Gratitude is not reflected in what happens to us, or how others treat us, or in the good deed someone does for us. It is something we carry with us into every moment of life. It’s an attitude, a way of looking at the world and interpreting events and interacting with others. Here are ways to grow your gratitude today.

Why do we start paying so much attention to things like wrinkles and nose lengths and freckles and blemishes and all our perceived imperfections? Why do we look so closely at the so-called blemishes that we miss the beauty that surrounds the “blemish” entirely?

Here’s the challenge with problem-in-every-opportunity thinking: We become blind to the possibilities the problem presents when we are geared to seeing only, or even primarily, the problem.

Instead of trying to cram the messy abundance of life into neat little packaged moments of perfection, learn to laugh at the unpredictable and smile at the inopportune.

Why do we take the whole of humanity and carve them up into distinct categories of subdivided, semi-related, subgroups, sorted and classified as separate clusters of generalized identities, all tagged and marked for racial and lingual and socioeconomic distinction, subsectioned into demarcated and clearly separated differences? Why not think of others the way my son does?

Bold living is living a life of meaning and purpose. It is doing what you love even if you don’t necessarily get paid to do it. It is stepping up and jumping head first into life by living fully in harmony with your core values and fundamental principles of decency, excellence and happiness. It is overcoming obstacles and learning to accept those that can’t be overcome, refusing to allow them to push you into the corner of your own life. This interview with Tess Marshall introduces us to bold living.

Gratitude, it turns out, is no small issue. It can be life-changing, radically altering the way we see and interpret life. Gratitude is the electricity that ignites happiness. It is the breeze that lifts it. It is the context that allows it. This post is my attempt at enlarging the list of things we are grateful for, at reducing what we habitually take for granted and thereby providing some lift and electricity to our happiness. So take a look below at some atypical, unconventional things on my gratitude list.

Gratitude, like other attitudinal traits, takes practice. It requires consistent reprogramming of your brain until it becomes a natural, automatic response to life’s circumstances. It is at that point that gratitude ceases to be a thing practiced, and starts to be a natural expression of an inner condition of the soul.

I’ve collected 5 of the scariest words I know. These are words that are deadlier than they seem. Their poison infects the mind and turns the heart cold and fragile. So approach with caution and use sparingly. Remember, poison taken in small enough doses builds immunity to its lethal toxicity. But if taken in larger doses will kill you. So will these words.

Intolerance has a bad reputation. And with good reason too. Still, I’m not so sure it should be thrown out with the bathwater. The thing is I’m actually an advocate for having a good healthy dose of it. Surprised? Keep reading. I think you’ll agree with me. You see, the problem with intolerance is not so much the intolerance per se as much as what our intolerance is directed at.

Are you an optimist? Do you see silver linings and half-full cups? Optimism is an essential quality for happiness at its potential. The pessimists refrain that “I don’t think things will work out for me” is hardly the recipe for happiness, after all. But what are the basic beliefs of the optimist? Click on in to read my take on the Optimist Creed!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live an extraordinary life? Well, extraordinary is as extraordinary does. An ordinary focus and commitment lacks the pulling power to lift you to the level of extraordinary. Extraordinary is extra-ordinary, after all. You just can’t reach it by virtue of ordinary effort. The “extra” is required. So begin to supercharge your life for an extraordinary impact of legendary proportions.

The Olympic Games are thrilling and compelling because they embody human excellence. They remind us of tha value of determination, dedication, will and stamina, refusing to allow life to get in the way of living it at its highest, pushing for what seems impossible, reaching amazing levels of human capacity. The passion and drive, hard work, sacrifice and blood sweat and tears in every step, every jump and even in every stumble, inspires us.

The inside of your life will always be more important than the outside in determining how happy your life will be. How you think and interpret life — how you view the world, seeing it as a cold and lonely place or one of adventure and opportunity — that will change how you feel about life. The secret to living a passionate life of happiness, then, is to start looking at life with new eyes.

Not everyone’s depression is exactly the same. The causes of it, the way it’s felt and experienced and those steps and ideas that will ultimately help to lift the cloud of depression will be in some combination different for each person struggling with that challenge. So what I’ve done is to write a sort of suicide note … in reverse. There are reasons to choose to live that may be enough to spark that same desire in someone else. My hope is that it does.

A Guest post by Anne Lyken-Garner: Most neighborhoods have that one house that is run down and unkempt with rusty cars on the lawn and garbage strewn around the yard. Sometimes the greatest blessings can be discovered in such unexpected places. Anne poignantly shares her experience and the treasured lessons she learned from it, lessons we would all do well to learn ourselves.

There is so much emotional dust and negativity and other bits of self-defeating debris floating around in the atmosphere of our daily lives. Too many people are ill-equipped to recognize the dust and debris for what it is. They are therefore unable to remove it, block it or filter it from intake. While we have filters for just about everything: fish tanks, washing machines, cars, TVs, and cameras, do we have filters that effectively block our lower impulses and external influences that undermine potential, dignity and happiness?

If a statue were to be erected in your honor, what would it be sculpted to look like? Would the statue be holding a pen, a ball, a child or lifting a fallen stranger from the ground? Or would it instead be clutching a TV remote and a bag of chips with the look of boredom dully etched onto its granite face? What are you doing with your life? Are you living it primarily on your butt or on your feet? What do you stand for? What are you committed to?

Our mottos become guide posts and verbal beacons along the road we travel. They are the street names on the map of life. They are the rhetorical equivalence of a compass to help us get our bearings and stay on course. They also reflect the heart of our hearts. They are terse statements of deep value, of what we aspire to be. They also help teach the fundamental ideas we want to pass on to others, especially our children.

Guest post by Hiten Vyan: What stops you from breaking through the brick walls in your life and experiencing the life you dream of? Most obstacles to doing what we want are self-imposed, created in the chambers of our minds and hearts. One of those self-defeating ways of thinking is to think in worst-case scenarios. Come read 5 ways to break through that mental trap to the life you truly want.