Position 1:

•          Experience with the .NET framework, C#, and ASP.NET languages.

•          Experience with Autodesk products (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, etc.)

•          Experience using Web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

•          Previous experience as a software developer.

•          Strong relational database and SQL skills.

•          Ability to interpret and translate technical requirements into appropriate interface design.

•          Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science.

•          Strong computer science foundation and general analytical skills.

•          Understanding of Object Oriented modeling and development, both in theory and practice.

 Position 3

• Design, code, test, and document web solutions, including some web page design tasks as well as calls to web services in a SOA environment. 
• Enhance existing sites and programs to ensure that data processing production systems continue to meet user needs.
• Develop detailed system design specifications to serve as a guide for system/program development.
• Extend existing applications through enhancements and upgrades to ensure systems continue to meet company requirements.
• Assist in estimating time required to complete projects.
  Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• 4-year degree in Computer Science, with 5-7 years application programming experience in an enterprise-wide networked computer environment, or comparable work experience in a computer applications development environment, or equivalent combination of work and experience.
• A broad background in business functions, as well as a good understanding of web systems, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and operations.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in designing, building, and implementing large-scale (100K+ unique visitor) customer-facing applications in ASP.NET is essential.
• Expert HTML/CSS/Javascript coding abilities – including the latest standards (HTML5, CSS3) and Web 2.0 / AJAX
• Experience in creating or working with html/css/javascript coding standards for large web sites.
• Experience with IBM Tivoli Identity Manager or other Identity Management system for web authentication & authorization is desireable.
• Experience using web page scripting languages (php, ruby, python) is highly desirable.
• SQL database development experience required. Oracle DBMS development experience strongly preferred.
• Experience with deployment of Ruby on Rails applications in a Unix/Apache/Passenger environment is desirable.
• Strong analytical and problem solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task.

Want help focusing on what really matters? Ask yourself these on a daily basis.

By Geoffrey James |  @Sales_Source   | Jan 23, 2012

Think that success means making lots of money?  Think again.

Pictures of dead presidents have never made anybody happy. And how can you be successful if you’re not happy? And buying things with that all money isn’t much better. A new car, for instance, might tickle your fancy for a day or two–but pride of ownership is temporary.

Real success comes from the quality of your relationships and the emotions that you experience each day. That’s where these 10 questions come in.

Ask them at the end of each day and I absolutely guarantee that you’ll become more successful. Here they are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

Here’s the thing.  The questions you ask yourself on a daily basis determine your focus, and your focus determines your results.

These questions force you to focus on what’s really important. Take heed of them and rest of your life—especially your work—will quickly fall into place.

5 Things I Look for In a Great Job Interview

After years of seeing it all in job interviews, here is what separates a good candidate from a great one.

By Matthew Swyers |  @TrademarkCo   | Jan 16, 2012

In my career I have reviewed thousands of resumes and conducted hundreds of employment interviews for both The Trademark Company and other businesses for which I have worked. In doing so, I got to see the good, the bad, and the downright ugly in terms of resumes, interviewing skills, and the like. Here’s my tips, for other CEOs looking to hire, that make a great resume stand out from the good ones.

1.  Attention to detail

How many times have you heard this one, right? Pay attention to detail. Let me say it again, PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL!

There’s a great story at the end of the movie Coming to America with Eddie Murphy. It goes something like this:

A man goes into a restaurant. He’s having a bowl of soup and he says to the waiter, “Waiter come taste the soup.” The waiter says, “Is something wrong with the soup?” He says “Taste the soup.” The waiter says again, “Is there something wrong with the soup? Is the soup too hot?” The man says again, “Will you taste the soup?“ “What’s wrong, is the soup too cold?” Replies the waiter.  “Will you just taste the soup?!”  “All right, I’ll taste the soup,” says the waiter, “where’s the spoon??” “Aha. Aha! …”

At this point you may be asking yourself, “Okay, so what does this have to do with identifying a great candidate?”

