Are you happy? Really happy? Do you want to be? Most of us have at least had moments of happiness, fleeting or infrequent. We’ve experienced joy in spurts, like a whisper or a puff of smoke. Others seem to almost always to be happy. What’s the difference? Come see and begin today to improve the quality of your life.

This Thursday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States. The very first nationwide proclamation of a day of Prayer and Thanksgiving was made by George Washington in 1789. Since then, Thanksgiving has morphed into a different kind of observance, one punctuated by football, turkey and day-after mega sales. Here are 5 ways to add fun and meaning to your holiday observances.

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.

Today’s post is very different from my usual writing. This is a letter written directly to you, my reader. I want you to know how I feel about you, that I’m proud of you, believe in you, appreciate you and believe you can become just about anything you decide to become. You are important and beautiful. You were meant to be happy and amazing, after all. Thank you all for the honor and trust and interest you’ve given to the principles and ideas I share here at Meant to be Happy.

We are all thankful for things like family, friends, health, freedom, happiness and the like. But what of the more ordinary and mundane? Do we think of such things when we count our blessings? The more we fill our awareness with gratitude, the happier life will be.

Pain is Life’s great master-teacher. It is the refiner’s fire, the heat that destroys the bacteria of life. It can burn off impurities, or it can consume and destroy. Our attitude, however, determines the outcome. But what do the trials and adversities of life teach us? What lessons are we to learn? What impurities does the heat of trial and tribulation burn off?

When nothing stands between you and the mirror of life, you will recognize the importance of four basic components of life: 1) Your thoughts, 2) Your beliefs, 3) Your relationships and experiences, and 4) Your character. Each is crucial to your happiness. Corrupt any one of the four components and your happiness will be compromised. Period. End of story. This post explores the importance of character to a happy life.

Welcome to my first post in a 3-post series that will now be a regular feature here at M2bH. We bloggers like to quote people like Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi for their wisdom and eloquence. But I’ve found many “ordinary” bloggers to be incredibly wise and eloquent too. I use their quotes as springboards into the topic, in this series, on happiness.

Do you spend much time doing things that make you feel good and laugh or feel inspired and happy inside? The more we can fill our lives with joyous moments, the happier our lives will be. It’s the little things that really often count the most. See if any of mine resonate with you.

Have you been agonizing over the perfect gift for dad? Just because the economy is in the dumps, doesn’t mean you have to be! Try these free gifts that will add more meaning and happiness to the occasion, and for dad this Father’s Day