It’s been one of those days today. I couldn’t string together two coherent sentences if I tried. So I am very grateful that others, older and wiser than I have written so much about gratitude that I can borrow a few of their words to share with you today.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes about gratitude.

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~Johannes A. Gaertner

The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated. ~William James

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart

When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears ~Anthony Robbins

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Author Unknown

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 is the memory of the heart. ~French Proverb

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” ~William A. Ward

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. Epictetus

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Thanks for being here! Don’t forget to share your favorite gratitude quotes in the comments!

Photo Credit: Burningwell.org

I am grateful to wake up and see the sunrise.

While it seems that we should never lack for things to be grateful for, sometimes we’re so focused on the fact that nothing really big happened in our day that we forget that we have a whole host of little things to be grateful for.

What do I mean by little things? Here are a few ideas for the next time you have trouble coming up with something to be grateful for:

• the food you eat
• the clothes you wear
• a roof over your head
• your friends and family
• your pets
• your internet connection
• having cash in your pocket
• waking up in the morning

It’s so easy to take for granted the things that are around us every day. That old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt” rings true in many ways. Don’t take that the wrong way. I’m certainly not implying that you are contemptuous of any of the things I’ve listed here.

What I am suggesting is that sometimes we get so caught up in the whole culture of wanting more, that we forget to stop and appreciate everything we already have in our lives.

Being grateful is such an important part of life. Recent studies have even convinced the scientists that having an “attitude of gratitude” can have a positive effect on health and well-being. It doesn’t matter what, or who, you are grateful for — large or small, it’s the feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for what you already have that gets the Universe sending more of the good stuff your way.

So, what little thing are you grateful for today? Feel free to share in the comments below.

I’m grateful for you being here!

Who knew that choosing one movie to start the week with would be so hard? I rarely spend time surfing You Tube so when I decided to do a Monday Movie feature and pick one video to start the week in a calm and relaxing way, I had no idea how many videos I’d end up going through to find the one that felt just right to post.

Enjoy!