Whenever we are appreciative, we are filled with a sense of well-being and swept up by the feeling of joy.

We hold on so tightly that our hands are unavailable to reach out for the happiness we could gain by letting go.

Like so many other positive acts, it turns out that hugging boosts our immune system. Plus it just plain feels good! So hug someone today, perhaps a person who seems particularly in need.

Patience is no small, fell-good personal quality. It is at the heart of diplomacy and civility, lawfulness and civil order. Without it, people can't work together and society can't function at all. With it, we create the possibility of peace between people and between nations.

The choice is ours, in every moment.

Gratitude makes us feel bursting with delight, just to remember the gifts we have received. Thus we are doubly blessed when we receive something: for the gift itself and later, in recall, for the miracle of having been given it.

I learned that you don't have to be saddled for life with the mental attitudes you adopted in early childhood. All of us are free to change our minds, and as we change our minds, our experiences will also change.