Not less than two months ago I received a wonderful e-mail from an applicant seeking to work for The Trademark Company. Their e-mail was personally crafted. Their note struck a wonderful tone emphasizing capability and a willingness to learn more about what we do here. Most importantly, they emphasized their attention to detail. I was sold. I was ready to open up their resume and see what they had to offer. And then, “Aha. Aha! …”

The applicant had failed to attach their resume. In the blink of an eye all of the time they had spent preparing for this submission, researching me, the company, and the job’s requirements, vanished into thin air. Poof!

Some CEOs may have overlooked this and just asked for the resume. But you can’t say you have an eye for detail and then fail to deliver on the point. Everything the candidate does, from their cover letter to their resume and beyond must prove that point. Otherwise they are just wasting your time. I passed on that candidate.

2.  Proof read

My contracts professor in law school told this one to the class one day. Although he was an otherwise socially-challenged individual this story has always stayed with me.

It seems that at some juncture he was involved in delivering a speech on some topic way back when that involved a “public option.”  He had written and prepared the speech but had left the PowerPoint slide presentation to one of his assistants.

Well, as he began delivering his speech–a seemingly dry speech–he could not understand why a wave of chuckles and murmurs would, from time to time, arise from the audience.  It was not until he neared the end of his presentation that he glanced up at the screen projecting the bullet points of his speech behind him. And right there, right in that moment, he understood with perfect clarity why his speech had evoked the unexpected reaction from the crowd.

You see, if you omit the letter “L” from the word “public” it won’t be picked up by spell check. It will, however, be picked up by anyone else reading the slides as you deliver your speech on the “pubic option.”

This could very well be you at your next sales presentation…pissed and embarrassed because you overlooked your employees failure to proof read his resume during the hiring process. So, check the candidates resumes and cover letter for misspellings that spell check might have missed. In so doing you will make sure that you hire someone that’s thorough and doesn’t rely on spell check to do their job.

3.  Preparedness

Personally, one of the first things I always do after an interviewee leaves is to ask every single person who came into contact with them what they thought. Why you might ask?  You never know what little windows into your prospective employee this may provide.

For instance, once I asked one of our receptionists what they thought of a particular interviewee. I was very surprised to hear what she had to say. She said she thought the interviewee was pleasant but they did have some trouble with her when she first arrived.  Of course I inquired as to why. It seems that upon arriving the prospective employee had no idea who she was interviewing with so the receptionist had to call around the office for ten minutes until she could figure out who to notify that their appointment had arrived. I have to say, I thought this displayed a lack of preparedness on the interviewee’s part, especially in consideration she was interviewing for a job that had primary scheduling responsibilities for me and would require her to know and keep track of all of our most important customers.

In another case, after a 45 minute interview the interviewee stood and said “Mark, thanks for the second interview.” Big problem, my name is Matt. Nevertheless, I shrugged it off as perhaps I had misheard the applicant or maybe he had simply had a momentary lapse of reason. However, when I walked him to the door he proudly reiterated my name, “Mark, again thanks. I look forward to hearing from you.” Every fiber in my being yearned to reply, “Well, if I meet this Mark fellow I’ll be sure to have him call you.” I did not. I also did not call him back.

A candidate should know everything about the you that they can find out and engage you on a level that you will enjoy and that moves you one step closer to offering them the job.

4.  Phone and e-mail correspondence

Another thing that also gets overlooked is professionalism in e-mail and phone communications. I pay attention to the candidates e-mail address and how they answer their personal phone.

Sure we all have private lives, but we all have to be professional in dealing with employers and, most importantly, prospective employers. As such, if their e-mail address is “bigsexy@gmail.com” or “hunkaburninlove@yahoo.com” think twice about hiring them.  Gmail, Yahoo!, as well as other like companies have a great price point for new e-mail addresses: free! There’s no excuse for not having a professional-looking e-mail address.

For me, an interview starts when I call you to set up the interview. Recently I called an applicant, they picked up the phone, and they must have been at a the reunion tour of Van Halen because all I’ll I could hear was “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout’ Love” blasting through my phone.  I mean, it was so loud I could actually see people in my office starting to bob their heads to the tunes. After a few attempts shouting into the phone “Is [Name Omitted] there?” finally the music parted and I was able to hear once again. The heads stopped bobbing in my office and the person on the other end said “Speaking.” Ahhhh. Well, I know they love music…and that they lack judgement.

