Appreciate the Basics

 

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
- Wayne W. Dyer

Our journey into consciousness of wealth begins with the realization
that we have already arrived!
- Michael Bernard Beckwith

Appreciate again and again, freshly and naively,
the basic goods of life, with awe,
pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy,
however stale these experiences may have become to others.
- Abraham Maslow

A Table Grace of Thanksgiving:
We gather today in gratitude for the bounty of the land,
the joyful company around this table,
and all the other blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A List of Gratitudes - a Thanksgiving

Thank You God

Gratitude: Virtue and Joy

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving
    

Appreciate the Commonplace

The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted.
- Michael Beckwith

The invariable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous in the common.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.
- Cicero

Today's affirmation:
I find joy and inspiration in the commonplace
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Commonplace

Simple Pleasures

Beauty is Everywhere
    

Give Thanks - Today

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

Thank you, God, for this good life
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.
- Garrison Keillor

Most people are more skilled at begging God than at thanking God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's Affirmation:
I give thanks for the bounties of this world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Gratitude for THIS Moment

Give Thanks and Celebrate

Thankful and Content

Give Thanks for the Commonplace
    

Walk Your Talk

 

I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece.
I challenge you to join the ranks of those people
who live what they teach, who walk their talk.
- Tony Robbins

Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

Today's affirmation: Today, I will do my best...
and then relax in the knowing that I have done all I could.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Miss Out On Life

Live Every Moment, Joyfully

Progress

Enthusiasm and Passion
        

Thankfulness Makes Life Better

 

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,
but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was,
Thank You, that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart

However much or little you have,
"Thank You" is always a more powerful prayer than, "I need more."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whoever does not regard what he has
as most ample wealth, is unhappy,
though he be master of the world.
- Epictetus

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say "thank you?"
- William Arthur Ward

Further reading: The Power of Gratitude

Gratitude for Small Miracles

Zero-Based Gratitude

Unanswered Prayer
     

Try Looking at Things from a New Perspective

 

Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run...
but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open
that nothing worth our while shall escape us.
- Victor Cherbuliez

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves
to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson

Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.
- Charles Kuralt

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
- John Barrymore

Often, the greatest joy is to be found not in new things,
but in old things seen through new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Life is Beautiful

What we enjoy constitutes our abundance

How To Be Happy In Life
     

No Good Comes From Comparisons

 

People generally complain about only two things:
when they have less than yesterday,
and when they have less than their neighbor.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Happiness in the present is only shattered by comparison with the past.
- Douglas Horton

Expectations Diminish Joy.
- Anonymous

Riches do not exhilarate us so much with their possession
as they torment us with their loss.
- Epicurus

Comparisons are odious.
- Old English Saying
Read more about this...

Further reading: Rejoice for What You Have

We have Already Arrived

Comparison - Cause of Unhappiness

Appreciating Our Lives
   

Answer "Yes" to Yourself

 

As the evening beckons with the promise of tomorrow...

may your gratitude rise up and with strength answer, "yes."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception
to such an extent that it changes the world you see.
- Robert Holden

The more you praise and celebrate your life,
the more there is in life to celebrate.
- Oprah Winfrey

The path to happiness is forgiveness of everyone
and gratitude for everything.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

He is a wise man who does not grieve
for the things which he has not,
but rejoices for those which he has.
- Epictetus

Celebrate! Celebration is an expression of Gratitude.
Gratitude is like the prayer, while
Celebration is the hymn and sacred dance.
Celebration is its own road to happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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

Further reading: Attitude of Gratitude

To Feel Blessed

A List of Gratitudes

Zero-Based Gratitude
    

Appreciate Your Blessings

 

With gratitude, all life appears as a blessing -
without gratitude, all of life
is perceived as a burden.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When you arise in the morning,
give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.
- Tecumseh

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't
come as a result of getting something we don't have,
but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.
- Frederick Koenig

Gratitude Brings Out the Bright Colors of Life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Giving Thanks for Our Food

What do you take for granted?

Celebrating the Small Miracles of Our Lives

My Glass of Life
    

Beauty is a Treasure

 

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

Even from the darkest night, songs of beauty can be born.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Beauty is whatever gives joy.
- Edna St. Vincent Millay

We live in a wonderful world that is
full of beauty, charm and adventure.
There is no end to the adventures that we can have
if only we seek them with our eyes open.
- Jawaharlal Nehru

See beauty in the familiar.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Beauty and Adventure in the Commonplace

Pay Attention to the Natural World

Have Eyes for Beauty
      

A Month of Giving Thanks 2025

 

Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday, as being grateful for everything, especially for the gift of life itself, is at the top of my list of values. Will you join me in a celebration of Gratitude and Thanksgiving for the entire month of November?

[For ME, Thanksgiving is a Celebration of Gratitude for all our Blessings, and independent of the events of 1621 - which is an entirely different subject]

Affirmation:
I commit the whole month of November to expressing gratitude and thanksgiving.

