Fire up publicity for your business and career with these Free tips from my friend and colleague, Joan Stewart. Joan is the Publicity Hound and puts together her best tips for 2011 in this Free e-book.

Happy Holidays to you. I wish you continued success for the New Year!

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(This is one of my most popular articles.  I am reprinting it for the Holidays).

Researchers who study positive psychology have long known that people who practice gratitude tend to be happier. Gratitude is an attitude that helps people buffer the affluenza of our consumer driven culture.

After all, billions of dollars are spent on advertising every year to convince you that you need more, need bigger, and need better. And we all DO have more. Since 1960, we have added electric garage openers, computers, cell phones, flat screen TVs, microwaves, dishwashers, and hundreds of other gadgets to make our lives "easier."

We all have so much stuff now that we have to rent storage units to keep it all. One in 11 American households, according to a recent survey, owns self-storage space—an increase of 75 percent from 1995 to present. The USA now has some 1.875 billion square feet of personal storage. Even during the recession, the storage business has grown at a dramatic rate for both personal and business use. Just how much stuff do we need?

Being content with what you have is sometimes viewed as a lack of ambition or drive. After all, doesn't everyone want a brand new Lexus in their driveway for X-Mas?

Not me. I noticed long ago that the more I had, the more I became owned by possessions. More maintenance, more expense and more to worry about. These days, I'm purging and downsizing.  We seem to be happiest when we are focused on gratitude and family and on an adventure with a suitcase.

Need more gratitude in your life? Now there are several websites that help you build gratitude in your own life. You can get a daily gratitude boost online with these social networking sites:

Thanksometer.com

Graceinsmallthings.com

Facebook.com/aogp.org