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Gratitude Attitude, The [Quotes, Comments, & Anecdotes]

Quotes, comments, and anecdotes on the subject of gratitude, thankfulness, and praise gleaned from several authors, Christian and non-Christian alike

Gratitude brings more to be grateful about. Lack of gratitude, or complaining‚ brings little to rejoice about. Complainers always find that they have little good in their life, or they do not enjoy what they do have. The universe always gives us what we believe we deserve. Many of us have been raised to look at what we do not have and to feel only lack. We come from a belief in scarcity and then wonder why our lives are so empty. If we believe that, "I don't have, and I won't be happy until I do..." then we are putting our lives on hold. What the universe hears is: "I don't have‚ and I am not happy," and that is what you get more of.

When I awaken in the morning‚ the first thing I do before I even open my eyes is to give thanks for a good night's sleep. I am grateful for the warmth and comfort of my bed. From that beginning, it is easy to think of many, many more things I am thankful for. By the time I have gotten out of bed‚ I have probably expressed gratitude for 80 or 100 different people, places, things and experiences in my life. This is a great way to start the day.

In the evening, just before sleep, I go through the day, being grateful for each experience, and I drift off to sleep like a happy baby.

We even want to be grateful for the lessons we have. Lessons are little packages of treasure that have been given to us. As we learn from them, our lives change for the better. I now rejoice when I see another portion of the dark side of myself. I know that it means that I am ready to let go of something that has been hindering my life. I say‚ "Thank you for showing me this, so I can heal it and move on." So, whether the lesson is a "problem" that has cropped up or an opportunity to see an old, negative pattern within us that it is time to let go of, rejoice!

One clear winter's day, I decided to take a walk in the tiny Colorado wilderness town where I live. The sky was a shade of azure blue peculiar to the higher elevations of the Rockies. The early March sun poured like liquid gold through the limbs of tall spruce, creating dancing patterns of light in the delicate crystals of freshly fallen snow. Mountain peaks rose majestically in sculptured layers of greens and grays, piercing clouds that hung like fairy mist in the enchanted valleys below.

Marching resolutely down the road, I was all but blind to the extraordinary beauty. Attempting to relax before driving down the mountain to undergo a breast biopsy at the local hospital, I was actually reviewing the endless menu of dire medical possibilities that might materialize. As my mind slid into well-worn patterns of awfulizing‚ it gathered momentum. Not only might my body be in mortal danger‚ but my life wasn't working so well in other ways either. Not only did the glass seem half empty‚ but the remaining water appeared downright polluted!

My youngest son, although nearly 22, was terribly upset by the recent separation of my husband of nearly 24 years and myself. My fault, of course. I felt overworked and burned out. Also my fault. What kind of crazy life had I managed to create—especially when I am supposed to be some kind of role model for others? Guilt, fear, anger, and disappointment joined the cacophony of inner voices accompanying me down the road on my attempt at a relaxing walk.

I was rudely awakened from my toxic reverie by a searing pain in my hindquarters. Perfectly focused on my well-rehearsed mental movies, I had been completely unaware of the speedy approach of a large German shepherd who bounded up and bit me unceremoniously on the behind. My mental movie department immediately began to run a feature film starring my bare buttocks being sutured in the Boulder Community Hospital emergency room, while I was simultaneously being injected with huge doses of tetanus and rabies vaccine. I would, no doubt, miss my biopsy and have to undergo that second round of medical torture on another day.

I reached down into my pants expecting to encounter a sticky mass of blood. Strangely, my hand emerged perfectly clean. Energized by sudden hope, I slipped behind a bush and pulled my pants down. While a large red welt, framed by the impression of a perfect set of canine teeth, graced my derriere, the skin was magically unbroken. With a yelp of joy, I pulled up my pants and burst from the bushes with a whoop of gratitude. No emergency room. No tetanus shots. No slow death from rabies. I could get to the biopsy on time. Lucky me.

Suddenly, the entire scene seemed hilariously funny. The dog was transformed from a nasty cur to a divine messenger. "Wake up, you silly human! Feel the sun on your face and the wind in your hair. You are alive, and the world is beautiful. The mountains are alive‚ and the day is young. There are endless possibilities to experience."

I suddenly found myself overwhelmed with gratitude for the gift of life. Every breath was precious. Every step was a miracle. Peace settled around me like a down quilt‚ and I felt held by unseen arms.