Suppose our gratitude could be zero-based gratitude.
With zero-based gratitude,
we would be grateful for everything we had each day -
regardless of whether it was more or less than yesterday.
With zero-based gratitude, I can be grateful for all the people,
the love, the food, the shelter, the services,
the health, that I am blessed with today,
regardless of what I had yesterday.
With zero-based gratitude,
I can be grateful each day for the gift of life itself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie -- Read about Zero-Based Gratitude

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.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
- Melody Beattie

He who can give thanks for little
will always find he has enough.
- Anonymous

Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter
everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe
that change forever how we experience life and the world.
- John Milton

Further reading: Know that You have been Blessed

Recognizing Our Abundance

The Truly Rich

Gratitude for THIS Moment

My Glass of Life
      

Appreciate Excellence in Others

Appreciation is a wonderful thing.
It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
- Voltaire

The more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater is our own sense of well-being.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life
comes from being happy over the good fortune of others.
- Robert A. Heinlein

Sadly, it is human nature to measure success by comparison with our neighbors.
A consequence of this tendency is the instinct to wish for others to fail
and our own status to therefore appear higher by comparison.

Strive to cheer whenever others succeed
and to avoid viewing your own achievements in comparison to others.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Eight Rules for Living Your Greatest Life

Empathy

Light for Others

Disappointment

The Art of Listening

Offer Comfort
      

Have a Thankful Heart

 

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

When we trust in the natural goodness around us,
we open ourselves for the blessings of life to flow toward us.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children.
- Iroquois traditional

The roots of all goodness lie
in the soil of appreciation for goodness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Blessings flow toward gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Create the world that could be

Know that You have been Blessed

Believe in People; Believe in Yourself

The Power of Your Intention
    

Gratitude <=> Joy

 

There Is Peace In A Life Of Constant Gratitude.
Have Gratitude for the Smallest Blessings,
for the crust of bread and the cool drink of water.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The way to happiness is what I call Zero-Based Gratitude.
Each day be happy and grateful for what you have,
independent of yesterday and of other people.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.
- Neale Donald Walsch

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer,
for it acknowledges the presence of good
wherever you shine the light of your thankful thoughts.
- Alan Cohen

Gratitude is the Path to Joyful Living.
[my phrasing of a widely shared concept]

Today's affirmation:
I give thanks for all of life.
I Find Peace in Gratitude.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Appreciate Your Blessings

Give Thanks for the Commonplace

Praise and Celebrate Your Life
       

Appreciate Every Day the Basic Goods of Life

 

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
- Wayne W. Dyer

Our journey into consciousness of wealth begins with the realization
that we have already arrived!
- Michael Bernard Beckwith

Appreciate again and again, freshly and naively,
the basic goods of life, with awe,
pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy,
however stale these experiences may have become to others.
- Abraham Maslow

A Table Grace of Thanksgiving:
We gather today in gratitude for the bounty of the land,
the joyful company around this table,
and all the other blessings of this life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A List of Gratitudes - a Thanksgiving

Thank You God

Gratitude: Virtue and Joy

Let Each Day be a Thanksgiving
    

Give Thanks for the Commonplace

The enlightened give thanks for what most people take for granted.
- Michael Beckwith

The invariable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous in the common.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A thankful heart is the greatest virtue.
- Cicero

Today's affirmation:
I find joy and inspiration in the commonplace
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: The Commonplace

Simple Pleasures

Beauty is Everywhere
    

Give Thanks Daily

 

I thank you God for this most amazing day,
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and for the blue dream of sky
and for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes.
- e. e. cummings

Thank you, God, for this good life
and forgive us if we do not love it enough.
- Garrison Keillor

Most people are more skilled at begging God than at thanking God.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Today's Affirmation:
I give thanks for the bounties of this world.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Gratitude for THIS Moment

Give Thanks and Celebrate

Thankful and Content

Give Thanks for the Commonplace
    

Make your life a masterpiece

 

I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece.
I challenge you to join the ranks of those people
who live what they teach, who walk their talk.
- Tony Robbins

Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations.
For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
- Henry David Thoreau

Today's affirmation: Today, I will do my best...
and then relax in the knowing that I have done all I could.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Miss Out On Life

Live Every Moment, Joyfully

Progress

Enthusiasm and Passion
        

Thankfulness is a Virtue

 

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,
but the parent of all other virtues.
- Cicero

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was,
Thank You, that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart

However much or little you have,
"Thank You" is always a more powerful prayer than, "I need more."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Whoever does not regard what he has
as most ample wealth, is unhappy,
though he be master of the world.
- Epictetus

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.
Have you used one to say "thank you?"
- William Arthur Ward

Further reading: The Power of Gratitude

Gratitude for Small Miracles

Zero-Based Gratitude

Unanswered Prayer
     

Make the Effort to See Familiar Things with New Eyes

 

Half the joy of life is in little things taken on the run...
but let us keep our hearts young and our eyes open
that nothing worth our while shall escape us.
- Victor Cherbuliez

Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves
to recognize how good things really are.
- Marianne Williamson

Look for joy in your life; it's not always easy to find.
- Charles Kuralt

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
- John Barrymore

Often, the greatest joy is to be found not in new things,
but in old things seen through new eyes.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Life Lessons I Learned From My Cat

Is your glass of life half empty? Or half full?

Life is Beautiful

What we enjoy constitutes our abundance

How To Be Happy In Life