Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday for quite a while. Of course, it is wonderful to see family and friends, as well as to eat great food. We recall how our Thanksgiving holiday is meant to show gratitude for what we have. For most of American history people had relatively little by current standards. Now people recite make small gesture of thanks for their family, friends, faith, flag, wealth or some other external influence. In fact, Thanksgiving now serves to whet our collective appetites for more. Over the past few decades, Thanksgiving has become the launch pad for an increasingly-crazed, Christmas consumption binge. Clearly this has changed because capitalism needs people to keep buying more new stuff – see my earlier article “Karl Marx would be Marveling at Capitalism’s Collapse.”
This article explains the true nature of gratitude and how to practice it regularly and routinely. For the last few years at Thanksgiving I have meant to write an article about the relationship between happiness and gratitude. This year I have done it! I’m more convinced that how grateful we are for our life, the happier we tend to be. This is true because focusing on the positive and being thankful for what we have makes us feel better about our situation. It also is true that we attract more of what we are grateful for into our lives. First, I want to clearly and carefully express my personal gratitude for where my life is now; and where it is heading. Next, I have collected and edited some well-written articles about the clear, even scientific, connections between gratitude and happiness. I open and end with carefully selected quotes about gratitude, happiness, and Thanksgiving. Click to Learn and Leave Comments.
One of the first things FDR did when he became president in 1932 was to end the failed prohibition of alcohol. This single act freed up resources for needed public works programs and added lots of new tax revenue. That also dramatically improved public mood as promised by his 1932 campaign song “Happy Days are Here Again.” Another benefit was the dramatic drop in crime and fewer prisoners. We will see these and other major benefits once the wasteful weed war ends.
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