Why You Should Treat Every Day Like Thanksgiving There's a big return on investment for expressing gratitude regularly.

This column originally published on Nov. 26, 2014.

Thanksgiving comes around once a year, but what if we adopted the mindset that every day was Thanksgiving and were intentional about the people and things in our lives that we're thankful for?

When I was a kid, my dad started a family tradition at Thanksgiving dinner that I have carried on with my family. After we say grace, we go around the table and share what we are thankful for over the past year. We share appreciation for one another, our health, colleagues, jobs, friends and family, many of whom are at the table. It's a pep talk of sorts and the afterglow of sharing gratitude visibly does wonders for everyone's emotional well-being. (Plus, it makes me feel like my dad is still with us in a way.)