5.  Honesty is over rated

Yes, you want your potential employee to answer questions truthfully, but answering too truthfully may also show a lack of judgement. For instance, I often ask the hypothetical question, “If you were hired and six months after you were hired another opportunity presents itself would you go on an interview for that opportunity?” You would be surprised at how many people say they would. Wrong answer!!

Let’s take one of my more infamous examples. Once I was asking a prospective employee to explain a 18 month gap in his employment history. To this day I remember his response verbatim. It went like this: “Man, the whole work thing … ya’ know… like, wow.”  I was left both mouth agape and speechless by the answer. Needless to say… He did not get the job.

Read more:

Matthew Swyers

Matthew Swyers is the founder of The Trademark Company, a web-based law firm specializing in protecting the trademark rights of small to medium-sized businesses. Matt founded the company on the belief that top caliber trademark services should be affordable to all. Today, the company is recognized as one of the top trademark firms in the world by industry magazines while maintaining its customer service focus and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. The company is also ranked No. 138 on the 2011 Inc. 500 list.

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Contact the Anthony- IT Staffing Guy!

By Kate Rogers

Published March 03, 2011

| FOXBusiness

Reuters

In today’s job market, it may seem like getting your resume in the right hands is the hardest part of the process. However, once you land an interview, your work is far from over.

Here are some tips from Matthew Rothenberg, editor-in-chief of TheLadders.com, on how to do well on your next job interview.

No. 1: Consider the interview setting.

Today, interviews are conducted everywhere from the office, to dinner-and-drinks to video conferences, Rothenberg said. No matter where your interview is being held, it is important to keep your mind on the task at hand—the skills that nailed you the interview in the first place.

“Many times it’s a test of how flexible you are under different circumstances,” he said. “Its how you can speak to the stuff that is in your resume, that convinced them you were someone to talk to. Stay on message with three key talking points, or things you can bring to this position.”

No. 2: Remember it’s not all about you.

Although the interview may be a great time to sell yourself, Rothenberg said it’s not a time to let your ego run wild.

“This is not a sales call,” he said.  “It’s not about what your hopes and dreams are for your career, but the values you bring to them. How are your experiences and expertise going to sell that?”

No.3: Every interaction counts.

Rothenberg advises that every person within one mile of the place you are interviewing at is fair game. Any interaction with a person in that proximity can be a part of the interview, or have influence on its results.

“Don’t be rude to somebody on the elevator on the way up, it could be your interviewer,” he said.

No. 4: Have questions of your own.

The bulk of the interview will consist of you being questioned about your skills and experience, but Rothenberg said that when the interviewer inevitably turns the tables and ask you if you have any questions, be prepared.

“I hear a lot of stories from recruiters and hiring managers that had candidates they liked a lot, that looked like they would get the position,” he said. “But if you don’t have enough curiosity or haven’t done your research, you’re done.

Rothenberg said these are some good questions to have prepared for an interviewer:

-What is my future boss’ leadership style like?

-How does somebody work well with that person?

-What type of person is, or is not successful at this company?

-How would I be able to help my future boss succeed in the next year at this organization?

By Nancy Colasurdo

Published January 19, 2011

| FOXBusiness

Are you an angler?

No, not the kind that requires a fishing rod. I’m talking about the type of person who’s always working an angle.

You know what I mean. Very often doing nice things — maybe even doing most things — because you have an ulterior motive. Always trying to stay a step ahead, whether it’s in your personal or professional life.

Need more clarity?

You’re at a networking event and someone approaches while you’re having a conversation with a good friend. You’re annoyed until this person introduces himself and you realize he works for the company at the top of your potential employers’ list. Suddenly you light up and shower this person with charm and laser-like attention because now there’s something in it for you.

You’re dating a guy you find enthralling and your every move is designed to sway or cajole. This example brings to mind Lea Michele’s character, Rachel Berry, on “Glee,” utterly grating in her prissy manipulation. During her sexy GQ

cover dust-up last year, I remember thinking I’d rather a teen-aged girl see honest sexuality in a magazine than learn the art of angling by imitating  Michele’s TV character.

