Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted.

Wherever we may come alive, that is the area in which we are spiritual.

Gratitude is here presented as more than a feeling, a virtue, or an experience; gratitude emerges as an attitude we can freely choose in order to create a better life for ourselves and for others. The Nigerian Hausa put it this way: Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.

By looking up, by raising our eyes above our limited horizon, we are more likely to perceive the blessings hidden in affliction.

Joy is that kind of happiness that does not depend on what happens.

Only gratefulness, in the form of limitless openness for surprise, lays hold of the fullness of life in hope.

Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefullness, and gratefullness is a measure of our aliveness.