If there were only one piece of advice I could give with regard to how to dramatically improve your life experience, I would have to choose this: Live your life with an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude sets us up for a cascade of positive events. It softens our interaction with others and sends out ripples of positivity in every direction. Feeling grateful for what we have has the keen advantage of setting us up to feel excited for the prospect of what we wish to receive. And that, in turn, opens up the gates of opportunity.

Learning to focus on gratitude for what we have can be very nurturing when it comes to working through relationship issues. Feeling gratitude for your partner, first and foremost, helps to smooth over the bumps that are nearly inevitable in every relationship. It puts the focus on the good rather than the bad. When you’re focusing primarily on all that is good in the relationship, it makes it a lot easier to take the hiccoughs in stride and not become overwhelmed.

I remember as a youth sitting through grace at the evening meal at a family reunion fussing over the pomp of the moment and not at all connecting with its deeper meaning and opportunity. I didn’t recognize my impatience to start the meal nor did I recognize the sense of entitlement I had. Later years would teach me valuable lessons in going without such that I would no longer take for granted a table full of treats. It’s possible that had I been able to connect with that gratitude earlier in life, life would not have encouraged me to learn such lessons in asceticism.

Smile first and ask questions later. Connect with and appreciate the experience of the moment in a way that benefits you, especially when it amounts to feeling grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow from a painful experience. Doing so will help you come out on top in a big way.