Gratitude is like a gearshift that can move our mental mechanism from obsession to peacefulness, from stuckness to creativity, from fear to love.

Thank God the German shepherd didn't break the skin. Thank God the breast biopsy was negative. Thank God I am healthy and able to remember—at least from time to time—that gratitude is the key to peace, joy, and creative choice. May you also be blessed with the gift of remembering. Take a moment tonight, before you go to bed, and give thanks for five things in your life that don't need healing. Throughout the day, when you find yourself stuck in awfulizing about the things that seem wrong, remember to say a prayer of gratitude for all the things that are right.

It has become my practice to operate in the "act as if" mode—that is, I act as if I am grateful even when I am finding it difficult to muster up the warm, fuzzy feeling that just naturally comes when one is thankful and grateful. And before too long, I AM grateful!

I have found that it is an interesting ritual to sing a tune to all the things I am grateful for when I am riding in my car. I begin my song with a simple thank you for whatever, and that seems to unclog an endless supply of things that I am grateful for. This practice is especially uplifting if I am not in a particularly grateful mood.

I find that the more willing I am to be grateful for the small things in my life, the bigger stuff just seems to show up from unexpected sources, and I am constantly looking forward to each day with all of the surprises that keep coming my way!

One Saturday after our excursion to Pizza Hut, the mall, and a movie, I drove my ten–year-old goddaughter Samantha to her family's new residence. As we turned off the highway onto a dirt road that led to her house, my heart dropped to see that she and her parents were living in an old school bus in a field.

As Samantha showed me around her family's quarters, I began to feel sad that this little girl whom I love so much was growing up in such a shoddy environment. As my eyes painfully fell upon rusted seams on the metal walls‚ cracked windows‚ and a leaking roof, I realized that her family had fallen into bare‚ subsistence living. I wanted to rescue her from such a barren plight.

Looking up at me with her big brown eyes, Samantha asked me, "Would you like to see my room?"

"Okay," I answered hesitantly.

The child took me by the hand and guided me up a makeshift staircase that led to a small wooden addition that had been superimposed over the roof of the bus. I shuddered to observe that her room was in the same condition as the rest of the place, just barely livable. Looking around, I noticed one fairly attractive element of her abode, a colorful tapestry hanging over the one section of the room that could be called a wall.

"How do you feel about living here?" I asked Samantha, waiting for a glum response.

Instead, to my surprise, her face lit up. "I love my wall!" she giggled.

I was stunned. Samantha was not kidding. She actually enjoyed the place because of this colorful wall. The child found a touch of heaven in the midst of hell, and this is what she chose to focus on. She was happy.

I drove home in a state of awe. This ten-year-old saw her life through the eyes of appreciation, and that made all the difference. I began to consider all the things in my life that I have complained about. I realized that in my preoccupation with what isn't there, I have been missing what is here. While focusing on rusty metal, I have overlooked some colorful tapestries. I made Samantha's statement my meditation: "I love my wall!"

Gratitude is not the result of things that happen to us; it is an attitude we cultivate by practice. The more we are thankful for, the more we will find to be thankful for. I heard of a woman named Sarah who lay in a hospital bed after an accident, deeply depressed, unable to move any part of her body except the little finger on one hand. Then Sarah decided she would make use of what she was missing. She began to bless the one finger that could move, and she developed a system of "yes" and "no" communication with the little finger. Sarah became grateful that she could communicate, and she felt happier. As she blessed the movement‚ her flexibility increased. Soon Sarah could move her hand, then her arm, and eventually her whole body. It all started with the critical shift from complaining to blessing.

Jesus taught, "To him that hath‚ more shall be given; to him that hath not, more shall be taken away." Jesus was elucidating a supremely important principle. Jesus was teaching the importance of concentrating on what we have or want, rather than on what we lack or do not want.

I've noticed over the years that the more gratitude I feel about the past, the happier I am in the present. Getting to a joyful state with gratitude is easy when I use pleasant memories, but I don't exclude unpleasant memories from my gratitude. Being grateful for those who we think have hurt us may be harder, but it is very effective for healing the past. I call this unconditional gratitude. Unconditional means that we give gratitude to everyone regardless of whether we think they deserve it or not.

