What is the key to happiness?

As the season of Thanksgiving approaches, a tradition practiced by many is to count one’s blessings. “Count Your Blessings” could be considered a slogan for the holiday, being visible on posters, banners, and coffee mugs everywhere. As people gather around the dinner table with their families, they are asked to consider those around them—people who have made a difference in their lives and have molded them into the people they are today.

This consideration of all a person can be thankful for is, at its core, meant to inspire joy. But finding this joy is sometimes easier said than done. People can be divided by differences, taking family out of the list of blessings. Tragedy can strike when one least expects it, casting a shadow over occasions that should be happy. The arrival of a holiday gathering can be a reminder of those that have been lost as well as those who are living. These factors do not even account for personal mental health, which can have an enormous impact on life—making it harder to see the bright side or silver lining. In consideration of all these things, counting blessings might not seem to amount to much.

The idea of finding these blessings as the key to happiness is not just found in popular culture, but in writing as well. In her bestselling fantasy children’s book, “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon,” author Grace Lin weaves a richly-illustrated story featuring a little girl named Minli, who searches for a way to change her impoverished family’s fortunes. As she completes a long journey to find this key to happiness, she finds it in the most unexpected of ways—written right on the page of a heavenly book held by the Old Man of the Moon. The great secret, which Lin emphasizes with side stories inspired by Chinese folklore, is simple: thankfulness. In the end, Minli realizes that, despite living in poverty, she has everything she will ever need. She has made a friend in the Dragon, who has helped her along the way. She has loving parents and siblings at home, not to mention the wise goldfish that set her on the path in the first place. She is reminded of the things she has had all along—things she may have taken for granted.

All in all, Grace Lin’s story is a reminder to look at what one has, no matter how meager it may seem, and take joy from it. This can certainly be applied to real life. But still, one cannot always find such blessings on their own. Without a magical goldfish, a mystical Dragon, or an infinitely wise Old Man of the Moon to help find the answer, the key to happiness that so many seek can seem unattainable. Without being able to look to others, it can seem impossible to find blessings to be thankful for.

The quandary of this situation, I have found, does have a solution. Like the answer Minli found in her story, it came from an unexpected source. Last December, a musical artist named Lindsey Stirling made a stop at the La Crosse Center. Stirling is a pop violinist who combines her classical violin technique with the beats of pop music, ballet, hip hop, and many other dance forms to entertain her audience. Beyond her performance, an important key to her show was speaking to her audience about what she believes really matters during the holiday season—including the reason for the season.

Among the many topics she covered was the idea of loneliness, the very same problem that people face when trying to count their blessings alone. She undoubtedly spoke for many when she talked about feeling isolated and invisible, wanting to be “seen” by the world. For those struggling with loneliness, she had a single piece of advice. Even in the back row of the nosebleed seats, I could feel the impact of her words. “The way to be seen,” she said, “is to make others feel seen.”

In the end, missing pieces of life’s puzzle can make blessings seem few and far between, but there is a way to create more. That way, as Stirling put it so simply, is to reach out to others. Being a blessing in another’s life can be the surest path to creating reasons to be thankful. So this Thanksgiving, give back to a world in need. Countless generations of human beings, from Jesus of Nazareth to Saint Rose of Viterbo to Fred Rogers, have already paved the way. Thankfulness, the key to happiness, can be found in the precious gift of service.