We can't wait until everything is OK-with us or with the rest of the world-to feel thankful, or we will never experience joy at all.

Spiritual leaders teach that waking up is a process, that it doesn't just happen once and for all, but must occur again and again when we realize we have forgotten the miracle of being alive, and in recognizing our forgetfulness, we wake to the miracle once again. In the moments we are awake to the wonder of simply being alive, gratitude flows, no matter our circumstances.

Whenever we are appreciative, we are filled with a sense of well-being and swept up by the feeling of joy.

I learned that you don't have to be saddled for life with the mental attitudes you adopted in early childhood. All of us are free to change our minds, and as we change our minds, our experiences will also change.

Gratitude is the antidote to bitterness and resentment.

We hold on so tightly that our hands are unavailable to reach out for the happiness we could gain by letting go.

Patience is no small, fell-good personal quality. It is at the heart of diplomacy and civility, lawfulness and civil order. Without it, people can't work together and society can't function at all. With it, we create the possibility of peace between people and between nations.