Often in life, we get so caught up in the rat race that we forget to slow down, breathe, and express our thanks for everything we’ve been blessed with. No matter if your life looks a little bleak at times, remember that the culmination of events during your existence on this planet led you to this very moment, and therefore, you should feel grateful for both the hardships and the triumphs you’ve faced. Gratitude helps us keep our heads above the water, and keep things in perspective when our lives spiral out of control.
Not to mention, being grateful comes with perks. It keeps our health in check, according to the NIH. Expressing gratitude can lower stress levels, boost the immune system, make us more resilient, and even contribute to a more positive mindset.
When life begins to test you and the last thing you feel like doing is showing gratitude, you might want to keep these quotes in mind.
Here are 15 quotes that will make you grateful again:
1. “Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” – Epicurus
3. “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
4. “Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” – Eckhart Tolle
5. “The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. It has enough lush forests, flowered fields, and sandy beaches. It has plenty of stars and the promise of a new sunrise and sunset every day. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it.” – Michael Josephson
6. “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
7. “This a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou
8. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – Melody Beattie
9. “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” – Zig Ziglar
10. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder
11. “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
12. “In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it’s wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
13. “Gratitude goes beyond the ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
14. “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero
15. “With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” – Wayne Dyer
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