'Tis the season to count our blessings.

And to remember how good for us counting our blessings seems to be.

Amid all the holiday chaos, I've stumbled across several articles on gratitude and its power to improve one's life.

A few weeks ago, I read an article in New York Times about keeping a gratitude journal. A few days later, I heard a similar story on NPR. And a friend forwarded an article from the Dallas Morning News about the positive benefits of realizing that the glass might in fact be half-full.

The stories cite the work Robert Emmons, a psychology professor at University of California-Davis who wrote Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier (Houghton Mifflin; $25).

His positive psychology research shows considerable health benefits come from cultivating a sense of gratitude. Thankful people tend to feel better; have more energy; feel more connected to their friends, family and community; are more successful; and experience more joy, optimism, enthusiasm and other positive emotions. Chances are there are considerable physical benefits as well, such as lower blood pressure, bolstered immune system, and of course, stress reduction.

Even though the holidays are dedicated to celebration, the sentiment can get lost in the rush to buy presents, arrange travel plans, decorate the house, cook the turkey, attend holiday cocktail parties, and all the other demands that come with the season.

Many of us have our individual ways of weaving gratitude into our daily lives. Personally, I make a mental note of little things that make me happy. For whatever reasons, my mind doesn't gravitate toward life's big ticket items, such as good health or the love and support of family and friends.

Instead, I notice small day-to-day pleasures, such as that first sip of coffee in the morning, lucking into a great parking spot, or a pair of warm woolen mittens.

Gratitude experts say people get disengaged and numb if they don't feel an emotional connection to a big, generalized reason they're grateful. But I think lumping my "small things" together in one "big thing" helps me get around that — and doesn't leave me feeling like the whole enterprise is too corny to continue. In any case, it's one approach to savoring little flashes of joy for the many, many good things in life.