What is Gratitude?
Mar 5th, 2010 by Coffee Lover
Personally, I think that many people don’t really understand What gratitude really is.
How many times have we heard things like “He’s not grateful for the money I gave him!” or “She’s not grateful for this or that that I have done for them!”?
First of all, we have no way of knowing the gratitude that the receiver feels in these situations, but I can tell you this much, if you are making statements like the ones above, you are not giving freely or with an open heart!
Some people have a hard time expressing gratitude outwardly.
Sometimes all you will receive in return is a simple thank you when inside the recipient of your good deed is welling up and ready to burst into tears of gratitude.
We are trained to hold our emotions in, including the ones of gratitude!
When you give a gift, be thankful that you can!
When you give of yourself don’t look for anything in return.
Be satisfied in knowing that you have done the right thing, that your blessing has helped another and you will be blessed in return, maybe not the way you expect it, but you will be.
Gratitude comes from within, it is an appreciation of all that is good and welcome in our lives. Gratitude is expressed when we openly give thanks for those things.
When someone does something for us we are trained to say, “Thank you”, but how often do we really feel the thank you that we are giving?
Think back to a time when you were just so overwhelmed with something someone had done for you and you just had to blurt out a thank you.
That feeling of thanks, of gratitude, could not be contained.
If you were to stop and feel the thank you each time you gave it, you would be living in gratitude.
If you were to stop and feel how much you love and enjoy any little thing in your life, you would be living in gratitude.
Some people think that gratitude has to go deeper than giving thanks for the “things” in our lives and be more spiritual.
I say that every little thing in your life that gives you even the slightest bit of joy, every little thing that makes your day a little easier is worthy of true gratitude.
True gratitude is spiritual and fills the heart with warmth and joy!
When you can stop and say, “I really do love my coffee pot! It brews me a wonderful cup of coffee and I enjoy every sip! If it wasn’t for that coffee pot I may not have such a great cup of coffee!”, and truly feel the love and appreciation for the coffee pot, the coffee beverage and even the cup you are holding, to feel the joy that those things bring into your life, that my dear friends, that is feeling gratitude!
Mary Angela
http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/what-is-gratitude-730435.html
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What role does gratitude play in your life?
In honor of Thanksgiving, what benefit do you see from an attitude of gratitude?
It’s been a tough year out in the world this past year for many, how do you stay in gratitude?
How has this helped you thru the rough times?
Thanks for answering!
Many Blessings!
It adds to your value or worth. It is a virtue which is good to adopt in life.
References :
0wn
It plays a huge role. The benefit is peace. I choose to be grateful for what I have.
If you look around you will see many others that are worse off than you are.
No matter what point you’re at, there is always someone worse off.
"I cried because I had no shoes, till I met a man who had no feet" (still holds true today.) Be grateful for what you have, not what you don’t have.
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i love that word, gratitude
i love the feeling of being grateful and appreciative
its almost indescribable, the way it feels to be filled with such gratitude
right now, im in a place where its easier to fret than feel grateful
i keep reminding myself((almost on the hour)) that im ALWAYS taken care of and provided for
no matter what my needs …. ALWAYS met
usually in the nick of time, cause we all know that OUR timing is more "instant gratification" ((smiles))
thank you just be
just reading and answering this post of yours
helped to remind me that everythinig really is ok
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Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
::: Henry Ward Beecher
I just read this. I’ve never considered this thought before, but it makes sense. Gratitude for everything, "the good (first), the bad and (even) the ugly" is what has kept me growing, leaning and living in a year where I have had many challenges. As I have been thinking of it, in a strange way I am especially grateful for these challenges which only a few months ago I was cursing; these have taught me much, perhaps most, about myself.. As I progress further along on my path, I have been more and more grateful each day; especially within the past several weeks, almost like a flower blossoming. It’s quite freaky really; like freedom I did not know existed within me. It is by being grateful for all that I have been learning; …unconditional love …and becoming more open to everything that I experience and everyone that I meet along the way.
Having gratitude is teaching me more than I can describe here, but the one thing that it is teaching me most is to live in the moment with love and appreciation. It is through this that all else follows and I am so grateful for the growth that I have been undergoing because of this.
Gratitude is essential to allow one to just be in the moment with love and appreciation. In a way, it almost feels like being touched; in a state of grace; as it is with gratitude that one feels the love of the all and brings us closer to God.
Since I can’t possibly list all that I am grateful for here, let me just begin by saying that I am so very blessed and grateful for the contacts I have in R&S, like you, who have been so wonderful in helping me along on my path.