What works for me is to remember only the good things about each person and let the other thoughts go. I can always find something about each one for which I am truly grateful. I have even started with the idea that at least these people are out of my life now. I then let go of my desires and plans for how they should have acted and try to think of one good quality they possess. Even if it is a small thing, I hold on to that thought and let the other memories fade. Daily, I bring this chosen person to mind and try to add one new positive quality. If I cannot add a new one that day, I go back to an old one. I do this until I can think of this person without dislike or a desire to avoid him or her. Before you know it, an amazing thing begins to happen.

At first I may struggle to find one little thing for which I am grateful, but as I keep trying‚ other good qualities slowly appear.

It helps to ask questions of myself such as, "How did this person's actions lead me or push me in a particular direction that benefited my spiritual growth? Even if the action was deemed harmful to my physical being, how did this action enhance and support my spiritual being?" As you can see, these are tough questions.

There may be a desire to keep another locked in a web of blame and guilt. Unconditional gratitude given in these situations may at first feel as if we are letting people who we dislike "off the hook." I can assure you from my own experience that it is ourselves we are letting off the hook. Gratitude, like its sister, forgiveness, frees the giver first of all. Gratitude brings freedom to our self-imposed prison of hatred and revenge. Perceived past wrongs are our prison bars. Unconditional gratitude melts these bars away. Hatred not only locks us in a tiny shell of self-pity, it keeps out those who are seeking to bring love into our life. Our past, released with gratitude, frees our present to be as it could be.

Gratitude sheds a rosy glow across my whole life. The more grateful I am for everything in life, the more reasons I find to be grateful. There are the big things, such as my "tribe," or my friends and family. There are the personal things, such as my good health and wonderful career. And gratitude reaches all the way down to the little things—the fresh flower arrangement, the bowl of oranges, the fire in the fireplace. Focusing gratitude on anything makes it grow!

The circle of gratitude gets bigger every day. One grateful thought and you're in. And once you are, watch the circle grow.

"You cannot be grateful and unhappy at the same time."

Take a moment of time daily, and be grateful for all that you are and for all that you are not. Be grateful for all that you have and for all that you do not have.

REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT BE GRATEFUL AND UNHAPPY AT THE SAME TIME!

Sometimes the greatest cause for gratitude lies concealed in the challenges we face, for they help to make us stronger and more compassionate human beings.

Even the highest and finest of the pleasures of this life are bound to come to an end. But God is our Eternal Well-Wisher‚ and when we turn to Him—whether in joy or sorrow—with a whispered word of thanks‚ we begin to transcend the fluctuations of earthly existence and to anchor our lives in a love that will endure forever.

The mad rush of living, the mad crush of places to go and people to see, and the maddening stream of problems that need to be solved and conflicts that need to be resolved on a daily basis can make you forget that there's a world around you teeming with wonders.

Each day I need to remind myself that gratitude is awareness. My day begins with an early-morning run on dark streets. My concentration is often divided into many directions, from paying attention to the dimly lit road so I don't turn an ankle, to planning how my day will be organized. Before I learned about gratitude, I rarely took the time on my runs to notice the sky above me—still a night sky, with brilliant stars and an ever-changing position of the moon. But one morning, I happened to look up and, at that moment, saw a shooting star. The effect this fleeting instant had upon me was incredible. I smiled. I picked up my running pace. I looked around me and noticed other beauty—the silhouettes of trees presented against the indigo background of the sky, the way mica chips in rocks glistened in the beams from streetlights, the gurgling sounds that water made while running down a roadside stream. Throughout the day, I told my friends about the shooting star I had seen. And then the next morning I set off on my run ready to look down at the road‚ as well as to shift my focus from time to time to look around and above me.

How often do you take time to notice the wonders of the natural world on a daily basis—the rainbow after a storm‚ the birds frolicking around your bird feeder, or the silvery brilliance of a full moon? Gratitude is slowing down your pace, opening up your senses to the world around you, and feeling the impact such awareness has in how you feel and how you then live the next moment of your life.

Expressing gratitude for the miracles in your world is one of the best ways to make each moment of your life a special one.

When you have gratitude in your heart, you will find a new willingness to give to others so that they, too, might experience the joys that you feel. You will find that you will want to contribute to the needs and wants of others without any expectation of acknowledgment.

