“In all things we should try to make ourselves be as grateful as possible. For gratitude is a good thing for ourselves, in a manner in which justice, commonly held to belong to others, is not. Gratitude pays itself back in large measure.”
Seneca, Moral Letters, via The Daily Stoic (Page 385)
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, via Sunbeams (Page 91)
“So much has been given to you. Do you deserve it? Have you earned it? Existence goes on pouring so much over you that to ask for more is just ugly. That which you have received, you should be grateful for it. And the most beautiful thing is that when you are grateful, more and more existence starts pouring over you. It becomes a circle: the more you get, the more you become grateful; the more you become grateful, the more you get… and there is no need to end it, it is an infinite process.”
Osho, Courage (Page 190)
Leonard Nimoy Quote on Sharing and the Miracle of Thanks∙Giving
“The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have.”
Leonard Nimoy
Beyond the Quote (328/365)
Happy Thanks∙Giving. One of my favorite holidays where we give∙thanks. When you look closely at the name you’ll notice an important observation about thanks—it must be given. And from what I’ve learned about gratitude, I’d even go so far as to say that thanks is only real when it’s given. Thanks is not something that can be taken, nor is it something that can be arbitrarily absorbed. It isn’t something that manifests itself when we go through the motions of a feast or a gathering. And it isn’t something you just walk into. Thanks is something that must come through you.
Read More »Leonard Nimoy Quote on Sharing and the Miracle of Thanks∙Giving
John Leland Quote on Happiness and How Gratitude is the Key That Unlocks the Door
“Some people are grateful seemingly as their default state, even when no one’s looking. Their lives aren’t necessarily better than other people’s, but they find more reasons to give thanks for their small rewards. Fred Jones was one of those people. Giving thanks made him happy, which made him grateful, which made him happy.”
John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 119)
Beyond the Quote (221/365)
Maybe you know one of those people too? A person who seems to be grateful by default and is seemingly more happy as a result. Or maybe it’s that they’re more happy by default so they express more gratitude? Does it matter which one it is? Does one cause the other or are they both inextricably linked? …I believe that it does matter and understanding this catch-22 will help you understand how to be more like the Fred Jones’ of the world. Let’s take a closer look.
Read More »John Leland Quote on Happiness and How Gratitude is the Key That Unlocks the Door
Lynne Twist Quote on Feelings of Lack and Inadequacy (and How To Combat It)
“For me, and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is ‘I didn’t get enough sleep.’ The next one is ‘I don’t have enough time.’ Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don’t have enough of… We don’t have enough exercise. We don’t have enough work. We don’t have enough profits. We don’t have enough power. We don’t have enough wilderness. We don’t have enough weekends. Of course, we don’t have enough money—ever. We’re not thin enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not pretty enough or fit enough or educated or successful enough, or rich enough—ever. Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds race with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to the reverie of lack… What begins as a simple expression of the hurried life, or even the challenged life, grows into the great justification for an unfulfilled life.”
Lynne Twist, The Soul of Money
Beyond the Quote (92/365)
How do we combat chronic feelings of lack? By deploying chronic gratitude. It’s no secret that gratitude is a cornerstone piece of a fulfilled life. Gratitude is, in fact, what fills a person’s life. When we are grateful for our family, our family fills our lives; when we are grateful for our friends, our friends fill our lives; when we are thankful for food, water, shelter, clothes, health, etc., then those things fill our lives, too. Gratitude fills us up and the more gratitude we can deploy, the more fulfilled we will feel.
Read More »Lynne Twist Quote on Feelings of Lack and Inadequacy (and How To Combat It)“The people we have won’t always be here, so let’s not deprive ourselves of their presence simply because we’re too caught up in wanting more of some other stuff. That other stuff won’t last either—nothing does. So let’s appreciate who and what we have while we still have it. If we’re not happy with what we have, we won’t be very happy with all that we get.” ~ Humble the Poet, Things No One Else Can Teach Us (Page 22)
“We’ve been born in a time and place where we have the luxury of hearing, contemplating, and putting into action teachings that awaken us to our enlightened mind. We’re relatively healthy, we have a roof over our head and food in our mouths. We have family and friends. We’ve encountered someone who can teach us how to train our mind and open our heart. Being threatened by nuclear war, terrorism, and global warming is a reminder that we can’t take such conditions for granted. We’re just these tiny vulnerable beings riding on a blue dot in space. Yet sometimes we act as if we’re the center of the universe. The enlightened alternative is to appreciate how incredibly rare and precious human life is. The enlightened alternative is to appreciate everything. By appreciating whatever we encounter, we can use it to further our journey of warriorship. We are good as we are, and it is good as it is. Once we have this understanding, we’ll see that we are living in a sacred world.” ~ Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 143)
“Thanks are the highest form of thought, and… gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” ~ G. K. Chesterton, via Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 118)
