Gratitude has changed my life. Thanks to simply being 'grateful,' I have been able to lift myself out from the darkest of places to a life of peace, mental freedom, and joy. I remember reading about gratitude at one of my lowest points. My marriage was falling apart, I was breastfeeding a small baby and toddler simultaneously, my health was crumbling, and I felt totally fearful, lost, and alone.

In this place of despair, one of my good friends handed me the book 'The Secret.' I had no idea of the impact it would have on my life, but it came to me exactly when I needed it. It spoke about gratitude and the importance of its practice in living a happy and wholesome life. I had nothing to lose.

I started by simply making time to write a list of the things I felt grateful for each day. I began with a realistic number, just three things, then this increased to five, then ten, then twenty. Within no time, I found myself letting it flow and writing long lists. When you train the brain to see the good, it looks for more, and this is what happened to me.

Within two weeks of doing this daily, I could see how my mindset shifted from focusing on the negative aspects of my life to effortlessly noticing that there was actually a lot of good happening too. One night, in the middle of everything falling apart, I remember going to a restaurant, and despite everything, I felt genuine gratitude and even joy for the most basic things—the fact I was invited to eat at a restaurant, the food, wine, having people who cared about me surrounding me.

In the past, I would've been so focused on the pain and anxiety of the future that my brain wouldn't have been able to access this basic thought of 'look at what you have, Ali, you are so blessed.' It is by being mindful, living in the present moment, and feeling grateful for what we already have that we can attract further abundance and, ultimately, happiness into our lives. It is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that we are enough, and that what we have is actually enough too.