Gratitude is a tangible force. The more you feel it, the more reasons you will find to feel it. Gratitude is a miraculous force, like a magical magnet‚ generating and then attracting so much more than you have already received. It is like a living energy, clearing the way for you to become so much more than you have already experienced.

Gratitude is an emotional response of love that wells up within when one is confronted by the awesome design of life. I enter the world each day with an expectant mind, searching for something to be grateful for and someone to be grateful to.

Without a continual affirmation and prayer of thanks and appreciation‚ I find that my mind becomes bored, and my heart dulls. I withdraw from the world, resigned to my struggle alone. Gratitude is a way out of difficulty, pain, and isolation.

It is impossible to feel worry, anger, depression, or any negative emotion of any kind in the presence of genuine gratitude. A beautiful sunny day and a dark, stormy day cannot occur in the same place at the same time. So does the practice of gratitude redirect our minds away from fear and toward the truth, clearing out all negativity, pain, and suffering. I have a preventative maintenance program for resignation, cynicism, and doubt. Every day, more than once, I search my mind for all that I have to be grateful for.

Each day offers a reason for gratitude, and we need to look for those special moments and remember them. Good health, the ability to help others, and the support of good friends are all reasons to be grateful. Nothing in life should be taken for granted.

Gratitude is free—there is no cost. Nature's miracles, such as the flowers in bloom‚ the leaves when they turn bright colors in the fall, or the sky when it's blue, remind us of the simple pleasures in life. I remember a friend of mine who was going through a very sad time telling me: "I'm thankful when the sun is shining, as it gives me a positive feeling." I smiled and told her, "The sun shines not on us, but in us."

It is relatively easy to feel grateful when good things are happening and life is going the way we want it to. Even then, we often take things for granted. It feels so good to take a moment to express our appreciation to other people, to life.

A much greater challenge is to get in touch with gratitude when we are going through a difficult time, or life is not going the way we think it should. At these times, we are more likely to be feeling hurt‚ confused‚ or resentful. There have been times in my life when I felt more like shaking my fist at the universe, wondering why it was dealing me such a cruel blow.

It's interesting, though, that after going through a difficult time, in retrospect we can often see that there was something important and necessary about that experience. We may not arrive at this perspective until months or even years later, but eventually we can see that there was some important lesson learned, a deepening of our wisdom, an awakening, or perhaps a new door that opened in our life as a result of events that seemed negative at the time.

For example, the loss of a job may have led us to spiritual or emotional healing. The ending of a relationship may give us the opportunity to discover that we need time alone‚ or it may pave the way for a more satisfying partnership. At that point, we may begin to feel grateful that life unfolded as it did.

I am most grateful when I have just had a close encounter with death. Once the front wheel flew off my Buick as I was driving down a steep‚ curving hill. I maneuvered it to the bottom of the hill in a shower of sparks, accompanied by a prayer. Another time I was deeply grateful when I was struck by lighting on the bridge of a ship that hit the upright stanchion two feet away from my face, and millions of volts of electricity were magically conducted to Earth through the steel into the ocean below. I gave thanks and have never forgotten the smell of burned air instead of burned hair.

I can think of many instances of gratitude that did not come until after I had begun to appreciate all the goodness that life has given me. I know now to express that gratefulness—not only in times of peril, or greatest abundance—but for all that I experience. I am grateful not only for incredible friendships, but also for those who have been liars and deceived me, because of the many lessons of life that they have brought me, thus sharpening my appreciation of those who walk their talk and live up to their spiritual words.

To be able to forgive all injuries is the greatest gift that we can bestow upon ourselves, but few are grateful for this choice.

In my years of coaching clients to lead successful, happy lives, I discovered a secret. If I taught them to practice gratitude, everything in their life transformed.

Gratitude changes the way we view life and ourselves. Difficult situations that were once intolerable and seemingly unchangeable, transform. The moment we feel gratitude, the situation begins to lighten, and then we can see the opportunities to create change. We feel better about ourselves and our ability to positively affect our environment and our world. Depression lifts, conflict turns to harmony, and stress releases to peace. When gratitude becomes a way of life, success, happiness, and health become the norm.

As soon as we feel gratitude, everything changes. It can transform a situation where you feel sadness and loss that, in turn, draws more sadness and loss to you, to one of joy and happiness. The very same situation is immediately transformed when viewed with a heart filled with gratitude.

