Quotes About Gratitude

Even as we live with the knowledge that each day might be our last, we don't want to believe it.

In that quality of openness, when a pleasant experience arises for us, neither do we have to lunge at it in desperation, for we do not need it in order to feel good about ourselves. We can say, 'This is the most wonderful gathering of people, I've ever been in. That's nice.' When it's over, we can let that wonderful thing go, without regret, because within ourselves we feel whole, and happy. We understand that we have enough.

Maybe what we really need is to change our relationship to what is, to see who we are with the strength of a generous spirit & a wise heart.

Great fullness of being, which we experience as happiness, can also be described as love. To be undivided and unfragmented, to be completely present, is to love. To pay attention is to love.

Instead of walking around with the feeling that we do not have enough, that there is never enough, that we are not enough, we can recognize that the world is in fact magically providing, with just what it is providing.

Not paying attention keeps us in an endless cycle of wanting.

W]e're challenged daily to act lovingly on our own behalf. Simple gestures of respect—care of the body, rest for the mind, and beauty for the soul in the form of music and art or nature—are all ways of showing ourselves love.

Breathe in the connection to all things, to the beautiful world that is just beyond the window, to the birds I saw in the marshes by the river, to my neighbors and to myself. Breathe out to spread that awareness, to share it, with the little cities nearby and the big ones out in the distance, and all the places in between and beyond. Light pouring into me and light pouring out from me in a grateful relationship with the world.

When we contemplate the miracle of embodied life, we begin to partner with our bodies in a kinder way.

But to take delight in our generosity helps us immeasurably in our spiritual practice.

The manifestation of the free mind is said to be lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

The more we identify and acknowledge moments when we're unable to share in someone else's pleasure and ask ourselves whether another person's happiness truly jeopardizes our own, the more we pave the way for experiencing sympathetic joy

Sympathetic joy is a practice. It takes time and effort to free ourselves of the scarcity story that most of us have learned along the way, the idea that happiness is a competition, and that someone else is grabbing all the joy.

But if people are genuinely happy in their choice of action or lifestyle, we do not need to impose our standards. If they are not harming themselves, if they are not harming others, can we be generous enough to feel joy for them? That is the practice of mudita.

May you never forget what is worth remembering or remember what is best forgotten.

In the middle of a crazy and drunk life, you have to hang onto the good and sober moments tightly.

When a glass sits on a table here, people don't wonder if it's half filled or half empty. They just hope it's good beer.

I always think it's funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during that first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians. So I'm never quite sure why we eat turkey like everybody else. "Hey, Dad," I said. "What do Indians have to be so thankful for?" "We should give thanks that they didn't kill all of us.

When you read a piece of writing that you admire, send a note of thanks to the author.

And if God hadn't wanted us to masturbate, then God wouldn't have given us thumbs. So I thank God for my thumbs.

You know, I said to my sister later at the funeral. I think Mom is telling the truth about losing us. We're never going to know the exact details. But there's too much real pain in this story for it to be a lie. My sister nodded. She agreed. But what did we agree to? Jesus, we as adults were grateful that our mother had probably told us the truth about endangering us as children. How fucked is that?

It is a celebration of the fact that we were adopted for a purpose and that adoption is an experience that has the potential of teaching us some of life's richest and deepest lessons.

The only clothes Amanda has are the ones on her back. (Kyrian) From what I saw, she had no clothes whatsoever on her back. Her front neither. (Nick) One day, Gaitor bait... (Kyrian) Note to self- be nice to woman, keep mouth shut. (Nick)

What are you doing here? (Artemis) I wanted to thank you for what you did tonight, but as I considered that, it dawned on me that you have never once in eleven thousand years done anything for me for free. The sheer fear factor of that realization alone has made me come seeking you. So what gives? (Acheron)