an attitude of gratitude

It's Thanksgiving in the United States (Canada celebrated it in October already), so it's a perfect day to talk about gratitude. And notice how the word attitude (with the exception of one letter) is practically embedded in the word gratitude? Fitting really. Gratitude is having an attitude of gratefulness for everything that you have, for everything that is going right in your life. Or wrong even depending on how Zen you happen to be feeling at the moment. A long time ago a wise man said:

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. --MARCUS T. CICERO (c. 106-43 BC, Roman orator and politician)

And, not quite as long ago:

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. --H.U. WESTERMAYER

Enjoy today, whether it's Thanksgiving for you or not, and be grateful for whatever you can.

Comments

[Krissa]

I wrote a comment just now, but it had to do with Native Americans and slaves in relation to Mr. Westermayer's quote and it didn't sound very Thanksgiving-y. I do agree completely with you and Cicero about gratitude. And I like the title of this post. Would be a great title for a book, too!

[have gone vegan]

Would be a great title for a book, too! It is! Well, practically. I forgot, but I just checked and sure enough have a book called "Attitudes of Gratitude", so I guess I wasn't really being original after all, snort. And having just Googled the phrase, I wasn't original AT ALL. Oh well, LOL.

[Krissa]

In the past, Nick was telling me about similar things in the music business. I guess if there's a really good idea in any kind of art/creation/invention/etc., it's going to occur to more than one person and probably most of them will never even know about each other. Great message in the post, though.

[think outside the piggy bank]

It's true! I read somewhere once that almost no great discovery or invention has occurred without it being discovered independently AND simultaneously by more than one person. It's just a matter of who gets the patent first. And I think that's kinda cool. Almost like we're so interconnected that even our ideas aren't completely our own.