Gratitude not only heals, it rejuvenates the body. If you doubt this‚ just take a look at someone's face that has been ravaged by years of resentment. They will look drawn and haggard. Then look at someone who has lived their life in gratitude. They will be radiant with health and aliveness.

The key to a happy, healthy, successful life is gratitude.

When we give thanks for the situations and events in our life that are challenging‚ knowing that we are being blessed with wisdom from this experience, the very act of gratitude transforms the negative experience into a positive one.

It is always our choice how we want to live our lives. By choosing to maintain an attitude of gratitude, we are assured of living a happy‚ healthy‚ successful life.

In the four words, "Gratitude Is Heaven Itself," William Blake‚ the poet, expresses the essence of gratitude.

By surrendering to love, by surrendering to God, we can go through each day acknowledging one another with gratitude. Imagine what the world would be if the only words we spoke, to God and to one another, were "Thank you."

How quickly our world changes as we learn to return all the love that is continuously given to us by our Source. What greater gratitude can we give to our Creator than choosing to love one another by seeing the face of God in everyone?

IN GRATITUDE TO YOU

My whole being pulsates
with the fire of desire
for our everlasting union.
My very breath is but Yours.
My heart is a limitless beacon
of Your Love.

My spirit, being Yours, is the Light of the World.
My eyes but radiate and reflect
our Perfect Love.
My very essence vibrates with You as the
harmony of music not yet heard.

My vision, being Yours, can only bless.
My prayer is but an eternal song of gratitude‚
that You are in me, and I am in You
and that I live in Your Grace forever.

When we focus on abundance, our life feels abundant; when we focus on lack, our life feels lacking. It is purely a matter of focus.

As a child, sitting between my parents in church on Sunday mornings‚ I often heard these words read from Scripture: "In everything give thanks!" And my young mind responded with: "Yes, one needs to be grateful for every good thing that happens in one's life." From time to time, through the years of my youth, those words replayed in my consciousness, and I learned to be grateful for many obvious things. I expressed gratitude for gifts received, kindness bestowed, and all the good times and friends I experienced in the course of living

Expressing gratitude even when things went wrong was much more difficult to do, but I was also amazed at the outcome of doing so. I discovered that the scripture "God inhabits the praise of His people" was to remind us that gratitude releases an energy that could begin turning things around, and when I did so, it imbued me with the strength and ability to surmount whatever was happening in my outer world. Eventually, I would see that what had often appeared as a negative circumstance was really the pivotal point for a new direction that I would take. Often‚ in retrospect, I could see clearly that it had been a blessing in disguise and had led me into a deeper and more meaningful place.

"In everything give thanks!" Now‚ I can be equally in awe of, and grateful for, a costal sunset or the learning process inherent in an illness or a time of confusion. I can be grateful for my unshakeable faith in divine order as my child faces a life-threatening illness over which I have no control, and in which I have, as yet, to fully discover all the lessons and meanings it holds. I am grateful for the times of connection with those I love, and I am equally grateful for the times of disagreement and estrangement that mirror for me new lessons to learn and insights to be discerned. I am truly GRATEFUL for discovering the power of gratitude in my life, and I shall always continue to give thanks in EVERYTHING!

As the mother of a small child, I have often found myself suffering from the "poor me" blues. Raising a child alone is the greatest challenge that I have been confronted with—emotionally, physically, and spiritually. When the loneliness, fear, tedium‚ and exhaustion have had their say, it can get really old. And, no matter how much I've told myself that compared to most of the other six billion souls on the planet I lead a charmed life, I realized recently that I still wasn't getting to that state of peace I desired.

So, I came up with a project to get busy and take my focus off my struggle. Each night before I fall asleep, my ritual is to thank God for something that has occurred during the day‚ something I am truly grateful for. Well, guess what happened? A miracle! I find myself walking around in a state of grace and gratitude most of the day. And, as my mind goes through the day searching for its "homework assignment," I can see just how many precious events occur during each 24-hour period.

From the most simple moments, such as the sound of my neighbors' wind chimes tinkling in the breeze, to the kind smile on the gas station attendant's face, to the warmth in my heart when my son Eli runs in from play just to tell me he loves me "bigger than the ocean, sky, and a hundred trillion moons," I now seem to have a long list each night!

