I am an avid reader, and I “stumbled” onto this book a while ago and found it to be an incredibly thought provoking read.  The book is called “Stumbling on Happiness” by Daniel Gilbert, and on the back cover it states:

“Vividly bringing to life the latest scientific research in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy, and behavioural economics, Gilbert reveals what scientists have discovered about the uniquely human ability to imagine the future, and about our capacity to predict how much we will like it when we get there.”

If you think from the title that this is just another piece of fluff, feel good, positive thinking, been there read that type of book - then you would be way off track.  This was a very unique book with a very solid base of science to explain some fascinating insights into the way we think, imagine and create happiness.

I found a 20 minute talk by the author on TED talks, and it is a great summary of some of the main points of the book, and the author presents the premise of how we synthesise our own happiness, in a very entertaining way.

If you have a spare 20 minutes, I think you would find it a very enjoyable talk.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Feeling grateful is such an empowering emotion, and it’s one that doesn’t always come to mind unless we take the time to sit down and think about it.

And when we actually do that, we can find hundreds of things to be grateful for, and suddenly our seemingly ordinary life becomes something of wonder and joy.  Often we forget to be grateful for the little things that we take for granted.
 
In 1999 I broke my leg quite badly – my femur snapped in half at Tae Kwon Do training and I had to have a titanium rod inserted in the bone from hip to knee with screws through my knee and at the top to hold it all in place.  I was on crutches for about four months, then hobbled around on one crutch for about another month before I was walking without help.

Whilst on those crutches I would at times, be slowly making my way through a shopping centre, enviously looking at all those people with two healthy legs.  I knew my condition was only temporary, and I made a pact then to always be grateful for having two healthy working legs, because I knew how hard it was when you didn’t.

It’s appreciating simple things like this, that can help us to see the joy in life, to take notice of those seemingly insignificant parts of life that get caught up in the “busy-ness” and we forget how special some of those every day gifts are.

Besides that, reflecting on all the things that we’re grateful for, makes us smile, and lots of smiling is an essential part of any healthy lifestyle!