Gratitude in an Ungrateful World by Fran Joyce
If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?
The first answers that come to mind are usually health, family, friends, and financial security. They will always be the best answers.
Is one day enough?
Gratitude helps us think beyond ourselves, so we can connect with others, nature, or with a higher power. It’s a way for us to knowledge the good things in our lives.
Now more than ever, it’s important for all of us to find positives. Sometimes, expectations surrounding the holidays are so high we set ourselves up for disappointment which can lead to feelings of sadness, anxiety, or full-blown depression.
Research suggests that gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, recognize, and appreciate good experiences, improve their health, and build strong relationships.
Start small. Use the notes section of your phone or a journal to find at least one thing to be grateful for each day.
If you are a person who worries, you can be grateful if your worst-case scenario does not happen. Acknowledging this can make way for you to be grateful for the positive things that happen instead.
It’s okay to have a bad day. Being grateful does not mean you have to ignore something that upsets you. Acknowledge it and let it go, so you can make room in your life for positive things.
As you begin to practice gratitude, stop to consider what you can do to help others feel gratitude. Helping others always helps us.
If you need a little help getting started, consider these ten quotes:
“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” Tecumseh
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” John F. Kennedy
“For me, every hour is grace. And I feel gratitude in my heart each time I can meet someone and look at his or her smile.” Elie Wiesel
“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” William Faulkner
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” Voltaire
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. “ William Arthur Ward
“When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree.” Vietnamese Proverb
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” Doris Day
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” Maya Angelou
Sources for this article:
https://www.countryliving.com/life/g28564406/gratitude-quotes/
https://parade.com/937289/parade/thankful-quotes/