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“Teachers affect eternity; who knows where their influence will end?” – Henry F. Emerson Many SerenDestineers tell me they are eternally grateful to an influential teacher who set them on their path. This teacher may have given them a passion … Continue reading
“Happiness is gratitude doubled by wonder.” – G.K. Chesterton
As I interview people around the world to discover what contributing factors have helped them lead a life where the light’s on in their eyes; I keep my antenna up for trends.
What beliefs and behaviors do they have in common?
As you can imagine, having the courage of their convictions – a willingness and readiness to act on their own behalf and in their best interests – is one of them.
Another characteristic is being alert to and capitalzing on coincidences. SerenDestineers understand coincidences aren’t accidents – they’re kismet – their best future meeting them halfway.
However THE most consistent characteristic of SerenDestineers is gratitude.
Every single person I’ve met who has wrapped their life around what they love most and do best feels incredibly fortunate for all that’s right with their world.
It’s like the chicken and the egg.
Do they love their life so much because they have a lot to be grateful for – or do they have a lot to be grateful for because they love their life?
Whatever it is … it’s clear that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a stepping stone to SerenDestiny.
In honor of Thanksgiving, and in honor of this “rising tide that raises all boats” emotion, I’ve collected the 20 best quotes on gratitude.
You might want to print this out and post it where you can see it every day.
You’ve heard the saying “out of sight, out of mind?”
Keeping these quotes “in sight, in mind” can help you keep gratitude top of mind so you stay alert to all that’s right with your world – the hallmark of every SerenDestineer.
Gratitude quote #1: “When you drink the water, remember the well.” – Chinese proverb
Gratitude quote #2: “When I started counting my blessings; my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
Gratitude quote #3: “Make yourself a blessing to someone. Your kind smile or pat on the back just might pull someone back from the edge.” – Carmelia Elliott
Gratitude quote #4: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Ward
Gratitude quote #5: “If the only prayer you ever said was ‘Thank you,’ that would be enough.” – Meister Ekhart
Gratitude quote #6: “Look at everything as though you were seeing it for the first or last time. Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” – Betty Smith
Gratitude quote #7: “As we express our gratitude, may we never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy
Gratitude quote #8: “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘Thank you?’” – William Arthur Ward
Gratitude quote #9: “I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping green spirits of trees, for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e. e. cummings
Gratitude quote #10: “For lack of attention and appreciation; a thousand forms of loveliness elude us every day.” – Evelyn Underhill
Gratitude quote #11: “When you give and carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, ‘Yes, this is how I ought to feel.’” – Rabbi Harold Kushner
Gratitude quote #12: “One of the very first things I figured out about life is that it’s better to be a grateful person than a grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you’re grateful, you have more fun.” —Barbara Kingsolver
Gratitude quote #13: “Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” -Garrison Keillor
Gratitude quote #14: “What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.” – Colette
Gratitude quote #15: “Unless people like you care a whole lot, things aren’t going to get better, they’re not!” – Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Gratitude quote #16: “Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset
Gratitude quote #17: “What if you gave someone a gift and they didn’t thank you for it. Would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. If you want to attract more blessings, you must appreciate the ones you already have.” – Ralph Marston
Gratitude quote #18: “I didn’t realize all that was going on and never noticed. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.” – Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town
Gratitude quote #19: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before I open a book, and before sketching, painting, swimming, walking, playing, dancing and before I dip the pen in the ink.” – G. K Chesterton
Gratitude quote #20:
“Normal day, let me aware of the treasure you are.
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
Let me hold you while I may; for it may not always be so.
One day I shall dig my nails into the earth . . . or raise my hands to the sky
and want, more than all the world, your return.” – Mary Jean Iron
As Oprah Winfrey said, “If you’re grateful for what you have; you’ll end up with even more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have; you’ll never have enough.”
Well said. Do you want a life where the light’s on in your eyes? Look around and count your many blessings. It’s the first step to attracting more …
“When something unexpectedly wonderful happens, don’t look a gift source in the mouth. Just say thank you and receive, receive, receive.” – Sam Horn
Every SerenDestineer I’ve interviewed feels grateful for the synchronistic coincidences – the lucky breaks – that have come their way.
They realize these occurrences didn’t have to happen; they just did.
When good fortune “falls in your life’s lap,” find a way to honor it.
This was delightfully demonstrated while flying to a speaking engagement recently. I was seriously sleep-deprived because I’d been working around the clock with consults and prepping for this global conference.
All I wanted to do was sleep. All the woman next to me wanted to do was talk.
Normally I’d put on my noise reduction headphones and grab some zzzz’s and privacy, however my gut kept telling me, “Talk to this woman” . . . so I did.
After swapping “What do you do’s?” she asked me to define SerenDestiny.
I told her, “SerenDestiny is doing what puts the lights on in our eyes.”
She asked, “How do you do that?” so I talked about harmonic hunches – those instincts that alert us when something’s about to go right – and how we meet our fate in the middle when we act on those intutive nudges.
My seatmate, Alice, got so excited, she started hopping up and down in her seat. “Oooh. Oooh. “I’m a musician. Do you know what that’s called in music?”
“Please tell me.”
“When two notes play in perfect harmony, they create a new third note that’s called a Tartini Tone.”
Now it was my turn to get excited.
“That’s it. That’s exactly what happens when we connect with someone who’s operating on the same wave length. That harmonic coming together creates a new third entity . . . a vibrationally-aligned venture or relationship that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.”
We continued our conversation and I vowed to send her a signed copy of SerenDestiny in appreciation for her insightful contribution.
As soon as we landed, I looked up “Tartini Tone” in Wikipedia and discovered it was named after Giuseppe Tartini. He was the first one to study this “sum tone” or “combination tone” that is created when two tones vibratie in harmony.
I’m so grateful for that “coincidental” meeting with Alice as it’s a sublime example of how we set our SerenDestiny in motion when we act on our intuition.
I could have put on my headphones and ignored her, but instead I heeded that hunch that told me, “Talk to this woman.”
The result? A SerenTini: a harmonious meeting that produced a mutually-rewarding insight that moved my work forward – for good.
I’ve always loved Mesiter Ekhart’s insight, “If the only prayer we ever said was ‘thank you,’ that would be enough” . . . however I’ve come to believe that saying “Thank you” for these uncanny coincidences isn’t enough.
From now on, if you want to lead the life you’re meant to live, connect the dots of coincidences and follow up with congruent people who “happen” to cross your path. Doing this can create a mutually-beneficial collaboration that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. From now on . . .
A = Stay Alert for against-the-odds occurrences. They are actually Stepping Stones that will set your SerenDestiny in motion.
A = Appreciate “lucky breaks” that connect you with congruent individuals who have your “front. They’re sent to facilitate your best future.
A = Act on harmonic hunches: they will move your life forward – for good.
"Sam Horn, Author and keynote speaker on SerenDestiny"
Set SerenDestiny in Motion 