What made most of the humor on “Seinfeld” consistently funny and enduring was that it derived from watching the characters angling to get their way. On “Friends,” when Rachel wasn’t dating Ross, she was almost always angling to win over guys instead of being straight up. In our contemporary entertainment, we get to watch people angle on “reality” shows that consistently highlight this kind of behavior.

It is, sadly, the norm.

I wish I could say I didn’t know anything about angling, but I used to be a pro. I don’t even think it was conscious; it came so naturally. What’s in it for me? What have you done for me lately? Or what can you potentially do for me next week? If I do this, will I get your love? If I say this, will you do this for me?

Just as I never made a conscious decision to be an angler, somewhere in the last few years that just as subconsciously flipped the other way. Blessedly, I found out how exhausting, shallow and unsatisfying it is and (mostly) eliminated it from my life.

Interestingly, that came with a high-minded desire for everyone else to stop doing it, too. And to stop assuming other people are doing it.

We see this over and over again in the political arena. We elect leaders and spend a good portion of their time in office parsing their every move, declaring every tic a part of their attempt to get re-elected. That’s why when they are called to lead, really lead, we seem awestruck by it. Crisis often brings this out.

Last week President Obama delivered an address at the memorial service for the shooting victims and the community and nation at-large that was rousing and inspiring. Only the most jaded among us could see it as anything but a leader doing what he could never have anticipated when he was simply an earnest candidate — helping people heal. No angling, just leading.

To suggest otherwise, or even feel the need to critique that service in any way, is a sure call for that critic to go within. Don’t you want to know what is driving your inability to let humans connect and heal without having to parse even in a time of clear tragedy?

That would be like suggesting President George W. Bush grabbed that bullhorn at Ground Zero and rallied the rescuers and a stunned nation because he had the next election in his sights. So wrong. That was a leader acting on his truth, being a man, doing what came naturally. It was so inspiring because he wasn’t angling.

In a week when we’re celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and all he brought to our country, let us heed his words.

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step,” he said.

That means catch yourself shrugging off another person at a party and make an effort to smile and say hello. It means helping with the dishes, not because you want sex tonight but just because. It means opening to the possibility that coming from a place of authenticity will ultimately be a great gift to yourself and all those you come into contact with.

It means realizing the next time you feel the urge to do some angling, the best thing you can do is pick up a fishing rod.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.

A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being.

How Grateful Are You?

Take a test.

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Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.

Now, researchers are finding that gratitude brings similar benefits in children and adolescents. Kids who feel and act grateful tend to be less materialistic, get better grades, set higher goals, complain of fewer headaches and stomach aches and feel more satisfied with their friends, families and schools than those who don’t, studies show.

“A lot of these findings are things we learned in kindergarten or our grandmothers told us, but we now have scientific evidence to prove them,” says Jeffrey J. Froh, an assistant professor of psychology at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., who has conducted much of the research with children.

“The key is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table,” says Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California-Davis and a pioneer in gratitude research. And, he notes, “with the realization that one has benefited comes the awareness of the need to reciprocate.”

Philosophers as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans cited gratitude as an indispensable human virtue, but social scientists are just beginning to study how it develops and the effects it can have.

The research is part of the “positive psychology” movement, which focuses on developing strengths rather than alleviating disorders. Cultivating gratitude is also a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which holds that changing peoples’ thought patterns can dramatically affect their moods.

It’s possible, of course, to over-do expressions of gratitude, particularly if you try to show it with a gift. “Thanking someone in such a way that is disproportionate to the relationship—say, a student giving her teacher an iPod—will create resentment, guilt, anger and a sense of obligation,” says Dr. Froh.

Gratitude can also be misused to exert control over the receiver and enforce loyalty. Dr. Froh says you can avoid this by being empathic toward the person you are thanking—and by honestly assessing your motivations.

In an upcoming paper in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Dr. Froh and colleagues surveyed 1,035 high-school students and found that the most grateful had more friends and higher GPAs, while the most materialistic had lower grades, higher levels of envy and less satisfaction with life. “One of the best cures for materialism is to make somebody grateful for what they have,” says Dr. Froh.

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Michael Rubenstein for the Wall Street Journal

Gratitude researcher Jeffery Froh reads to his 4-year-old son, James, at bedtime, when James talks about his favorite things from the day.

