We hope you had a restful holiday period and are ready to take on new challenges and achieve new personal and professional goals in 2022. But before you go charging into the new year, we’d like you to take a moment… for gratitude.

Where are we now?

• One of the first things we teach children is to say ‘thank you’, which is a form of gratitude, one of the oldest known concepts in society.

• Expressing gratitude helps to remind us that no matter how tough it gets, we must be thankful and optimistic about how special, blessed and beautiful our lives are.

• Besides the psychological advantages, the sense of well-being that comes from expressing gratitude also boosts the immune system.

What can you do?

• To trigger gratitude, pause and reflect - ask yourself what you are better at now than before.  Doing this consciously redirects your attention to what you are grateful for.

• Gratitude can be expressed through prayer or, for those more spiritually inclined, through meditation.

• Writing in a gratitude journal also helps amplify the feeling.

What's next?

• Whatever your chosen method of expressing gratitude, build it into your schedule like a routine.

• Gratitude comes in many forms, and volunteering is a great way of showing it.