海角大神

Perhaps there鈥檚 something to this Thanksgiving thing. On the eve of Thanksgiving Day in the United States, consider the growing evidence of the transforming importance of gratitude.

Gratitude is one of the strongest predictors of life satisfaction. One study found that daily gratitude improved happiness as much as doubling your income. 鈥淒oubling your income takes a lot of time and effort,鈥� notes , 鈥済ratitude takes five minutes each night.鈥�

Gratitude helps counter or reduce materialism. 鈥淢aterialistic people are less happy than their peers,鈥� writes Jason Marsh of the University of California, Berkeley in . 鈥淭hey experience fewer positive emotions, are less satisfied with life and suffer higher levels of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse.鈥�

鈥淪ocial emotions鈥� like gratitude and compassion help us succeed, David DeSteno of Northeastern University . 鈥淲hen we feel grateful, compassionate toward ourselves and others, and proud of our abilities, the struggle to work hard for future rewards becomes, well, less of a struggle.鈥�

And : 鈥淭here鈥檚 also evidence that practicing gratitude helps people bounce back from stressors and illness. More grateful people are less likely to get sick.鈥�

Gratitude is more than the occasional 鈥渢hank you,鈥� he says. 鈥淚nstead, the principles of Thanksgiving give rise to a unique way of seeing the world.鈥�

Now, on to our five stories. We explore why words matter in Europe鈥檚 crisis of cooperation, how algorithms could help us beat human biases, and one woman鈥檚 determination to turn a dream into a blessing for Flint, Mich.