By Selwyn Duke

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought,” wrote G.K. Chesterton in 1917, “and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” A very deep statement, we can begin to understand it with a simple point. Are we not happy — perhaps even at our happiest — when thankful? On the other hand, aren’t we absolutely miserable when feeling denied something we think we’re owed?

Some may now say that the link between thankfulness and happiness is not causal but correlative. We’re both thankful and happy because we got something we wanted, perhaps something unearned, is the thinking. If this is so, then the secret to happiness could be to get something we want, a gift, all the time. This actually is possible — in a sense.

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