For many of us, last year’s holidays looked different than any previous year. In 2021, celebrating may be looking closer to “normal” for some, while it might still seem discouraging for others. Although memories of the past and visions for this year tend to focus initially on activities, traditions, gifts and food, the real joy from the holiday comes from mindfulness—the mindfulness to inspire gratitude, connect with others and spread kindness.
To help set the stage for a heartfelt holiday season, we’ve compiled 18 quotes from authors, speakers and leaders to help us all slow down, take stock in the moment, appreciate what we have and jumpstart a season of gratitude.
Inspire Gratitude
- “Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” Margaret Cousins
- “If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.” Gerald Good
- “Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.” Lionel Hampton
- “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” Meister Eckhart
- “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” Gilbert K. Chesterton
- “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
- “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
- “Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.” Joseph Wood Krutch
- “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” William Arthur Ward
- “The more we express thanks, the more gratitude we feel. The more gratitude we feel, the more we express thanks. It’s circular, and it leads to a happier life.” Steve Goodier
- “Thanksgiving reminds us that no matter what befalls us in life, we can take the charred remnants and we can reconstruct a life unimaginably richer than that from which the shards and pieces fell.” Craig D. Lounsbrough
- “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson
- “Drink and be thankful to the host! What seems insignificant when you have it, is important when you need it.” Franz Grillparzer
- “When you recognize that you will thrive not in spite of your losses and sorrows but because of them…the word for that is healing.” Cheryl Strayed
- “Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.” Alphonse Karr
- “Gratitude is the closest thing to beauty manifested in an emotion.” Mindy Kalin
- “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
- “This a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.” Maya Angelou
Practice Makes Perfect
Gratitude is one of those words that is bandied about. Yet studies show when people strive to deliberately cultivate and inspire gratitude, the benefits reach inward and extend outward. To really experience gratitude requires conscious choice and effort, followed by dedication and practice to make it a habit. You can choose to see all there is to be grateful for in your life and express that gratitude to others to compound the power of the emotion to your loved ones, coworkers, neighbors, and communities. If gratitude is a practice, there’s no better time to start practicing than now. What are you grateful for?
