To say we should feel grateful is not to…

To say we should feel grateful is not to say that everything in our lives is necessarily good, Emmons says. "It just means that if you only think about your disappointments and unsatisfied wants, you may be prone to unhappiness. If you're fully aware of your disappointments but at the same time thankful for the good that has happened and for your chance to live, you may show higher indices of well-being."

— from The Air Traffic Controller (God)

In the book

It is one of the rare emotions you can actually practice, and practicing it changes the body — it raises the levels of dopamine and serotonin and strengthens the very neural paths that carry our feeling. To be grateful does not require pretending that everything in your life is good; it only means that whatever good there is, you have actually noticed it. And the deeper your perspective grows, the more permanent and unshakable the gratitude becomes, until nothing in particular has to happen on a given day for you to feel that the day itself is a gift. — The Air Traffic Controller (God)

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