Mamacita says: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude on Thanksgiving, and use it all the days of your life.
Thanksgiving isn’t really just one day, you know. It’s just the one day wherein we are all reminded that EVERY day is a day of thanksgiving in one way or another.
Some people consider our official Thanksgiving Day to be politically incorrect, but I think it’s all in one’s perspective. Don’t think of this day in terms of clueless pilgrims in buckled shoes and dull clothing – which is not correct, by the way; pilgrims were quite colorful in more ways than one – who didn’t know how to plant gardens and were starving to death out of sheer ignorance, and stereotypical Native Americans in loincloths who sighed, put down their scalping tomahawks, and taught the newcomers how to plant corn so they wouldn’t drop dead of starvation. Think of this day as the symbolic Day of Gratitude.
Think back on your life; there was always something to be grateful for, even in the midst of horror, and there still is. There always will be. Thanksgiving Day is a good time to be retrospective.
I hope we have all taught and encouraged our children to be grateful; few things are uglier than a person of any age who takes for granted all the blessings – small, medium, large, and XXlarge – that make up the pattern of our days.
A simple “thank you” can make or break us, sometimes.
Now, get out there and cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude. It’s contagious, you know.
1. God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” –William A. Ward
2. Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. –G.B. Stern
3. If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice. –Meister Eckhart
4. There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude. –Robert Braul
5. Gratitude is the memory of the heart. –Jean Baptiste Massieu
6. When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? –G.K. Chesterton
7. The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you. –John E. Southard
8. If you have lived, take thankfully the past. –John Dryden
9. As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world. –Adabella Radici
10. I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. –G.K. Chesterton
11. You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink. –G.K. Chesterton
12. If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get. –Frank A. Clark
13. The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! –Henry Ward Beecher
14. Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. –Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear
15. Praise the bridge that carried you over. –George Colman
16. If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. –Robert Quillen
17. He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. –Epictetus
18. What a miserable thing life is: you’re living in clover, only the clover isn’t good enough. –Bertolt Brecht
19. 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
20. Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou are not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude.–William Shakespeare (As You Like It)
21. Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.–Brian Tracy
22. Eaten bread is forgotten.–Thomas Fuller
23. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.–William Arthur Ward
24. For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.–Clarence E. Hodges
25. For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful. And more truly for what I have not received.–Storm Jameson
26. Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.–Cicero
27. Gratitude is the memory of the heart.–Massieu
28. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.–Melody Beattie
29. Gratitude takes three forms: a feeling in the heart, an expression in words, and a giving in return.–John Wanamaker
30. Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don’t unravel.–Anonymous
31. If one could only learn to appreciate the little things…
A song that takes you away, for there are those who cannot hear.
The beauty of a sunset, for there are those who cannot see.
The warmth and safety of your home, for there are those who are homeless.
Time spent with good friends for there are those who are lonely.
A walk along the beach for there are those who cannot walk.
The little things are what life is all about.
Search your soul and learn to appreciate.–Shadi Souferian
32. If you never learned the lesson of thankfulness, begin now. Sum up your mercies; see what provision God has made for your happiness, what opportunities for your usefulness, and what advantages for your success.–Ida S. Taylor
33. In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.–Albert Schweitzer
34. Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change our perspective of your day and your life.–Oprah Winfrey
35. No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.–Saint Ambrose
36. No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.–Elie Wiesel
37. None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.–Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
38. Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.–W. T. Purkiser
39. Of all the “attitudes” we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.–Zig Ziglar
40. One can never pay in gratitude; one can pay “in kind” somewhere else in life.–Anne Morrow Lindbergh
41. One of life’s gifts is that each of us, no matter how tired and downtrodden, finds reasons for thankfulness.–J. Robert Maskin
42. Part of growing up spiritually is learning to be grateful for all things, even our difficulties, disappointments, failures and humiliations.–Mike Aquilina
43. Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.–Henry Ward Beecher
44. Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some.–Charles Dickens
45. Seeds of discouragement will not grow in the thankful heart.–Anonymous
46. A sensible thanksgiving for mercies received is a mighty prayer in the Spirit of God. It prevails with Him unspeakably.–John Bunyan
47. Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.–Gertrude B. Stein
48. So often we dwell on the things that seem impossible rather than on the things that are possible. So often we are depressed by what remains to be done and forget to be thankful for all that has been done.–Marian Wright Edelman
49. Somebody saw something in you once – and that is partly why you’re where you are today. Find a way to thank them.–Don Ward
50. Sweet is the breath of vernal shower,
The bee’s collected treasures sweet,
Sweet music’s melting full, but sweeter yet
The still small voice of gratitude.–Thomas Gray
51. There is no better opportunity to receive more than to be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens the windows of opportunity for ideas to flow your way.–Jim Rohn
