Happy: Finding joy in every day and letting go of perfect

try to let go of your preconceptions. If we assume certain scenarios will take place and particular words will be spoken, then we are already setting ourselves up for a fall.

Travel there with an open mind, knowing that there may be uncomfortable moments, but that you’ll be

Travel there with an open mind, knowing that there may be uncomfortable moments, but that you’ll be okay and that you are in control of your reactions.

no one has power over you, even if it feels like it.

‘What would happen if I reacted in a totally different way to the way I normally do?’

don’t accept awkwardness or tension because it has always been there. Try to solve it, and if you can’t – learn from it.

Take time to remember the things they have done for you and acknowledge the happiness their support can bring.

Don’t assume family drama before it happens; approach it with an open heart and mind.

Learning to live with gratitude is a habit and one worth practising.

Feeling gratitude – real, whole gratitude – comes in spontaneous waves when you’re on the edge of sheer bliss, where it feels only right to smile and beam a big THANK YOU for the simple things that lie in front of you.

to feel thanks for. I love to say thanks in many ways. Letters, cards, flowers, hugs, kisses.

I love to say thanks in many ways. Letters, cards, flowers, hugs, kisses.

Practising gratitude enables you to look through a magnifying glass at the things you know you feel lucky and happy to have, pulling out of focus the ‘lacking’ and ‘want’ and boosting the comfort and contentment you have in your current life.

At times, buying into the fantasy of having stuff and needing stuff helps us avoid looking at what is really going on in our lives on a deeper level. Being thankful for what we already have – whether material or otherwise – is always a good starting point.

If you feel you haven’t achieved enough, you haven’t lived enough, you AREN’T enough, then you’re only looking at a tiny piece of the puzzle that makes up the intricate and unique person that is you.

You’re illuminating the lack of certain moments and qualities in your life rather than scoping out the bigger picture.

Gratitude, when truly meant and practiced, allows us to highlight those basic things we may have overlooked that can be powerful enough to lift you out of a pretty blue place.

Why should we say thanks to people who have done us wrong and bruised us deeply?

Maybe those moments have taught you to not judge others so much.

It won’t make those terrible times disappear, but this thanks might just make living with them that bit more bearable.