“Gratitude is not a form of passive acceptance or complicity. Rather, it is the capacity to stare doubt, loss, chaos, and despair right in the eye and say, “I am still here.” It is like the mantra of British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking: “While there’s life, there is hope.” Being alive is radical gratitude.”

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/9Fc2ADJ

“The word “Eucharist” is from the Greek eukharistia, meaning “thanksgiving” or “gratitude.” It is a compound term derived from the Greek words eu, for “well,” and kharis, for “favor” or “grace.” Thus, Eucharist, that is, “gratitude,” means “well-favored” or “good grace.””

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/cS0KIfd

“With the morning birdsong, My heart echoes thank you. With the rustling sounds in the kitchen, My heart echoes thank you. With the early noise of the suburbs, My heart echoes thank you. With the awakening words of day, I add my voice and say thank you.”

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/jcz0480

“In the Japanese art of Aikido there is a practice called “soft eyes”—it means to widen one’s periphery to take in more of the world. If a stimulus is introduced to an unprepared person, his eyes narrow and the flight/ fight response takes over. If the same unexpected stimulus comes to someone with “soft eyes,” the natural reflex is transcended and a more authentic response takes its place—such as thinking a new thought.”

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/ibOiPFK

“Gratitude, at its deepest and perhaps most transformative level, is not warm feelings about what we have. Instead, gratitude is the deep ability to embrace the gift of who we are, that we are, that in the multibillion-year history of the universe each one of us has been born, can love, grows in awareness, and has a story. Life is the gift. When that mystery fills our hearts, it overwhelms us and a deep river of emotions flows forth—feelings we barely knew we were capable of holding.”

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/j95OF2E

“I did not grow up in a black church. I grew up in a bunch of white ones. Maybe racial privilege blinded us to gratitude. After all, we deserved good things and success. The American dream was ours. God gave it to us. Saying thank you was polite recognition of that fact.”

— Grateful: The Subversive Practice of Giving Thanks by Diana Butler Bass
http://a.co/1icjbp0