I’ve always had the sense that being grateful is somehow important. For one’s happiness. For balance. For well-being. Just for being a good person.

But I’ve been wondering lately what gratitude really is. How do we define it? Merriam is not so helpful. It defines “gratitude” as “the state of being grateful.” “Grateful” in turn it defines as “appreciative of benefits received.” “Appreciative” means “having or showing appreciation.” And “appreciation” is, among other things, “an expression of gratitude” – which takes us back to the beginning of this definition quest.

One thing I didn’t find in Merriam’s definition is the element of humility that comes with being grateful. As far as I am concerned, being grateful implies an acknowledgement of being lucky. It’s like saying: “Hey, I know this is not all because of my doing only. Others had a hand in this. Or something other.”

As always, there’s a useful Wikipedia entry on this topic. It defines gratitude as “thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling, from the heart or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.” Interestingly, the entry states that scientific forays into gratitude only began around the year 2000. It also talks a lot about the positive connection between subjective well-being and gratitude.

For me, the feeling of gratitude acknowledges our smallness in the scheme of things. It’s a humble awareness. It also seems to be a kind emotion. I’ve never experienced angry gratitude…

What is gratitude for you?

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He first came to the US in 1994 as a Miami-based correspondent for Berliner Zeitung.

In 1999 he founded QuickBrowse.com, a service for browsing Web content more quickly.

From 2004 to 2006 he served as vice president of communications for the New World Symphony.

From 2007 to 2012 he was vice president of communications for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

He shares his thinking about communications at MessageHouse.org.

Marc was living and working in Berlin as a journalist when the wall fell in 1989.

Today he lives in Miami Beach, and on a farm in the Everglades with Zeus, a German shepherd mix who, of course, has his own Web site at zeus.joy.net.

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The list below obviously does not include useful things such as running water, electricity, Google, or my car. Rather it focuses on tools, services and tricks that you may not be using yet yourself (by the way, I’m using and have paid for all of these, i.e., I have not received freebies for featuring them, and I will not earn commissions if you click on the links below). Enjoy.

1. Remember everything.

Anki is a software program that makes remembering things easy. It’s a “spaced repetition system” – basically using electronic flashcards. Depending on how well or poorly you remember the information on a card, the software will present it to you again soon (poorly remembered) or farther into the future (well remembered). I have hundreds of cards in my Anki deck, including the names of my colleagues’ spouses, frequently used phone numbers, my creditcard numbers and birthdays. If I attend a conference, I will prepare and practice with an Anki deck with the attendees’ photos and names in advance, so that I will know everyone by the time I get there. Spending five minutes with my Anki deck is part of my morning routine. Runs on PC, Mac and other platforms. Free.

Anki, free, http://ichi2.net/anki/

When I need a file, it’s always there on any of my computers, thanks to Dropbox, a service that keeps a master folder seamlessly synchronized between my four Macs (two at work, two at home), my 2 Pcs and my Linux computer. Dropbox also doubles as an online backup service and integrates with other services, such as 1Password (see below). I’ve tried using similar services, such as Sugarsync, but Dropbox seems more stable. Once your files are synchronized via Dropbox you can also access them through an interface on the Dropbox Web site. Works great via my iPad as well.

Dropbox, 2Gb free, 50GB $9.99 per month, http://www.dropbox.com/

Read the three books below to learn about body language and you will forever see the world with different eyes (and the world will see you differently, too). It’s amazing how much people reveal, usually inadvertently, through their bodies; you can literally read their minds through their bodies. I’ve also become much more aware of my own body language, and use it to get better at communicating what I want to communicate. Being aware of your own body language also opens up new ways of influencing your own state of mind because it works both ways: what’s in our mind influences your body, and what your body does also influences our mind. Unlock your arms, and become more approachable; smile, and become happier. It works.

