The Fastest Way to Happiness Starts with Gratitude

“My beauty ethos? Well, I’d love to tell you it’s something like ‘less is more,’ but honestly, it all starts with happiness. If only someone could bottle that up—when I’m happy, I’m at most most radiant and glowing.” - Solange

We’ve all made lists.

Grocery lists, errands and to-dos, books we want to read, places we want to go, the infamous bucket list.

And lists are good! They keep us organized and focused.

When you’re feeling at loose ends, a list can really pull things together. And when you’re feeling down, a gratitude list can pull you up.

It doesn’t have to be a formal written list (although, when you purchase a bar of soap from Gratitude, you also receive a small journal so you can write that list down!).

Try this: Start small! Find one thing to be grateful for, then say it out loud—to someone else or to yourself. Speaking gives it power. Next, try building on that small start. Spend five minutes at the end of every day replaying only the good things that happened to you. Did someone you love embrace you when they got home? Was the sun shining on your face all day? Did you feel accomplished by a project you worked on?

Don’t allow yourself to dwell on the less-than-perfect moments (the traffic, the boring meeting, the rainy day). Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself storing up all of those precious, grateful moments intentionally. And, if you keep at it, you’ll find that even in the hardest moments, someone or something comes along, offering a moment of grace—and you can feel happy for that gift.

True, there will be days when your gratitude list might be a little different: maybe one day it will read, “I’m grateful the meeting ended before 5pm” or another day you might think, “I’m grateful I walked out of the room before I said something I didn’t mean.”

Every little bit of gratefulness counts on the journey to happiness—no matter how big or small it may be.

Gratitude and happiness. They walk hand-in-hand.

What are you grateful for today?