When the world feels chaotic—when grief, uncertainty, or heaviness settles into your body—gratitude can feel distant. Yet these are often the very moments when giving thanks becomes a steadying force. Naming what we’re grateful for can’t erase hardship, but it can anchor us. It reminds us what is good and what is possible, even in the hardest seasons.

Gratitude, from the Latin gratus—thankful, pleasing—is a multidimensional experience. At its core, it’s an appreciation for what’s valuable and meaningful to you. It shows up as a virtue, a pleasure, an emotion, and a habit: being thankful for an act of kindness, feeling the lift that comes from noticing what’s good in your life, and practicing that awareness over time. Gratitude offers social, physiological, and neurological benefits. And thank goodness for thankfulness:........

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