Gratitude is a gift you give to others because you’ve already given it to yourself, not in thanking yourself but in directing your mind toward what is true.
Gratitude helps you see more clearly in good times and in challenging ones, too.
In his autobiography, Eric Clapton wrote of two daily habits, one for morning, one for night.
He tells the story of how he learned to pray – it was in 1987.
He prays on his knees in the morning to humble himself and said with an ego like mine that’s saying something!
He prays at night in gratitude.
Why does he do it? Because, he says, it works.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, recently lost her husband to a sudden, tragic heart attack. She’s an expert at leadership and business, and had enjoyed a decades-long, loving relationship with her husband. In her recent commencement address at the University of California at Berkeley, she said that her Rabbi gave her valuable advice to help her through the difficult grieving process.
He said to write down three moments of joy before going to bed each night.
At Berkeley, Sandberg spoke of the irony of finding gratitude through death: “This simple practice has changed my life. Because no matter what happens each day, I go to bed thinking of something cheerful. Try it.”
If gratitude can help in the worst of times, it can make a difference in your life today. Gratitude also has a ripple effect on those around us.
Let these thoughts on gratitude lift your spirits today and give you something to pass on to others:
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero
“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” – Harold Kushner
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous
“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” – Gertrude Stein
“If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.” – John Wooden
“The best way to show my gratitude is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.” – Mother Teresa
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” – Guillaume Apollinaire
“Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.” – Richelle E. Goodrich
“‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.” – Alice Walker
“It’s the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own – often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.” – Richard Carlson
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – Melody Beattie
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” – Guillaume Apollinaire
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