The Juggle

• Gratitude: The Wonder Drug

Much of the research on gratitude has looked at associations, not cause-and-effect relationships; it’s possible that people who are happy, healthy and successful simply have more to be grateful for. But in a landmark study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2003, Dr. Emmons and University of Miami psychologist Michael McCullough showed that counting blessings can actually make people feel better.

The researchers randomly divided more than 100 undergraduates into three groups. One group was asked to list five things they were grateful for during the past week for 10 consecutive weeks. The second group listed five things that annoyed them each week and the third group simply listed five events that had occurred. They also completed detailed questionnaires about their physical and mental health before, during and after.

Those who listed blessings each week had fewer health complaints, exercised more regularly and felt better about their lives in general than the other two groups.

Drs. Froh and Emmons conducted a similar study with 221 sixth- and seventh-graders from Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills, N.Y., an affluent area on Long Island. Although the effects weren’t as dramatic as with the adults, the students in the gratitude group did report a higher level of satisfaction with school and more optimism than the students who listed irritations, according to the study in the Journal of School Psychology in 2008.

As simple as it sounds, gratitude is actually a demanding, complex emotion that requires “self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humility to realize one’s own limitations,” Dr. Emmons says.

Being grateful also forces people to overcome what psychologists call the “negativity bias”—the innate tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances and injustices rather than upbeat events. Focusing on blessings can help ward off depression and build resilience in times of stress, grief or disasters, according to studies of people impacted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

Some Techniques To Help Kids Be Grateful

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Illustrations by Robert Neubecker

Can people learn to look on the bright side, want what they have and be grateful for it? Experts believe that about 50% of such temperament is genetic, but the rest comes from experience, so there’s ample opportunity for change. “Kids and adults both can choose how they feel and how they look at the world,” says Andrew Greene, principal of Candlewood Middle School, who says that realization was one of the lasting legacies of Dr. Froh’s research there.

Some experts believe that children don’t develop true gratitude until they can experience empathy, which usually occurs around age 7. But researchers at Yale University’s Infant Cognition Center have shown that infants as young as 6-months old prefer characters who help to those who hinder others. To help lay the groundwork for gratefulness, Dr. Froh says he asks his 4-year-old son, James, each night what was his favorite thing about the day and what he is looking forward to tomorrow.

For older children and adults, one simple way to cultivate gratitude is to literally count your blessings. Keep a journal and regularly record whatever you are grateful for that day. Be specific. Listing “my friends, my school, my dog” day after day means that “gratitude fatigue” has set in, Dr. Froh says. Writing “my dog licked my face when I was sad” keeps it fresher. Some people do this on their Facebook or MySpace pages, or in one of dozens of online gratitude groups. There’s an iPod app for gratitude journaling, too. The real benefit comes in changing how you experience the world. Look for things to be grateful for, and you’ll start seeing them everywhere.

A Buddhist exercise, called Naikan self-reflection, asks people to ponder daily: “What have I received from…? What have I given to…? and What trouble have I caused…?” Acknowledging those who touched your life—from the barista who made your coffee to the engineer who drove your train—and reflecting on how you reciprocated reinforces humbleness and interdependence.

Delivering your thanks in person can be particularly powerful. One study found that fourth-graders who took a “gratitude visit” felt better about themselves even two months later—particularly those whose moods were previously low.

Adopting a more upbeat mind-set helps facilitate gratitude, too. Instead of bonding with friends over gripes and annoyances, try sharing what you’re grateful for. To avoid sounding boastful, focus on giving credit to other people, as in, “My mom took a whole day off from work to get to my game.”

Studies show that using negative, derogatory words—even as you talk to yourself—can darken your mood as well. Fill your head with positive thoughts, express thanks and encouragement aloud and look for something to be grateful for, not criticize, in those around you, especially loved ones. New York psychiatrist Drew Ramsey says that’s an essential tool for surviving the holidays. “Giving thanks for them helps you deal with the craziness that is part of every family,” he says.

Last, if you find you take too much for granted, try the “It’s a Wonderful Life” approach: image what life would be like without a major blessing, like a spouse, a child or a job. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Personal Social Psychology, researchers found that when college students wrote essays in which they were asked to “mentally subtract” a positive event from their lives, they were subsequently more grateful for it than students whose essays simply focused on the event. The “George Bailey effect” was modest, the authors noted, but even small boosts in positive emotions can make life more satisfying.

