Over the Memorial Day weekend I spent time with an old friend. He doesn’t have job or a car and lives on less than $200.00 a week. He is looking for a job, but he already has what he needs and he knows it.

As we sat outside, watching fireworks, he said to me “I don’t care if you’re a billionaire or homeless, if you don’t have gratitude, you ain’t got nothing.”

With an atitude like that, how can you help but be happy?

In that moment I felt like a fool, because it’s easy to forget. When we are fixated on our goals we miss where we are and what we have to grateful for. When we feel pain, we disregard the good things in life.

I once read a story about a nun who volunteered to work with the criminally insane. When she was asked why she did it, she said, “Do you see that white wall behind you? Take your pencil and put a dot on the wall. Now look at the wall, the dot is what is wrong with the people I help. The white space is what is right with them. I don’t look for the dots, so I see what is right with them.”

For most of you who are reading this right now, your problems are smaller that the dot on the wall and the wonderful things surrounding you are bigger than the wall. Stop looking at the dot, it keeps you from seeing the wall.

Don’t let one little dot stand between you and hapiness.