“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust
Here is the audio version of this post. Snoring compliments of Zen Louis Kovner. Thank you so much for listening. I am grateful.
In this month of giving thanks, many of us get inspired to focus on gratitude which is awesome. What is even more awesome is when we learn to bring gratitude into our every day lives. I know I write often about this topic, because it literally saved my life, so yes, I’m a little passionate about it.
Just like any habit or practice, we first have to really want it and see value in it. For me, the incentive was to live. For you, it may be different. No matter the reason, I can tell you that gratitude can be the best medicine.
So how can we incorporate gratitude 365 days a year? My solution is a gratitude list. A simple mental or physical exercise that allows my mind to focus on all the gifts that I have. Whether you make a mental list or keep a journal, try to make one list a day. Try it for a week, then a few weeks, then a month, then 2 months, next thing you know you are in the habit of finding something to be grateful for, even in the darkest of days.
Here are some of my favorite quotes on gratitude. The last one, by Melody Beattie, is tattooed on my left arm, which gives me a daily reminder of why I chose life.
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
Epicurus
“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”
Meister Eckhart
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
John F. Kennedy
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”
Thornton Wilder
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
William Arthur Ward
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.”
Jean Baptiste Massieu
“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.”