Write to Melinda Beck at HealthJournal@wsj.com

This is the season when people talk about feeling grateful. But, I think it’s worth really thinking about how to bring that emotion into focus in our lives and tap its ability to heal us psychologically.

I think there is a very real connection between feeling grateful and feeling a sense of purpose in life. The individual who believes that his or her existence has real meaning has the raw material for gratitude built-in. That conviction allows each day to be seen as the next page in a truly miraculous story. In this context, even adversity can be put into context: We can be grateful for the ability to summon courage or persistence or empathy, despite very trying circumstances.

It is also important to note that gratitude is one of those emotions we don’t necessarily feel unless we think about it–sort of like the act of breathing. Until we focus on it, it lacks intention. But gratitude will become palpable if we think of what is not wrong in our lives that could be–that we have a roof over our heads (if we are lucky enough to), that our spouses are healthy (if that is the case), that our children are happy (if that is the case). I have a favorite saying I share with people who give me bad news that doesn’t seem to cut me to the core: “You’re not a pediatrician.” I then explain that, once you’ve had a child (and I am grateful to have two), that only a pediatrician (with, God-forbid, bad news) could really shatter your existence.

Gratitude also ceases to be invisible if we focus on one, single being or situation we care about and think of the number of specific qualities or acts or memories associated with the thing that make us feel grateful.
My dog Lucy who recently passed away is a good example. I’m grateful she was part of my life. But that’s the umbrella category of gratitude. I’m grateful for the deep hues of her brown eyes, for her floppy ears, for the way she turned her head far to the right and looked at me askance when she was angry with me, for the naps we took together, for the kindnesses she showed my children, for the time I got a call letting me know she was down the street at a neighbor’s house who was having a barbecue (and that the neighbor wanted permission to have her stay for a while), for the way she used to like the waves at the beach to take her tennis ball and bring it back to her, for the time she misjudged the tides and her ball floated into the ocean, and I waded in–clothed–to my waist to retrieve it for her, because I loved her. I could go on and on. I could share a universe of gratitude with you about that single animal, even that single animal on a single day. Peel back the layers of your existence, freeze time and then thaw it . . . slowly, and gratitude comes to the fore, in waves, if you will.

Gratitude is to be found in every unexamined, immeasurable aspect of being human. Think about the fact that we humans laugh. What is that? We become so joyful that our faces change contour, our breathing changes, our muscles go on autopilot, and we can even cry.
Huh? Is that not truly amazing? How about the fact that we humans experience empathy–literally being able to appreciate the suffering of others, thousands of miles away. Huh? Really? What a wonderful, inexplicable, immeasurable reality. Think about love. Is it not something about which to be grateful that men and women will cross oceans in order to be by one another’s side? Is it not something about which to be grateful that I would, in a heartbeat, without a thought, donate both my kidneys to my children, if each of them needed one? We have gratitude encoded in our DNA as humans, but sometimes we have to unravel our myriad thoughts and focus our attention, in order to feel it.

Gratitude insulates us from pessimism and self-loathing. Far from lulling us into complacency, it is fuel for the fight. At an elemental level, we can always be grateful that the future is not immutable. Ultimately, it is in our hands.

It is no wonder, then, that psychiatric illnesses attack gratitude–major depression can make folks forget that life is a gift; panic disorder can hijack all their thoughts and feelings and leave no bandwidth for hope or gratitude; alcohol and drug addiction can take their autonomy away so that they don’t have the personal reserves to look with optimism or gratitude upon anything.

It is important to note that only those who are truly free can be truly grateful. Gratitude has to be felt by an individual with the autonomy and liberty to honestly survey his life and life, in general. The man who has ceded his individuality cannot be genuinely grateful, because his emotions are not his own. He is a man who cannot really appreciate a sunset, because he is not truly present to see it.

We can be grateful not just for this moment, but for the one that just passed, and the one coming up. Gratitude is timeless.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. He is a New York Times best-selling author, whose book “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life Through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a self-help movement. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com.

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