Krista Tippett: Start modestly, because this is harder than it sounds, this invitation to be grateful — not for everything, but in every moment.

You can take a day, if you’d like, but I’d suggest that you start with an hour. Practice being grateful in every moment. What does that take, and what does it change?

Consider this exercise that Brother David Steindl-Rast offers when he is asked the question, how shall we practice this gratefulness? First, stop. That also can be harder than it sounds, in the middle of our crowded, hectic days.

Second, look. Think about your looking as beholding, and see how it feels different and how it works differently. Ask yourself, what is now the opportunity of this given moment — only this moment, the unique opportunity this moment provides?

And then, go. For, as Brother David says, if we really see what the opportunity is, we must of course not stop there, but we must do something with it. Avail yourself of that opportunity. Go. And you are promised, from Brother David, an immediate feedback of joy.

Consider these words of Brother David Steindl-Rast. “I believe that every one of us is a mystic, because we have this experience of belonging, once in a while, out of the blue. Women often say this when they give birth to a child — they have it. Or when we fall in love, we have this sense of belonging. Or sometimes without any particular reason, suddenly, out in nature, you feel one with everything. And every human being has this. But what we call the great mystics, they let this experience determine and shape every moment of their lives. They never forgot it. And we humans, the rest of us, tend to forget it. But if we keep it in mind, then we are really related to that great mystery, and then we can find joy in it.”