In 1997, Fred Rogers of the children’s television show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” received an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. His acceptance speech was 153 words long. Here is the speech, which you can also watch on YouTube:

“So many people have helped me to come to this night. Some of you are here, some are far away, some are even in Heaven. All of us have special ones who loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are, those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life? 10 seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time.”

While Rogers looked at his watch, the camera featured several people in the audience whose eyes shone with tears.

He continued:

“Whomever you’ve been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they’ve made. You know they’re the kind of people television does well to offer our world. Special thanks to my family, and friends, and to my co-workers in Public Broadcasting Family Communications, and this Academy for encouraging me, allowing me, all these years to be your neighbor. May God be with you. Thank you very much.”

Though he never mentioned the word, Rogers was of course speaking of gratitude.

Gratitude is a recognition of the good in our lives, even on those days when everything seems a mess. It’s a tonic, if you will, for the heart, soul, and mind, helping to keep all three in good health. On the other hand, it also acts as a powerful counteragent to anger or frustration when things go south. Gratitude can bring us through a hard day and kick the next morning off with a bang when we remember to give thanks.

When gratitude is in short supply, summoned up haphazardly, or worse, not at all, the world is a bleaker and much more barren place. Here I can speak from experience. For the first thirty years of my adult life, I started my days with a to-do list and battles to be fought. Once out of bed, I charged into my obligations and duties, operating two businesses, helping raise and homeschool four children, always scrambling for money. Only rarely did I stop and give thanks for my wife, for my beautiful kids, for my freedom, for living in America, and for life itself.

That all changed in 2004 when my wife died from a brain aneurysm. Her loss stripped away my blind complacency. It took several years, but gratitude for the people and things I loved became a friend rather than a stranger. For a good many years now, I’ve begun each day with a coffee and a spoken thought that takes even less than 10 seconds: “Thank you, Lord, for another day. Help me do what I’m supposed to do.” Lately, that thought has acquired even a deeper meaning. When you reach my age, appreciating another day is no empty prayer.

This daily practice has, I believe, changed my life. Of course I still get discouraged, I still get down, but it’s not the same as before. Gratitude once ingrained seems a permanent fixture, a bulwark against the deeper ravages of passing emotions and disappointments.

For those who aren’t used to practicing gratitude and wish to start, the article recommends several questions they might ask themselves to get them started. Here are four of them: What happened today that was good? What am I taking for granted that I can be thankful for? Which people in my life am I grateful for? What is the kindest thing someone has said or done lately?

To this list we can add any number of reasons for gratitude, from having a roof over our heads to appreciating the country we live in. Regarding that latter reason, this year’s 250th birthday celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is the perfect occasion to give thanks for the many benefits and blessings bestowed on us by the sacrifice and hard work of generations past.

Now back to Chesterton, master of the aphorism: “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

Give the Mr. Rogers method a try. Begin with just 10 seconds devoted to recollecting a person who helped you become what you are. Try it again the next day, and the next, moving on to other blessings in your life. Give this experiment 10 seconds a day, or three or four times a day if you like, for a month or so, and odds are you’ll soon see your happiness doubled by wonder.