“I think I’ve ruined my brain.” Eric, my husband, and I were sitting outside on the deck late one afternoon.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“It’s so hard to hold a single thought, to focus on one thing. It’s like my brain is constantly bouncing in different directions all the time.”

How you show gratitude is not near as important as doing something.

Anything.

At the moment I am a little partial to the sticks of dynamite we made out of paper towel rolls and then stuffed for wait staff at a local restaurant. But, your gesture should be a reflection of you and the way you shine.

Keeping a gratitude journal is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reap the benefits of living a life of increased gratitude.

There is no one right way to do it. Here are three simple ideas, all of which can work because the most effective way to keep a gratitude journal is simply the one that you stick with.

Want to be happier? Learn to see the cup half full, rather than half empty. Count your blessings. Appreciate the positive. Retrain your brain to focus on the good. And for heaven’s sake, stop worrying.

Sounds easy right?

Having skipped out of high school after my junior year, I arrived at the University of Maryland a newly minted 17-year-old. Accompanied by my parents, we moved my stuff into my dorm room and headed to the armory to register for my freshman classes. This was a decade before class registration was moved online. Together, my parents and I waited in the various lines. Freshman English, check. Math 101, check. Biology, check. Intro to business management, check. And then it was time for electives so off we went to the registration desk for the dance department. “Sorry,” the woman behind the desk said. “You can’t take that class unless you are a dance major.”

Ever noticed that you seem to feel better after a walk? That’s not just your imagination. Walking has signifcant, proven health benefits. Here are our 10 favorites:

My dad was a competitive sprinter, meaning that the majority of his running success was predicated on races that lasted less than a minute. When the race is that short and that intense, one of the things that separate the victor from those in second, third and even last place, is the start. Runners crouch down at the starting line, place their heels against the starting block and wait for the gun to go off. And when it does, they come off of that block with tremendous focus and intensity and give the next seconds everything they’ve got. They will end the race gasping for air.

You pick up a food item at the store, examine the ingredients for "Sugar" and don't see it. So it must be sugar-free, right?

Wrong.

It’s usually there. It's just hiding in plain sight.

Here are 25 other common names for sugar:

One of the best things you can do for your overall health is to move. You have already made that commitment with 99 Walks, and now it’s time to do one of the other best things: reduce your sugar consumption.

I suck at meditating. For years, I tried different ideas, everything from walking meditation to meditation classes to simply taking five slow, mindful breathes while sitting on the floor of my closet.

Nothing worked. I didn't have the time or money to go to meditation classes, walking meditations were really just walks and if I managed three breathes on my closet floor before either thinking "this is stupid" or noticing the pile of laundry in the corner, well, that was a miracle.

99 Walks has a lot of core values. 99 of them to be exact.

These are the things that we believe. The way we choose to live our lives. They are part principles and part sparks of inspiration. Some of them may appear to contradict. That’s because we aren’t the same every day. Say yes and say no. Eat less sugar and eat the cupcake. Sometimes, well, sometimes you just need a cupcake. Because without the occasional cupcake, life is too predictable. Too rigid.

“I’m so sorry,” the email began. “I swear I’m not one of those people who miss deadlines, but I hurt my back and I won’t have the column to you on Friday.”

I was laying in my bed, alternating between ice and heat - because that’s what they say you should do. Neither were working. I had done something bad at the gym earlier that week and simply breathing sent shooting pains up and down my spine. I was stopped in my tracks. Laid out and laid up. On my calendar that week was two full days of meetings, one writing deadline and a dinner for a women's networking group that I had created. A meeting at my daughter’s school to discuss her class schedule for the coming year and my son’s 18th birthday.

March 14 can be written as 3.14 or Pi -- the mathematical constant of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and a magic number in the math world. So March 14 is often called “Pi Day.” To celebrate, I ate apple pie for breakfast. Then I ate a little more for lunch because, well, because it was there and it was delicious. Dinner was a big plate of spaghetti.

Aren’t we all looking for the magic bullet? The one thing that will make us thin, turn our house into a showplace and move our business to “the next level?”

The media is replete with tales of overnight success. Justin Bieber puts a homespun video on Youtube and becomes a bazillionaire. A couple of students found the company Rovio, release the Angry Birds and become millionaires overnight.  Lana Turner gets discovered at a drugstore counter.

“Jump higher.”

“Keep your feet closer together.”

“Turn the rope faster.”

“Practice every day.”

Failure sucks. We go into things -- new projects, new relationships, new diets -- with optimism and excitement and enthusiasm. And when they don’t work out, when we “fail,” it sucks. We feel defeated, discouraged and sad.

My first job out of law school was with a huge national law firm. One Saturday morning, on a perfect June day, all of the first year associates were required to attend a full day accounting workshop to learn the fundamentals of public accounting.

You know, I know it. Beethoven, Steve Jobs and Darwin knew it.

You get some of your best ideas when you are out taking a walk. Most of us have known this instinctively for years, and now there is research to prove it.

As the story goes, an elderly Cherokee grandfather was walking with his grandson and striving to impart some grandfatherly wisdom. “Within us,” the old man began, “are two wolves locked in a constant state of battle.

Last week, I received an email with this subject:

"This One Thing Will Change Your Life Overnight."

Tempting right? But we know the truth: anything worth having takes work, time and consistent effort. One way to help you get there is to apply the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen.