...our happiness hinges not on good luck; it hinges on peace of heart.

"The root of joy is gratefulness."

Day and night gifts keep pelting down on us. If we were aware of this, gratefulness would overwhelm us. But we go through life in a daze. A power failure makes us aware of what a gift electricity is; a sprained ankle lets us appreciate walking as a gift, a sleepless night, sleep. How much we are missing in life by noticing gifts only when we are suddenly deprived of them.

If you learn to respond as if it’s the first day in your life and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest. It may be wholeheartedness. You are so exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness. There's a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you're doing.

Through people that I did know or through things that I did touch, I am connected with everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. Everything hangs together with everything.

What brings fulfillment is gratefulness, the simple response of our heart to this life in all its fullness.