May we all remember to see and feel the divine in everything—from a cool iced tea on a balmy day, to the warmth of the blankets that cover and comfort us all night. And may we pay attention to all the miracles that truly do dance all around us when we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

Gratitude and trust are closely related. In order to be thankful for everyone and everything in my life, I need to trust that the universe makes sense, that everything my soul has chosen to experience in my lifetime has been for my ultimate highest good. I trust that when it appears I'm failing, I'm only learning. I make a great effort to bless my life as it is, both the so-called triumphs and disasters. A line from Kipling's poem If often comes to mind: "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat these two impostors just the same."

When I remind myself that I am a student in Earth School, choosing those lessons that enhance my soul's purpose, it's possible to more readily bless every circumstance of my life. Of course‚ from a more unenlightened segment of myself, I sometimes wonder‚ "Why did I choose this particular misery?" Yet, gratitude for, and trust in, ultimate justice is the best antidote for the poisonous emotions of self–pity and resentment. I find it impossible to experience gratitude and negative emotions simultaneously.

When my soul arrived in Earth School‚ it set up some challenging lessons. Many years went by before I learned to see the blessings in these experiences. When I could honestly begin to understand their purpose and to feel gratitude for them, I made an escape from the darkness of a victim's prison into the light of freedom and joy.

Although "illegitimate" was stamped on my birth certificate, I am grateful I now know God has no illegitimate children. I acknowledge God's indwelling presence and embrace my innate worth as I go about completing my legitimate Earth School assignments. Although I was physically and sexually abused as a child, I am grateful that I now know my spirit is indestructible and cannot be harmed by anything done to the Earth Suit. Although I've experienced "failed" relationships, I'm grateful that every relationship presents unique opportunities to practice love and forgiveness, opportunities to learn about myself at deeper levels. I'm grateful that it's possible to learn from relationships after they are over.

My oldest son Richard died when he was nine, and I'm so very grateful that I know that each soul chooses its Earth School experiences, including the manner and time of departure from the Earth plane. In reality, there is no death; the soul is ageless and eternal, and love knows no barriers of time or space. My second son Robert nearly died when he was two and suffered brain damage as a result of the illness. I am grateful that I know that Robert chose this Earth School lesson, and as his mother, that I chose the experience with him. I've felt much pain watching him struggle with life, but he has demanded from me‚ and thus has taught me, unconditional love. Such a great gift!

Looking back over my life, I can see the beauty that the windstorms have carved. I trust current and future challenges to facilitate additional soul growth. My heart is filled with gratitude for all the people and events in my life because I now understand their higher purpose. My heart overflows with gratitude for the Divine Love that enfolds, guides, protects and sustains us all!

Just look at my life! Should I be feeling gratitude, or have I been ripped off? Is the glass half-empty or half-full?

I can complain that those bushes have thorns, or I can be grateful that some thorn bushes have roses. At the purely intellectual or "scientific" level‚ these two attitudes are equivalent. But in real life, it makes a huge difference which we choose.

The way in which we see the world shapes our responses to the challenges life presents us. A sense of gratitude empowers us to choose wisely ... how we feel, what we say, what we believe, what we do. How preposterous for us, who are richer and consume 10 times the resources than 95 percent of the world's people, who routinely live 25 years longer than our great–grandparents, who bask in personal freedom and potential, to focus on the "half-empty." Gratitude leads us to see what is available, what can develop. After all, there is nothing to work with in the empty part of the glass.

In the field of psychoneuroimmunology, we are now certain that emotions‚ beliefs, and interpretations (our map of the world) have a profound effect upon the body's functioning, including whether we become ill or resist disease. Most dramatic are the studies on "learned helplessness." No matter what the challenges or crises in our life may be, if we feel helpless about them, we are much more likely to become ill.

Gratitude has to do with feeling full, complete, adequate. It is the experience of the range of fulfillment that it is possible that leads to a capacity for gratitude. Without gratitude, the tendency is to feel incomplete‚ cheated, deficient—in a word, helpless.

Charles Grodin, the writer and actor, once shared with me that after his father died when Charles was 18 years old, everything else was "small stuff." His father's death gave him a sense of perspective and, with it‚ a profound sense of gratitude.

