It's common to focus on thankfulness and gratitude during this season, but sometimes that can feel difficult. Why should we practice gratitude in the face of life's inevitable challenges?

Besides being a natural mood booster, gratitude may help you sleep better and reduce the severity of pain. When your outlook is brighter, your body can relax and recharge more efficiently. So, I guess you could say that gratitude may improve your overall health and well-being.

Despite knowing that practicing gratitude is good for us, it's still something that can be difficult to actually DO.

How do you practice gratitude, anyway?

Like a treatment plan or a nutrition program, there doesn't seem to be a one-size-fits-all answer to the how. Some people keep a gratitude journal, others say positive affirmations to themselves every day. I'd like to suggest something a little less conventional.

As you go about your day, I'd like to challenge you to engage with the world, with a simple question: How can it get even better than this?

This question may sound familiar. It's a cousin to the statement, "it can't get better than this." The statement form is usually meant as a way to say that you're enjoying your current circumstances. You might think that's positive enough, and certainly, it is meant to be positive. Yet, by making a blanket statement, you're stuck there, in that moment and the only way you can go is down. Yikes.

But add that magical question mark and who knows what other kinds of positive things are ahead!

For example:

Find a $5 bill while you're out walking - ask the question - how can it get even better than this? And perhaps you'll find yourself daydreaming about winning the lottery or getting a raise.

Or maybe you're on a vacation with your family, enjoying the scenery and relaxing - ask the question - how can it get even better than this? And suddenly a rainbow appears.

You get the idea.

In a culture that has programmed us to compare our circumstances against everyone else's, a culture that has taught us to focus on what's going wrong around us, perhaps we can buck the system. This month, take some time and focus on what's going right, and what else might go right in the future, simply by living in the question."