Here are a few other quotes, they are much better at expressing what I am feeling:
"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
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful."
::: Buddha
"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude."
:::: Denis Waitley
“When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears”
::: Anthony Robbins
::: “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
::: Lionel Hampton
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
::: unknown
Happy Thanksgiving!!
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I like this…
..
Albert Schweitzer:
To educate yourself for the feeling of gratitude means to take nothing for granted, but to always seek out and value the kind that will stand behind the action. Nothing that is done for you is a matter of course. Everything originates in a will for the good, which is directed at you. Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.
I am grateful for my family and for being able to do many things. This helps me through the rough times by showing me that if we have food, shelter and love we are doing well.
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It has helped me to realize my position in the scheme of things and made me accept things as they come as grace of God.
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Many Blessings upon you too!
Gratitude plays a huge role in my life. I am naturally a very grateful person.
But how come people are not that grateful to me?
I do not expect anything, I am just observing, that’s all.
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sc
It is very important to be able to have gratitude. Even for the slightest gestures, the slightest deeds of kindness. Gratitude is the sugar of life. It sweetens our lives when everything falls apart.
It is important to keep a journal of gratitudes. So that even in the middle of terrible events, we can mark down on our Journal: Thank you Brother Sun for shining upon us today; Thank you, Sister Rain for giving us some relief, or for watering the plants, washing my car, etc… Thank you, Brother wind for cooling the atmosphere. Thank you, my cat, for staying with me unconditionally.
That is what gratitude can do even for someone who is completely forlorn, abandoned.
Thanksgiving Day is a great opportunity to become grateful or to have gratitude if only for one day.
Many Blessings to you too!
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MK
Gratitude is just below Love in my book. I think gratitude, like Love, is very important for the soul.
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It brings me into communion with my only mistress, my most silent moment. It unleashes the belief in me that Jesus required in those for whom he performed mighty works. It breaks down biological neural webs in the brain that inasmuch lead to "demonic" possession. I do not find it as hard as it once was to stay in gratitude, perhaps it truly is a blossom as one answer said. I would hope this is so rather than it being a sacrifice in between ‘good’ times. Most of all, gratitude seems for me to have become or always was the grain in the wood of my rudder.
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ello Just Be, xx
*lots of good answers
frae everyone ….*
i find love and gratitude
shines a light-supreme in
all of us & sweetens the lives
of all our brothers and sisters.
( Thank you for ye loving post )
*Love-Sparkles-n-Blessings t’ye*
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it brings a smile to my face…
does that count?
i agree with Skye… oh what a sweetheart she is and i am grateful for her contributions and the contributions of others here in this forum. it is fun reading your replies…
i hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving…
Alhamdulillah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LiyE8-MokY&feature=fvw
God Bless us all everyone…
xx
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While I feel my opinion is what you seek, I would rather share what a search of your question turns up… These sites are filled with some powerful messages.
The more that I’m grateful for what I have, the more I can appreciate life in the present moment. The more I live in the present moment, the greater I can build the stepping stones for a great future. I’ve also found that by having an attitude of gratitude; that I’m more focused on the solutions, than the problems. So, it’s important to remember the power of gratitude. http://www.squidoo.com/Having-An-Attitude-of-Gratitude-Will-Change-Your-Life-Forever
************
The Benefits of Gratitude Is A Life Of Blessings http://www.law-of-abundance-living.com/attitude-of-gratitude.html
An attitude of gratitude and words of thanks are just ways to show appreaciation for what you possess, and all the blessings you have received. The more gratitude you show for your blessings–the more the power of gratitude is expressed.
But the power of gratitude, and the power of the law of gratitude, is like all the other universal laws, in order to get results… you have to conform. This simply means… whatever you impress on your subconscious mind–will be expressed in reality.
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Giving Thanks – 5 Ways to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=giving_thanks_5_ways_to_develop_an_attitude_of_gratitude
Keep a Gratitude Journal – It is easy to list all that didn’t go our way each day but it can be just as easy to list what did. Keeping a journal that allows you to list 5 things daily that you are grateful for helps maintain a daily focus on all that is good in your life. Entering a quick entry before bed provides an opportunity to end the day on a positive note no matter what challenges you faced along the way. Focusing daily on all that you have and did that was right, good, positive and encouraging keeps the spotlight on the benefits of your goals but also on seeing the good in each day and each person in your life as well.