52. We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.–Sacred ritual chant
53. When eating fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.–Vietnamese proverb
54. When we are grateful for the good we already have, we attract more good into our life. On the other hand, when we are ungrateful, we tend to shut ourselves off from the good we might otherwise experience.–Margaret Stortz
55. . . . .when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present–love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure–the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth. –Sarah Ban Brethnach
56. Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.–Estonian Proverb
57. Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. –W.T. Purkiser
58. We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. –Thornton Wilder
59. Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all. –William Faulkner
60. If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. –Gerald Good
61. Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices. –Thomas Fuller
62. There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance. –Joseph Addison
63. I feel a very unusual sensation – if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. –Benjamin Disraeli
64. There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people. –R.H. Blyth
65. Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart. –Henry Clay
66. A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. — Marcus Tullius Cicero quotes
67. Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed. — Mark Twain
68. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Abraham Lincoln
69. Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive with grace and a grateful heart. — Sarah Ban Breathnach
70. Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. — Garrison Keillor
71. But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine. Thomas Jefferson quotes
72. Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. –Estonian Proverb
73. Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, – a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
— George Herbert
74. The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. — Eric Hoffer
75. Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. — Henry Ward Beecher
76. When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? –George Canning
77. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. –John Fitzgerald Kennedy
78. We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. –Cynthia Ozick
79. Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things. –Horace
80. The grateful person, being still the most severe exacter of himself, not only confesses, but proclaims, his debts. — Robert South
81. Grow flowers of gratitude in the soil of prayer. –Verbena Woods
82. Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors. — François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
83. Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. — Aldous Huxley
84. When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. –Chinese Proverb
85. Thanks are justly due for boons unbought. –Ovid
86. In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. — H.L. Mencken
87. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. — William Arthur Ward
88. Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life. –Robert Louis Stevenson
89. 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. — Albert Schweitzer
90. Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty. — Doris Day
91. Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines. — Leroy (Satchel) Paige
92. Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary. — Margaret Cousins
93. Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns. — Marc Estrin
94. There is as much greatness of mind in acknowledging a good turn, as in doing it. — Seneca
95. What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? –Erma Bombeck
96. Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. –W.J. Cameron
97. Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. — Robert Caspar Lintner
98. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. –Theodore Roosevelt
99. It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast. — W.J. Cameron
100. In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. — Albert Schweitzer
You’re welcome.
Mamacita says: I’m a sucker for a “returning soldier” sentiment. Norman Rockwell knew how to hit us in the heart, and that’s a fact. Some things never change. Even now, in 2012, there are people anxiously awaiting the return of a loved one, and greatly missing those who can’t get leave.
Mamacita says: Sexist though it may sound, it usually takes a woman to fully comprehend what goes on in the kitchen before all that wonderful food appears on the table. I have several male friends who know, too. Painter Doris Lee portrays it beautifully, and some things haven’t changed all that much since a holiday kitchen looked a lot like this one.
Mamacita says: You’d think I didn’t get out much. . . .
10. I am glad and proud to state that I have never received a speeding ticket. For a while, it looked like I’d have to delete this one, as I was pulled over Thursday morning, on my way to school, in the midst of freezing white fog with visibility of pretty much nil. I’d been driving between 15-30 miles per hour as even the stoplights were not remotely visible. I couldn’t turn around and go back home because I couldn’t see any place to turn around in. My headlights barely made out the lines in the highway where the stoplights were; otherwise, I’d have drifted right across the intersection without stopping. When the police car’s lights finally broke through the snow white impenetrable wall behind me, I pulled over into the unknown. The officer told me he’d clocked me at 52 mph, which was a total crock. Being no fool, I did not argue with him, but sat meekly and received my ticket with no comment. To be accused of going 52 – in a construction zone at that – was pretty devastating to someone who knew perfectly well I’d been going well under 30! I had actually decided to go to jail rather than pay an unfair ticket. I’m not kidding. Then, on Saturday morning at 7:45, the phone rang. It was the officer, apologizing for ticketing the wrong car! In the fog, he hadn’t noticed the actual speeder turning off, and since I was the only car on the road that he could see, he assumed it was me! So now I can still state, with absolute honestly: I have never received a speeding ticket.
Mamacita says: This day used to be known as Armistice Day, in honor of the armistice that was signed on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”. This year, 2012, marks the 95rd anniversary of Armistice Day.
Mamacita says: I ramble. Let’s get right to it this time.