Happy Thanksgiving.

Today is the one day a year we set aside as a nation to officially practice gratitude, but there's new scientific evidence to suggest that a daily dose of gratitude is better for you than trying to cram it all into one day.

Social science researchers in the field of positive psychology, which studies human well-being, are proving that gratitude is key to happiness. It seems gratitude can promote health, fight illness, improve your social life and help you cope with stress.

Several new books on the subject of gratitude, including Robert Emmons' "Thanks: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier," report that there are mental and physical health benefits to "counting your blessings."

We hope you don't need to buy a book to identify all the good things in your life, but Emmons does give ideas for how to make practicing gratitude on a daily basis part of your life. Such as:

n Keep a Gratitude Journal. Make a daily habit of writing down and reflecting on the good things you enjoy, particularly those associated with the ordinary events of the day.

n Every day, ask yourself three questions: What have I received? What have I given? What difficulty have I caused?

n Whatever your spiritual tradition, learn a prayer of gratitude and recite it daily.

n Watch your language. Grateful people use grateful language - words like gifts, blessings, fortunate, generosity, abundance.

Gratitude is a timeless concept that transcends America's Thanksgiving Day, of course. It crosses all faiths and all cultures. Still, it's nice to see that science has stumbled on something that the world's religions have long known: a daily attitude of thankfulness for one's blessings is good for body, mind and soul.

So don't think you have to stuff all your gratitude into one day, like we'll be tempted to do with turkey and cranberries and pumpkin pie today. Try spreading your gratitude around a little during the coming holiday season.

We hope you find many reasons to be thankful today. And we hope you practice gratitude for all of them.

After all, it's good for you.