Gratitude Quotes To Give Thanks

Last year, we went around the table at our holiday meal to share what we're grateful for. It was such an uplifting conversation. When we finished, Andrew said, "This is so valuable. Why do we only do this once a year?"

Good question! Why is there only one designated day a year we're supposed to give thanks? Why not give thanks at every gathering? Why not start every meal with each person taking a minute to express appreciation for something good that happened that day?

As Walt Whitman said,?"To feel gratitude and not express it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

The best?present?we can give each other is to be?present?to each other. After all, as Jose Ortega y Gasset said,?"Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are."

This year at our holiday gatherings - whether they're in person or online - why not pay attention to the good things that happened this past year?

Even if we're connecting via Zoom or Facetime, we have a choice. We can talk about whether the turkey is dry and what divides us - or we can have a "rising tide raising all involved" discussion about the blessings we are fortunate enough to experience.

And if you're thinking this is "Pollyanna," you're right, it is.

After all, as Esther Hicks points out, "Pollyanna led a very happy life."

You might want to share these quotes as conversation catalysts. Asking people to expand on an insight that resonated can kick-start a meaningful, one-table conversations that helps us appreciate our life and each other.

Gratitude quote #1:?“When you drink the water, remember the well.” – Chinese proverb

Gratitude quote #2:?“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." Thornton Wilder

Gratitude quote #3:?"Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." - G. K. Chesterton

Gratitude quote #4:?“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." - Voltaire

Gratitude quote #5:?“Look at everything as though you are seeing it for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” – Betty Smith

Gratitude quote #6:?“Got no checkbooks, got no banks, sill I'd like to express my thanks. I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night." - Irving Berlin

Gratitude quote #7:?“"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." - Robert Brault

Gratitude quote #8:?“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." Willie Nelson

Gratitude quote #9:?“Gratitude bestows reverence, changing forever how we experience life and the world." - John Milton

Gratitude quote #10:?“What a wonderful life I’ve led! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – Colette

Gratitude quote #11:?“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude." Brene' Brown

Gratitude quote #12:?“Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer." - Maya Angelou

Gratitude quote #13:?"Enough is a feast." - Buddhist proverb

Gratitude quote #14:?“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

Gratitude quote #15:?“When you're thankful for what you have; you end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough." - Oprah Winfrey

Gratitude quote #16:?"The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it." Richard Bach

Gratitude quote #17:?"The heart that gives thanks is happy, for we cannot feel thankful and be unhappy at the same time." - Douglas Wood

Gratitude quote #18:?"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust

Gratitude Quote #19:?“Normal day, let me aware of the treasure you are. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may; for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth . . . or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” – Mary Jean Irion

Gratitude Quote #20:?"Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life." - Rumi

So, do you have a favorite of these quotes? You might want to write it out and post it on your refrigerator where you'll see it every day to keep your gratitude top of mind.

Michael Altschuler says,?"The bad news is time flies. The good news is we're the pilot."?

Expressing thanks every day is a magical way to pilot our life so we feel more reverent, more wealthy in what matters now, not someday.

Appreciating what's right, right here, right now, beats looking back and wishing we can have a do-over.

Today, and every day, wear a cloak of gratitude.

The more grateful we are, the more present we are, and the more appreciative we are of what a gift it is to wake up and having another blessed day come our way

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Want to be thankful on a daily basis? Sam's SOMEDAY is Not a Day in the Week journal .