some beautiful thoughts on gratitude
Learning to be thankful every single day is a wonderful discipline that we all must cultivate to live a happy, prosperous and abundant life.
Since Thanksgiving is around, here are some beautiful quotes on gratitude by Melody Beattie in honor of the holiday. I hope they inspire you to prioritize gratitude in your everyday life.
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. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Gratitude turns negative energy into positive energy. There is no situation or circumstance so small or large that it is not susceptible to gratitude’s power. We can start with who we are and what we have today, apply gratitude, then let it work its magic.
Someone once asked the artist Georgia O’Keeffe why her paintings magnified the size of small objects—like the petals on a flower—making them appear larger than life, and reduced the size of large objects—like mountains—making them smaller than life.
“Everyone sees the big things,” she said. “But these smaller things are so beautiful and people might not notice them if I didn’t emphasize them.” That’s the way it is with gratitude and letting go. It’s easy to see the problems in our lives. They’re like mountains. But sometimes we overlook the smaller things; we don’t notice how truly beautiful they are.
Be grateful you’re where you are at this moment. Don’t worry about trying to hurry the future along. Look for the joy in life now.
In our everyday lives, there are times when we are frightened, times when we need a friend to give us courage, and times when we can be a friend giving courage to someone else. Be grateful for those who have helped you find strength. Be grateful for the times when you have helped your friends find courage of their own.
We can want things, pray for things, and hope that things will come to pass. But ultimately, we’re not in control. Instead of spending our time and energy trying to get someplace else, we can learn the lesson and enjoy the beauty of the life we’ve been given.
Make a list of everything in your life that you’re not grateful for. You may not have to make a list; you probably have the things that bother you memorized. Then deliberately practice gratitude for everything on the list. The power of gratitude won’t let you down. Being grateful for whatever we have always turns what we have into more.
Become conscious as you go through your daily life. Go on a treasure hunt. Find out what feels good to you. You just might discover that there are more treasures and pleasures in this world than you thought.
When people suggest being grateful, it’s easy to think that means counting our blessings and just saying thank you for what’s good. When we’re learning to speak the language of letting go, however, we learn to say thanks for everything in our lives, whether we feel grateful or not. That’s how we turn things around.
It’s easy to be thankful for answered prayers, easy to be joyfully grateful when the universe gives us exactly what we want. What’s not so easy is to remember to be grateful when we don’t get what we want.
Sometimes when we pray, we get what we want. Sometimes we get what we need. Accept both answers—the yes’s and the something else’s—with heartfelt gratitude. Then look around and see what your lesson and gift are.
When problems and challenges arise, they force us to examine our ideals, become alert, and often learn something new about others and ourselves. Even our enemies, rivals, and competitors give us something to push against. They help us define who we are and challenge us to become our best. Instead of complaining and grumbling about a problem or circumstance, thank it for being there.
Remember to be grateful. God doesn’t owe us anything. All of it is a gift.
Sometimes we get what we pray for. Sometimes we don’t. Be grateful—force gratitude; fake it if you must—when God answers your furtive prayers by saying no. Take the rejections with a smile. Let God’s “no’s” move you happily down the road. Maybe you’re not being punished, after all. Maybe God is protecting you from yourself.
Don’t get bitter or so involved with feeling blue about not getting what you requested that you miss out on what you did receive. Wants and needs are closely connected. And all our needs, even the ones we’re not completely aware of yet, will be met. Be grateful that God knows more about what we need than we do.