Over time, with an expanded perspective, our perceptions change. We begin to feel grateful, not only for particular favors, acts of kindness, or pleasant circumstances, but for small things—the glimpse of a sunrise, the beauty of a tree blowing in a breeze. Perspective also leads to a profound kind of humility in appreciating our place in the larger universe and the opportunity that life represents, whether or not it happens to be going well at the moment.

I feel grateful for my friends and adversaries, for both the joys and challenges of my life, because the joys give me pleasure, and the challenges help me grow. Everything serves in its way.

Gratitude helps me see beyond my self-defeating fears and doubts. Gratitude is a powerful magnetic force that naturally draws joyous people and events to me. It attracts the hidden potential in life. Gratitude is one of the greatest secrets of a fulfilled life.

Gratitude focuses our attention on the good things in life. It takes our blessings and multiplies them. When we joyfully express appreciation, it opens our hearts and allows us to experience more love.

Love is the power that heals our lives, and love is the power that will ultimately heal this world. Gratitude comes from love. It is the natural expression of a loving heart. Therefore, whenever we express gratitude, we align ourselves with the power that heals us. Giving thanks and praise spreads healing energy and makes our lives and the world a better place to be and live.

Even in our darkest hours, we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude. No matter what is happening around us, we can choose to respond in a way that will help us learn and grow. When we look at our difficulties as opportunities for growth, then we can be grateful for the lessons we are learning from these difficult experiences. There is always a gift in every experience. Expressing gratitude allows us to find it.

Every morning upon waking up, the first words out of my mouth are "Thank you." This allows me to feel immediately connected with God and fills my heart with love. I am grateful that I am alive and breathing and have another day to live life fully and richly.

Gratitude isn't always easy to invoke. If our circumstances are unpleasant, or if we are concentrating more on what we lack than on what we have, it may seem ludicrous to try to find something to be thankful for. But gratitude comprises more than simply being thankful. Thankfulness is directed toward a specific object or event that has just happened, as in "I am thankful for the new sweater I just received." Gratitude‚ by contrast, is a lifestyle—a way of living. People who live in a state of gratitude have developed the ability to embody, moment by moment‚ a sense of wonder and contentment with their lives just as they are. And as they do so, they paradoxically seem to attract more and more blessings into their lives in the form of money, fulfilling jobs, deeply satisfying personal relationships, and other things that they desire.

Expressing thankfulness on a regular basis can lead to a gratitude-filled lifestyle. I have developed a practice, every time something good happens—whether expected or not!—to say (to myself or out loud): "Thank you, God!" But as you do this regularly‚ you will begin to notice yourself changing. Things that used to bother you don't bother you as much anymore. You see someone less fortunate than yourself, and as you thank God for what you have, you also reach out to help the other person and to give him or her what you can of yourself and your substance.

It is an accepted principle that "what we focus on expands." If we spend most of our time thinking about what we don't have‚ or how we wish our life was different‚ or what we just lost, that will expand—and we will have more loss‚ more lack, and more discontent with our current situation. If, on the other hand‚ we focus on what we have—food on the table, friends and/or family who care about us, the sunshine outside—that, too, will expand. The energy of gratitude in our lives draws more and more of the things we desire to us, almost by magic.

Gratitude releases a dynamic current of spiritual energy to go before us to exert a mighty influence in our world.

When we live with grateful hearts, fear cannot enter, guilt is dissolved, and there is only peace, love‚ forgiveness, and understanding.

Gratitude is like a magnet. It draws and attracts to you that which is equal to it. If, for example, you happen to be flat on your back in pain, practice gratitude in the area of health. Be grateful for the health you do have. Focus on the feeling of well-being that still exists in other parts of your body.

When you are seemingly overwhelmed by a chaotic condition or a situation, that is the time to think of the peace at the heart of the infinite. That is the time to flood your mind and emotions with peace in grateful thanks for the divine law and order that exists throughout the universe, making law and order a possibility for you, as well. As you become filled with gratitude for health and peace, the solutions and the healing fall right into place.

We must see beyond problems to the answered prayer. Many of us give thanks and are grateful for what we have, but how many of us give thanks for what we are about to receive. By doing so, you will be programming your consciousness to expect the best.

When gratitude rises within you like a fountain, it brings in its wake greater health, greater joy‚ greater supply, greater prosperity, and greater opportunity for living life than you have ever experienced before.

