What can uplift the downtrodden? Offer hope in the face of despair? Give rise to happiness?
Gratitude.
"It's an attitude that transcends circumstances," said psychologist Robert A. Emmons, who has written Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier.
"It's hope. With gratitude, you have confidence, a trust in your own skills, trust in other people."
In good times, it is easy to find reason to give thanks. The challenge is staying grateful in times of trouble, in these times of financial failures, layoffs, foreclosures, wars.
"It is precisely in these crisis situations that there is the most to gain from a grateful attitude," said Emmons, a professor at the University of California at Davis. Then, gratefulness serves as a well of resilience, "a rudder of stability in the economic maelstrom."
In this season of giving thanks - amid one of the more turbulent moments in the nation's history - many have recognized and acknowledged what Emmons calls in his book the "goodness in one's life."
Sometimes, it really is the little things. A bedroom. Text messages. A newspaper.
Other times, a blessing is profound. A tumor diagnosed. A historic presidential election. An aging mother's moment of clarity.
Often, it is an individual who deserves heralded appreciation. A teacher. Or parent. Or spouse.
"It could be life itself," Emmons said.
Gratefulness is not an innate response. "We have to practice it," he said.
Keep a gratitude journal. Craft a letter of appreciation. Offer prayers of thanksgiving.
Science has shown that when gratefulness is felt and expressed, actual changes in well-being occur.
Stress hormones are reduced. A state of physical relaxation grows.
So give thanks.
Because in the end, as Emmons said, "gratitude protects us."