What’s the best way to be happy and stay happy day in and day out?  Prac­tice being grate­ful.  A huge new study, done in 54 coun­tries, found that grate­ful peo­ple are more ful­filled and live richer lives.

Dr. Robert Emmons is a grat­i­tude expert and pro­fes­sor of psy­chol­ogy.  And he says grat­i­tude acts like a psy­cho­log­i­cal immune sys­tem– it low­ers stress, boosts hap­pi­ness, improves rela­tion­ships, and gen­er­ally makes you feel bet­ter about life.  And that’s true even when things go wrong.  Because grat­i­tude isn’t about ignor­ing the prob­lems in life-like  ill­ness or los­ing a job-it’s a way of look­ing at life, and seek­ing out the pos­i­tive, no mat­ter how small.  And it’s a trait that can be cul­ti­vated.  So, the bet­ter you are at focus­ing on, and appre­ci­at­ing, the good things in your life-the more good things you’ll start to see.