The Psalms are songs of praise and thanksgiving and were sung during times of trouble. In the midst of dire conditions and situations, the Psalmist's faith never wavered. He praised and blessed and was thankful, for he knew that God was ever-present, running the universe and creating ultimate good.

My paternal grandmother, long since passed away, was a simple Syrian peasant woman who could neither read nor write. Yet she was devoutly religious. No matter what she was doing‚ God was always on her lips. But more than just His name, she would say, "Thank you, God" at least a hundred times a day. And not just when good things happened. The soup would boil over, making a terrible mess. As she cleaned it up, she would be saying, "Thank you‚ God. Thank you. Thank you‚ God."

I asked her why she was thanking God for something bad. She laughed and said because when something bad happens, that's when we forget our connection to God. At the time, it seemed very bizarre to me, since she insisted that I do it, too. I'd scrape my knee‚ and she'd tell me to say, "Thank you, God." Oddly enough it seemed to work, and my knee would feel better.

Everything substantial about me is made out of the good that people have given me along the way‚ which I have had the good sense to accept; and the harm people have done me along the way, which I have had the grace to forgive. I learned much from every bit of it once I became grateful for the power in me that lets me own the experience beyond the event.

This means that we need to be grateful that we have received some enduring good from the wonderful things people have given us or done for us and from whatever harm done unto us that we have survived. You don't survive real harm without a growth in wisdom. And sometimes, it seems, we require that our wisdom comes to us the hard way through survival of the worst.

An attitude of gratitude in the midst of all things will allow us to make all things new. It will allow us to make something better out of both the best and the worst that comes our way‚ because an attitude of gratitude puts us in right relationship with God.

I believe that once you are grateful for life, seeing it as an opportunity to give love, your life is changed and lived as it was meant to be lived by our Creator.

Examples of this are people I know with a variety of diseases and handicaps whom I call healthy. Why are they healthy? They have learned what a friend of mine, a doctor, once said: "True good health is the ability to live without it."

Sam Keen tells of a friend of his with Lou Gehrig's disease. He is severely ill‚ and even breathing was a problem. Sam was visiting him, and he complimented his friend on his attitude. The friend asked, "What choice do I have?" and Sam said, "You could piss and moan a little." His friend said, "It never occurred to me." Yet most people, if you ask them if life is fair‚ will shout NO at you. The richer they are, the louder they shout. What we have to realize is that while life is difficult, it is not unfair. We all have our problems. The key is to learn how to live with them and even how to use them.

Even in Job we learn that afflictions heal, and adversity opens you to a new reality.

A grateful heart recharges the soul and revitalizes the body. It releases our soul from bondage, lifts our awareness to a place where the wings of consciousness can let us soar in harmony with God.

Gratitude is a way of being.

A great seer once said, "The angels hover over the Earth looking for the rays of thanksgiving and gratitude that radiate from a selfless heart."

Gratitude is the giving of thanks‚ not one day a year, but every day, every minute, and with every breath.

How does one practice gratitude? You can practice gratitude each day with each word, each thought, and each gesture. Even though you may have lists of needs and wants, ask yourself what it is you have to be grateful for now. Look for things that trigger gratitude in your life, even if they may seem insignificant at first. Soon you will automatically begin to feel buoyant and joyful. Practice celebrating thanksgiving—not once a year, but every day. Make a gratitude list, and watch it grow. Focus on the abundance in your life rather than the lack.

Gratitude is our way of saying to all situations, "Welcome! I've been expecting you! Thank you for being here to help me learn and grow." We are always stronger, wiser, and filled more with peaceful power when we face each of life's lessons with this sort of grace.

No matter what the form or physical appearance of situations in your life, see them as teachers lovingly sent to you for your highest and best good. Through these teachers, you learn to trust and lean on God's reliability and love. And the more you lean on God, the more you open the floodgates to your supply of harmony and abundance.

One way we can develop our sense of gratitude is to pay closer attention to the beauty around us. Even seemingly small events such as quenching our thirst with a frosty glass of water, luxuriating beneath a quilt on a blustery morning, watching the breeze undo a dandelion puff, or listening to a chorus of crickets croaking and singing on a moon-gold night, are things that, if respectfully regarded, can summon up our gratitude.

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