When I recognize all of the blessings in my life I find that I am naturally happy.

Anyone who has packed up a house knows the feeling. You go through every drawer and find eleven things you had forgotten you owned and would have sworn were long gone.

A life goes the same way. What is securely yours stops being visible precisely because it is secure. Nobody feels grateful for a working knee or a friend of twenty years at eight in the morning.

Recognising is the whole verb. Not acquiring, not deserving — just running the inventory occasionally so the contents come back into view.

Happiness turns up on its own once the drawer is open. It rarely needs summoning separately.