Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. – Cicero
Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. – Emerson
A few notes and thoughts. Half full or half empty? Start with what you’ve got — not with what you don’t have. We tend to focus on the things we don’t have — scarcity — rather than the things we do — abundance. We take them for granted. Gratitude is all about a conscious appreciation of those things we have, and when we really start to look we will find we have a greater abundance that has been taken for granted. An appreciation and understanding of that abundance, allows us to see opportunities that otherwise would have been missed — leading to even greater abundance. Scarcity is looking a the world purely externally as a zero sum game. By nature we think everything is a zero sum game based on scarcity. A practice of gratitude and abundance allow the external world to be viewed through an internal lens. Typically so many of the challenges, fears, desires are improperly and nakely externally focused. Harvard Medical School, which says gratitude is: “a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives … As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals” . Gratitude allows us to see an win-win game based on abundance. ” Gratitude also allows a gentleness, a compassionate with oneself and others.