If I’d had to guess, I would have told you pre-motherhood that I would be the type of parent who would be a stickler for having her kid send thank you cards after receiving birthday or holiday gifts. You can probably sense where this is going.

Christmas can be a stressful time of year. You will blow your budget, your relatives will annoy you, and you’ll receive gifts that go straight to Vinnies, all in 40℃ heat.

English has no precise antonym for “complain.” All the closest verbs require an object: you can praise a thing or compliment a thing, but you can complain, full stop. Whatever the opposite would be, Kurt Vonnegut says you should do it. It will make you happier.

Keeping a gratitude journal is not a cheesy “live laugh love” habit; it is a scientifically verified way to improve your mental, emotional, and even physical health. It is also kind of a hard habit to form, and it can feel silly to do alone. If you live with a partner or other loved one, try this better method from blogger Raemon.

Professional communication includes a lot of thanks. It’s a go-to closing for emails, even those that don’t require action from the recipient. But when’s the last time you sat down outside of that 37-message-long email thread and wrote a thank you note to a colleague?

One of the first things we learn about manners as a kid is to use our “please” and “thank yous” early and often. But we aren’t teaching it right, because everyone is doing it wrong and they’re doing it wrong in a variety of ways. So here’s a refresher on how not to effectively express true gratitude.

There’s school smart, street smart, business smart, but we tend to forget about feelings smart: emotional intelligence. Like your ability to think critically, your ability to read and express emotions can be developed. 

Sometimes it’s hard to think about what’s good in your life. Weirdly, this even happens to people who you would say have a demonstrably better life than your own—more money, more friends, more status. That’s because gratitude isn’t necessarily a marker of actual life blessings — it’s more like a mutant ability to experience positive feelings more intensely than normal, according to an op-ed by Arthur C. Brooks for the New York Times.

It’s good to recognise what’s good in your life (even, and especially, when it seems as though the rest is terrible). But if you express that in the form of gratitude journals, prayers or meditation, you’re sort of making that feeling a solitary one. What about the people in your life you’re truly thankful for? Couldn’t you tell them how you feel?

Well, no, a lot of us might say. That sounds super awkward.

This graduation speech by Australian comedian and Groundhog Day composer Tim Minchin contains a bit of advice that I've certainly heard elsewhere, but seems especially useful at a time when we're all exhausted by the constant pressure to assert our identity on social media.

By now, we know how important it is to instill a sense of gratitude in our children - according to the book Making Grateful Kids: The Science of Building Character, those who practice thankfulness get better grades, have a lower risk of depression, and are more engaged in their hobbies and communities. And we're trying. Around the parenting sphere, there are countless posts about teaching kids to write thank-you letters, start gratitude journals, toss their daily joys into the gratitude jar, and list their blessings at the dinner table. All are completely worthwhile rituals. It seems like parents are becoming really intentional about cultivating gratitude in their homes - or at least about writing about it on the internet. As a mum, I sure would like to become more disciplined in this area. Who wouldn't?

The best way to support creators you love is usually to buy their work - it's financial support and support for the idea that they can make a living from their art. But even when you don't have a cent to spare, there's a lot you can do to support your favourite artist's career.

Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker's weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life.

It's just common sense that in order to keep peace in your household, chores should be split evenly between the people who live there. Whether you share chores with roommates, a partner or both, this two prong approach will get them to do more chores without a fight.

"Stop pitying yourself, people have it worse, you should be grateful." You've probably heard this before, and it's some of the most cliché, unhelpful advice around. When gratitude is inspired by guilt, obligation, or shame, that's not gratitude at all. True gratitude is a practical tool that serves a number of purposes beyond the after school special fluff of being thankful for what you have.

Most of us tend to think about success in terms of working hard to accomplish something in order to find happiness. Neil Pasricha, author of The Happiness Equation, makes the case for the opposite: Start with happiness, then use it to accomplish your goals.

Gratitude makes us happier, makes us less impatient and can even help improve our finances. If you give radical gratitude a try, you might even find yourself luckier.

Budgeting is all about solving a maths problem, right? Nope. It's about psychology. It's about happiness. Your budget is more complex than just numbers. And it's hard to find balance without practicing gratitude.

A great thank you note is a lot more than a piece of paper with "thank you" written on it. This primer will have you writing thank you notes so good, people will want to give you presents just to receive one.