by Dan Sullivan www.strategiccoach.com

Sullivan's premise is that when you are grateful you cannot be anything else. You cannot be sad, depressed, angry, envious, jealous, or fretful. It seems that being appreciative of the situation that you are in and giving to those around you both fortunate and less fortunate is sort of the common man's prescription for happiness. If giving raises the endorphin levels then gratitude takes you to an LSD euphoria.

My sense is that giving comes from our need to connect....not in a patronizing way but in a way that allows the alternating current of affluence at whatever level to continue to circulate. Whether the gift is a pat on the head to a dog walking an owner or a tithe to the synagogue doesn't matter.
What matter is that we have replenished the supply by our giving thus ensuring that our capability remains undiminished both now and in the future.

It is interesting to me that the passage ways into the world and out of it are exceedingly small. Subtley they suggest the ultimate futility in clinging to and posessing just things. We are simply visitors at one level and conduits at another. Giving and gratitude aknowledge both abundance and need but indulge neither to excess.

I've spent my Christmas in Southern California petting dogs on morning walks and talking to strangers. I've given bag boys $50 tips and stopped to speak to old people on benches. I've been nice to waitstaff and gasoline attendants. I've gone on long morning hikes when for the first hour I've just articulated the numerous things for which I'm grateful. At the end of the walk my body is refreshed and my spirit is uplifted.

If the psychological community would get this gratitude we could all spend a lot more time designing the future instead of lamenting the past.

Give a bag boy a $50 tip and pet a dog walking an owner. Give them the gift of your abundance and your attention.

It will start your year off just right.

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