Thanksgiving

For those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I'd like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. It's easy at this time of year to be reminded that it's all about GRATITUDE.

I have this gratitude book that I started on 6/2/10, but have not written in since 8/10/11 and it's only about 1/5 completed. Not that I have to write things down to be able to give thanks, but it helps to find things everyday in our everyday lives to appreciate. It's time for me to get back into the habit.

Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture.  ~Kak Sri

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

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 

Quotes

Every one of us is called upon, probably many times, to start a new life. A frightening diagnosis, a marriage, a move, loss of a job or a limb or a loved one, a graduation, bringing a new baby home: it's impossible to think at first how this will all be possible. Eventually, what moves it all forward is the subterranean ebb and flow of being alive among the living.

I don't recall how I found that quote by Barbara Kingslover, in her book High Tide in Tuscon, but it moved me enough to

1. Buy and read the book
2. Send the quote to friends
3. Write to the author
4. Create this blog post about it
5. Add it to my book of quotes

Isn't it funny how some books, people, songs or quotes speak to your soul? They touch you at a level reserved for wonder and awe.

In my journal I keep a list of quotes and favorite passages. Here are some of my favorites:

If we had no impulse towards caution, our curiosities would probably kill us. ~ Gregg Levoy in Callings

Stored within your cells, each one constructed of recycled atoms as old as the earth, is the timeless truth women have always known; all life is sacred, seamless, endless, connected. ~Victoria Moran Living a Charmed Life

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. And you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand. ~ Woodrow Wilson

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What are some of yours?