In this uplifting episode of Humankind, meet people who consciously practice gratitude and hear stories of how counting your blessings can help sustain you during hard times. Nancy Floy, a counselor and acupuncturist from Chicago, believes that gratitude and daily spiritual disciplines go hand in hand and that being in practice can help you transform painful situations into positive experiences. Brother David Steindl-Rast, a benedictine monk and author at Mt. Saviour Monastery in Ithica, NY, emphasizes the practice of simple gratitude and believes that being grateful helps us focus and make it through the difficult challenges we face in life. Also that if we are not grateful for what we have, we will never be happy, because we will always want more. If we reduce what we want, we will naturally be more thankful for what we have. We’ll also visit a Thanksgiving buffet served at a church in Massachusetts where people volunteer and help serve the needy — and hear what gratitude means to them.

Themes

• How do we hold on to good and positive thoughts when we are going through hard times?
• How can spiritual practice help you move from a traumatic experience towards a sense of gratitude?
• Why should we be grateful for the challenges that we face in life?
• How can gratefulness make us happier?

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy–because we will always want to have something else or something more.”

—Brother David Steindl-Rast