Use your abilities to help others – Whether you have been a Boy Scout or not, we can all commit to help other people at all times. Each of us has a unique set of gifts and talents that someone else could benefit from when we use them to help. There are many ways you can be helpful and use your abilities in a formal way. Perhaps you have a larger amount of time to give and could get involved in a longer term commitment such as helping build homes with your local Habitat for Humanity or mentoring a child through Big Brothers Big Sisters. However, if you don’t have that kind of time to commit, there are plenty of small things that can make a big difference in your life as well as the life of someone else. I’m sure there is someone in your neighborhood or community that needs some help raking leaves this fall or someone that could use a hand hauling groceries to their car. I’m sure if you think about what you enjoy doing and what your abilities are, you can think of simple ways to make a difference in the life of someone else by taking a little time to help and as you do, be sure to be grateful for the ability and health to do it.
Give up negative self-talk – Self-talk is the dialogue that we have in our heads as we think and process about situations we encounter throughout our day. Sometimes that self-talk even comes out in how we talk with others. It can make you come off looking conceded if you are a teenage girl that goes around telling everyone that you know you look good. However, for most of us, especially if there are things about ourselves or our day that we don’t like, the self deprecating things come out that others would never think if we didn’t say them out loud. Comments such as "I know I look horrible today, I knew I shouldn’t wear this outfit," or "I just shouldn’t talk because I know I sound stupid." Whether you say negative things aloud or just think them doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you are reinforcing negative thoughts and ideas about yourself. You can change this pattern but you have to realize you are doing it and make a conscious choice to stop beating yourself up.
Focus less on the lives and activities of others – When we focus on the success of others, many times we diminish our own success. If our friend has lost 5 pounds and we have lost 3, we quickly diminish our success in favor of theirs. The good in someone else’s life should not diminish the good in our own and won’t unless we allow it to. It is only a small step from admiration to jealousy when we focus on the new job promotion our brother got or the new car our neighbor is now driving especially when we are comparing it to our own situation. By focusing less on others, we are better able to keep our eyes on our prize and the road we have already traveled including the rocks, hills, and valleys we have crossed along the way.
Say Thank You – We teach our children to say thank you but how good are we at it ourselves. Saying thank you, especially when someone serves you, can go a very long way to making your day better as well as the person you are thanking. The person that takes your order and brings your food is serving you and deserves your thanks. The person holding the door for you is serving you and deserves your thanks. Those seem easy enough to remember to offer thanks for but what about the person who serves you with encouragement or support. Do we remember to thank them for their help and assistance? Those two simple words can go a long way to showing your gratitude to the service of others and when given freely, can be very freeing as well.
ME!
.
References :
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Unhappy People Tend To Draw More Unhappiness
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"Are you blind? Does the sun rise and fall without your witness?
No. You can see … and the hundred million receptors I have placed in your eyes enable you to enjoy the magic of a leaf, a snowflake, a pond, an eagle, a child, a cloud, a star, a rose, a rainbow … and the look of love. Count one blessing.
Are you deaf? Can a baby laugh or cry without your attention?
No. You can hear … and the twenty-four thousand fibers I have built in each of your ears vibrate to the wind in the trees, the tides on the rocks, the majesty of an opera, a robin’s plea, children at play … and the words I love you. Count another blessing.
Are you mute? Do your lips move and bring forth only spittle?
No. You can speak … as can no other of my creatures, and your words can calm the angry, uplift the despondent, goad the quitter, cheer the unhappy, warm the lonely, praise the worthy, encourage the defeated, teach the ignorant … and say I love you. Count another blessing.
Are you paralyzed? Does your helpless form despoil the land?
No. You can move. You are not a tree condemned to a small plot while the wind and world abuses you. You can stretch and run and dance and work, for within you I have designed five hundred muscles, two hundred bones, and seven miles of nerve fiber all synchronized by me to do your bidding. Count another blessing.
Are you unloved and unloving? Does loneliness engulf you, night and day?
No. No more. For now you know love’s secret, that to receive love it must be given with no thought of its return. To love for fulfillment, satisfaction, or pride is no love. Love is a gift on which no return is demanded. Now you know that to love unselfishly is its own reward. And even should love not be returned it is not lost, for love not reciprocated will flow back to you and soften and purify your heart. Count another blessing. Count twice.
Is your heart stricken? Does it leak and strain to maintain your life?
No. Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating, hour after hour, day and night, thirty-six million beats each year, year after year, asleep or awake, pumping your blood through more than sixty thousand miles of veins, arteries, and tubing … pumping more than six hundred thousand gallons each year. Man has never created such a machine. Count another blessing.
Are you diseased of skin? Do people turn in horror when you approach?
No. Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. In time all steels will tarnish and rust, but not your skin. Eventually the strongest of metals will wear, with use, but not that layer that I have constructed around you. Constantly it renews itself, old cells replaced by new, just as the old you is now replaced by the new. Count another blessing.
Are your lungs befouled? Does your breath of life struggle to enter your body?
No. Your portholes to life support you even in the vilest of environments of your own making, and they labor always to filter life-giving oxygen through six hundred million pockets of folded flesh while they rid your body of gaseous wastes. Count another blessing.
Is your blood poisoned? Is it diluted with water and pus?
No. Within your five quarts of blood are twenty-two trillion blood cells and within each cell are millions of molecules and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than ten million times each second. Each second, two million of your blood cells die to be replaced by two million more in a resurrection that has continued since your first birth. As it has always been inside, so now it is on your outside. Count another blessing.
Are you feeble of mind? Can you no longer think for yourself?
No. Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe. I know. Within its three pounds are thirteen billion nerve cells, more than three times as many cells as there are people on your earth. To help you file away every perception, every sound, every taste, every smell, every action you have experienced since the day of your birth, I have implanted, within your cells, more than one thousand billion billion protein molecules. Every incident in your life is there waiting only your recall. And, to assist your brain in the control of your body I have dispersed, throughout your form, four million pain-sensitive structures, five hundred thousand touch detectors, and more than two hundred thousand temperature detectors. No nation’s gold is better protected than you. None of your ancient wonders are greater than you.
You are my finest creation.
Within you is enough atomic energy to destroy any of the world’s great cities … and rebuild it.
Are you poor? Is there no gold or silver in your purse?
No. You are rich! Together we have just counted your wealth. Study the list. Count them again. Tally your assets!
Why have you betrayed yourself? Why have you cried that all the blessings of humanity were removed from you? Why did you deceive yourself that you were powerless to change your life? Are you without talent, senses, abilities, pleasures, instincts, sensations, and pride? Are you without hope? Why do you cringe in the shadows, a giant defeated, awaiting only sympathetic transport into the welcome void and dampness of hell?
You have so much. Your blessings overflow your cup … and you have been unmindful of them, like a child spoiled in luxury, since I have bestowed them upon you with generosity and regularity.
Answer me.
Answer yourself.
What rich man, old and sick, feeble and helpless, would not exchange all the gold in his vault for the blessings you have treated so lightly.
Know then the first secret to happiness and success – that you possess, even now, every blessing necessary to achieve great glory. They are your treasure, your tools with which to build, starting today, the foundation for a new and better life.
Therefore, I say unto you, count your blessings and know that you already are my greatest creation. This is the first law you must obey in order to perform the greatest miracle in the world, the return of your humanity from living death.
And be grateful for your lessons learned in poverty. For he is not poor who has little; only he that desires much … and true security lies not in the things one has but in the things one can do without.
Where are the handicaps that produced your failure? They existed only in your mind.
Count your blessings."
References :
http://www.wowzone.com/godmemo.htm
For me gratitude brings peace, by being thankful of where I am and my circumstances (good or ill) I can understand that things work out for the best. I think about all the bad things that have happened to me in my life and with shock I realize that I wouldn’t change even one of them, they all are part of me. I came to this life to experience and I can’t help being grateful if I take the time to think about it at all, and every time I do I am overcome by inner peace.
Thank you for asking this question.
/.\
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"Life is gratitude, expressing itself."
Gratitude must be allowed to permeate all aspects of ones life.
This allows one to experience the fullness of life.
This is the true purpose and duty within life.
Salaams,
References :
a small brother….
Gratitude plays a huge role in my life. I make sure to be thankful every single day, for every thing I have. I give thanks in advance for the dreams I dream about. I give thanks for the people I meet everyday, and the endless possibilities in each day. I am thankful for oppotunities to help others, I am grateful to give what I can to help in any way I can.
By being on this giving and gratitude frequency of emotion, I am also recieving all I could ever ask for. I always have everything I need, and while life can’t always be peachy, I never, ever forget to be thankful.
Blessings on this Thanksgiving!
~Amanda~
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it is important
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Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.
Lionel Hampton
A man’s indebtedness is not virtue; his repayment is. Virtue begins when he dedicates himself actively to the job of gratitude.
Ruth Benedict
When has a man paid his debt to the society whom has given to him love, education and opportunity to live and be.
What appreciation is sufficient while Love is learned through appreciation? How wonderfully small I am.
How wondrous that Love was given to me. How wonderful to appreciate and learn to love and there give love to others, that cherished gift I was given.
This is not debt. but opportunity. This is not payment, it is yet another gift, the knowing of love.
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None.
besides me.
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