Having a gratitude mindset helps you live a happier, healthier life. When you focus on the positive, you look for what you are grateful for and discover it’s not hard to find.

Listening to meditations with the same purpose brings to your awareness of other things that you are grateful for. Listening to what others are grateful for in meditation practices provides the opportunity for your mind to be open to other wonders of life that you may not have recognised without external input.

It is often the small everyday things that help you realise how fortunate you are in life, and you start to feel positive and genuinely grateful for what comes to your mind.

I have a coffee mug which states ‘Attitude is Everything – So Pick a Good One!’. It’s an important message and a powerful message, and it is helpful to be reminded of it frequently.

When you are in a state of anxiety, it is helpful to stop still for a moment and breathe. Listen to your breath and focus on feeling the air come in and out of your lungs.

Embrace the attitude of gratitude and allow one positive thought to lead to another, then another, then another.

Practising gratitude is a road to happiness. A road is something you travel, and like life, it is a journey, not a destination. Travelling along the road of life requires a direction if you have a purpose.

If you do not have a destination (an aim or goal) in life, you may travel any old road and drift along like a leaf in the wind.

Going with the breeze does have some advantages and is a journey of exploration, a necessity when you are still finding your way by taking time to explore some options. However, you also need to be wise and put those thoughts into action. Be mindful of who and what you let into your life, and this includes those positive thoughts so don’t beat yourself or anyone else up – be kind, be kind, be kind.