• You Say More Than You Think, by Janine Driver
• The Definitive Book of Body Language, by Allan and Barbara Pease
• What Every Body Is Saying, by Joe Navarro

Forget slow scanning. The “Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner” works so fast and so reliably, it seems like magic. It’s one of the most amazing machines I’ve ever bought. I’ve used it to scan hundreds of family photos in minutes. It’s gotten me closer to the ideal of a paperless office. The Scansnap received 106 5-star and 13 4-star ratings out of 124 customer reviews on Amazon (as of 5/9/2010). Available for PC and Mac.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner for PC, for Mac, approx. $420.00

All hand-held vacuum cleaners I’ve had in the past were weak suckers, if you want to call it that, — until I got this one. The  “Black & Decker PHV1800CB 18-Volt Pivoting-Nose Cordless Energy-Star Handheld Vacuum Cleaner” is amazingly powerful in its suction, even though it’s hand-held and cordless. Having it handy saves you from having to drag out  your big regular vacuum cleaner in 99% of all situations. The Black and Decker got 132 5-star, and 44 4-star ratings out of 208 customer reviews on Amazon (as of 5/9/2010).

Black & Decker Handheld Vacuum Cleaner, approx. $55.00

PhoneTag will send you very accurate transcriptions of all your voicemails. At $30 per month it is more expensive than the free Google Voice (which also does transcriptions), but it’s far more accurate since it uses human transcribers. PhoneTag saves me a lot of time; it is handy in situations when you can’t check your voicemail (for instance, in a meeting). Thanks to PhoneTag, I always know right away whether a call is important and not. It creates more peace of mind, which is priceless.

PhoneTag, $29.95 per month for unlimited messages, http://www.phonetag.com/

Eating apples and mangoes every day might not be useful, but I’m sure it’s healthy. And these de-corers / slicers / dividers work terrifically. I keep an extra Apple divider at work for snacks throughout the day.

Oxo Apple divider, $11.99; Oxo Mango splitter, $14.99

Amazon Prime gives you free two-day delivery on a large number of products on Amazon. One-day shipping is only $3.99. The service costs $79 per year. But savings on shipping costs will quickly pay for this annual fee. You’ll also be saving time by purchasing household items that you didn’t used to buy online because of shipping cost. No more precious weekend time spent at Target or Walmart. I love it.

Amazon Prime, $79 annual fee,

This application makes a pleasant difference in my life every single day. It makes entering passwords and usernames a breeze, by enabling you to have to remember just a single password. To quote from their Web site: “1Password is a password manager that goes beyond simple password storage by integrating directly with your web browser to automatically log you into websites, fill checkout details pages, and easily generate strong passwords.” It works with Dropbox and thereby syncs across multiple computers. Strongly recommended.

Agile Solutions, 1Password, $39.95, www.agilewebsolutions.com/onepassword

This is the best book on communications I’ve ever read. It’s extremely useful, even if you are not a communications professional. Learn how to make any message stick by turning it into a simple, unexpected, concrete, credible and emotional story. Invaluable.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath

Mindmapping is the use of highly visual diagrams to help with generating ideas, structuring complex subject matters and facilitating group conversations, to name just a few extremely useful applications. In other words: it’s a thinking aid. I’ve tried out various programs that help in creating mindmaps, including Freemind (free as the name implies) and MindJet Pro. None of them are as intuitive, powerful and fun as iMindmap, created by the inventor of mindmapping, Tony Buzan. I can’t recommend this enough. You might also want to check out Buzan’s books on memorizing techniques.

iMindmap Elements, $99, http://www.thinkbuzan.com/us/

This incredibly useful tool gives you a Web-based word processor that allows people to work together in real-time. I use it all the time for things like creating a meeting agenda (“hey guys, for our 2pm meeting please add your agenda items to the page at http://…..”) and for collaborating by phone on documents such news releases. Each participant’s text entries show in a different color, and participants do not have to create an account to access and co-edit your document. They only need the document’s Web address. It’s true that too many chefs spoil the broth, but using this approach, co-writing a document actually works, and it’s fun. The tool came out as Etherpad.com, and quickly got bought by Google whose Google Wave technology has some similar real-time features. Luckily Etherpad spread its code as open-source software, and legal clones can now be found at:

• PiratePad
• TypeWith.me
• Sync.in
• EtherPad Foundation

Etherpad clones, free.

What are your most useful things? Please share them on this page by commenting below.

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This list is a work in progress. Below you’ll find items that were among the top twelve at one point, and then got bumped down by a new favorite.

13. Keep a pen in your wallet.

The WalletPen is aptly named because it fits inside your wallet without making it any bulkier. It comes in very handy when you need it. It’s also a thoughtful gift. Their site says it’s one of “Oprah’s favorite things.”

Walletpen, $49, http://www.thewalletpen.com/

What are your most useful things? Please share them on this page by commenting below.

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