Psychology
Today...
The
Seven Best Gratitude Quotes
Develop a gratitude practice to open
your heart and rewire your brain
Published on November 23, 2011 by
Melanie A. Greenberg, Ph.D. in The Mindful Self-Express
Gratitude
is an integral part of a
spiritual practice
“For
each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and
friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Experiencing
and expressing gratitude
is an important part of any spiritual practice.
It opens the heart and activates positive
emotion centers in the
brain. Regular
practice of gratitude can
change the way our brain neurons fire into more positive automatic
patterns.
The positive emotions we evoke can soothe distress and broaden our
thinking
patterns so we develop a larger and more expansive view of our lives. Gratitude is an emotion of
connectedness,
which reminds us we are part of a larger universe with all living
things. Below
are some of my favorite quotes about gratitude to help inspire you and
deepen
your thinking about finding an enduring place for gratitude in your own
life.
Gratitude
Quotes
“Let us be grateful to
people who make us
happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” -
Marcel
Proust
“We
can only be said to be alive in
those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” -
Thornton
Wilder
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
At
times our own light goes out and is
rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think
with
deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert
Schweitzer
The
deepest craving of human nature is
the need to be appreciated. WIlliam James
“Be
thankful for what you have; you’ll
end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will
never,
ever have enough.” Oprah Winfrey
He
is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”
-
Epictetus
How
to Bring Gratitude into Your Life
To begin bringing gratitude
into your life,
you can deliberately meditate on all the things in your own life that
help you
or give you pleasure. You
can also write
a gratitude diary, posting pictures and writing about the things you
feel
grateful for each day. The holidays are a great time to express your
gratitude
to friends and family by writing cards and exchanging thoughtful,
personal
gifts. Baking cookies for neighbors or sharing food with the poor are
other
ways to express appreciation for the abundance of food that we have in
this
country. Gratitude can lead to feelings of love, appreciation,
generosity, and
compassion, which further open our hearts and help rewire our brains to
fire in
more positive ways.
Read
this articles and more at
Psychology Today
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