A few weeks ago, I found myself grumbling about all the things on my holiday to-do list...

"I have to address all the cards."

"I have to see who I have gifts for and who I still need to shop for."

"I have to take Dad out to do his shopping."

...and on and on. I have to, I have to, I have to!

Finally, I paused and thought, "You are being so ungrateful! Do you realize how lucky you are to be able to do all of these things? These are such first-world problems. You don't have to do anything, you GET to do all of these things. These problems are actually blessings!"

So, I decided that every time I wanted to say "I have to," that I'd say "I get to" instead. And wow, what a difference changing that 1 little word made!

I started feeling more grateful and joyful by focusing on how lucky I was and what the "chore" meant...

Instead of "I have to send out 100 Christmas cards," it was "I get to send out 100 Christmas cards and I am so lucky, this means that I have a lot of really lovely people in my life."

Instead of "I have to shop and spend a lot of money on food for the party," I said "I am so lucky and so blessed that I have money and get to spend it on making a nice meal for my friends, so many people in the world are struggling and would love to be doing this."

I did this all month long. Anytime I had a tired, down moment, I focused on how lucky I was. And how do you imagine I felt at the end of the month?

Amazing!

I really felt so much happier, peaceful, blessed and lucky. And as I've written before, we know that gratitude is the secret to true happiness. This little experiment sure proved it to to me!

Want to feel the same way? Give this experiment a try and let me know how it worked for you. I'm betting that at the end of the month, you'll feel so good that you'll want to keep going. It's hard to believe 1 little word can make such a difference, but it's really true.

Good luck and may we all have a wonderful year!

Big hugs, Dr. K.

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