If you’re following me on one of the social networks, you know that I try to post three things I’m grateful for once a day, or at least every other day. I’ve talked about it before. I do it in the hopes that it will make other people think of what they have to be grateful for, and maybe even share it publicly to spread just a little more light and gratitude into the world.

Unfortunately, I see very few other people doing anything like that. Maybe they do, just for a few days, but then they give up. I did give up on doing huge gratitude lists, but the three a day makes me feel really good. I’d love to see more people doing it. It seems to me though, that people feel weird about doing things like that, and it’s really a shame that anyone would feel like that. It’s not corny or hippy or lame to express your gratitude.

What really gets me is the fact that people are more than happy to share when they’re pissed off or something’s gone wrong or they’ve got something to complain about. They never think that that’s odd or wrong or anything, but they act like it’s going to make them a social leper to share good news and things that they’re happy about. That’s not a good mindset for people to be in. Not to say we should never vent, only that we should feel more comfortable sharing positive things and especially gratitude and not be so blasé about sharing negativity and griping.

If we all took the time to be more mindful of what we say and share, we could make a huge impact on the world. I know, you’re rolling your eyes, but just think about it this way: How much better would your day be if instead of listening to your co-worker bitch about the broken copy machine and your barista complain about the crowds and your social network friends posting about the crappy government and how their kid broke their new phone, you got to hear about how your co-worker found this great new password protection site and your food vendor asked about your day and thanked you for your tip and your social network friends were talking about how they were grateful for their kids and phones and happy that X thing went right today. Admit it, you’d be happier. No sane person enjoys being surrounded by negativity and drama, and if you see other people being grateful and happy, it tends to seep into you too, unless you refuse to let it.

So I say that people should share more good. Share more gratitude. Why feel weird about it? Just because the world is getting cold-hearted and seems to hate happiness? Do you like that people are selfish and ungrateful and complain all the time? So why would you want to be one of them? Do the right thing, even if it feels odd. Every person that does something that other see, no matter what it is, it influences other people. So why not affect them in a positive way? Why not put some good out into the world and let that spread?

As for me, I don’t care if people think I’m some lovey-dovey hippie or whatever they might think. They can call me lame or any other name they want. I am going to share my gratitude and happiness more than I share other things. I’m going to smile at strangers, hold doors and say please and thank you. I’ll still gripe here and there, we all do, but I make a choice to be positive or at least neutral as much as I can. It’s the responsible choice. It’s not something that any of us should feel awkward for.

Briana Blair

Briana Blair is an author and artisan. She has published more then 30 books and thousands of articles across multiple sites. After practicing Paganism and witchcraft for 25 years, she's now on a journey as an atheist and skeptic. She's eclectic, unpredictable, and always evolving. Facebook - Twitter