#426: Gratitude and Giving

Why giving might be a *source* of gratitude, not only an effect

“Be grateful for what you have,” my mother would often say when I was lamenting some neighbor’s advantages or the dinner she had worked so hard to put before us. 

This way of inducing gratitude through comparing the benefits we have to others’ deprivations is extremely common, and not by any means unjust. It is almost impossible for us to avoid assessing…