When Americans sit down to their Thanksgiving feast, many will take a moment to focus on what they are grateful for. But psychologists, religious leaders and scientists have said that this practice should be more than a once-a-year tradition. In fact, many think that gratitude is the key to happiness. “Grateful attention is the key to joy,” said Br. David Steindl-Rast, co-founder of A Network for Grateful Living. Top 20 Happiest Countries in The World Gratefulness encompasses more than thankfulness. Definitions vary, but most include the idea of being present in the moment. A Network for Grateful Living describes it as “the full response to a given moment and all it contains.” Gratitude is one of the few concepts that is highly regarded in most religions -- and also by psychologists and scientists. It’s been linked with everything from better school performance to lower cardiovascular risk and joy, according to Emiliana Simon-Thomas, who is teaching a class called "The Science of Happiness." Gratitude is the “feeling of joy with the knowledge that another person has instrumentally benefitted yourself,” said Simon-Thomas, science director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. Does $36,000 Buy Happiness? The center launched a program called Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude three years ago, and has supported 29 research projects on the science of gratitude. Preliminary research into how gratitude is processed in the brain has linked it to reward systems that signal pleasure and joy, Simon-Thomas said. The science of gratitude is a trifecta, she said. The first part is called savoring: “You’re committing neural resources perceiving and feeling the goodness about something,” she said. “The second piece is that you’re linking goodness to something outside yourself. And, third, gratitude involves focusing on the goodness in another person.” http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/does-gratitude-bring-happiness-141127.htm#mkcpgn=rssnws1