BE HAPPY. BE GRATEFUL.

We spend so much of our lives with our heads bent down thinking, about what we have to do next, about how to achieve our next goal, about our worries. It's no wonder that so many of us are unhappy.

Source: Pixabay

Being happy is a mission. It requires us to make the effort to recognise and reflect on the smallest of things we experience or the unlikeliest of people we meet that bring a little joy into our lives.

So let's take some time to reflect on the past week, and be inspired!

The Prizes

• All participants will get an upvote from me worth between $0.01 to $0.04, depending on how much I like your comment!
• 1 lucky winner will walk away with 2 SBD. Hooray!
• At least 50% of my post SBD rewards will be used to sponsor more prizes for other deserving comments.

Eligibility

• Newbies: To be eligible for the SBD prize, you have to be a newbie, which I define as a reputation of not more than 45.
  
  You are certainly welcome to participate by posting about what you are grateful for anyway! But the SBD prizes are reserved for newbies who I think need it more. Let's be generous, right?
• No cheating, such as buying or exchanging upvotes! This will be based on an honour system.
• Please be respectful to all participants!

How to Participate?

1. Leave a comment that reflects on what you are grateful for. More thoughtful comments are more likely to win! Pictures are welcome.
2. Vote for your favourite comment by another participant, and leave a reply with why you like it.
3. Upvote this post. Resteem it to spread the word!
4. (Optional) Follow me for more giveaways in the future!

How do I Win?

• The giveaway ends when this post expires.
• The participant with the highest number of upvotes will win 2 SBD. In the event of a tie among 2 or more participants, I will try my best to honour the 2 SBD prizes even if that means emptying the bank account!
• At least 50% of my post SBD rewards will be used to sponsor more prizes for other deserving comments.
• The comments of all winners will be highlighted in a "Gratefulness" post.

I leave you with this passage by Dr. Oliver Sacks, the British neurologist and author, who upon learning that he had terminal cancer, wrote:

I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

^{Thank you to the awesome Brain Pickings for bringing this to my attention!}

What are you waiting for? Fire away!