Emotions

Gratitude Helps Heal

Thankfulness quotes

As may be apparent from articles such as Man curing himself of a terrible illness with a simple one-line statement of gratitude, Positive Feelings May Be Key To Effective Cancer Cure, Developing an Attitude Conducive to Healing, DNA experiments prove direct influence of feelings on DNA activity and The Impact of Positive Emotion on Survival, gratitude (together with love and forgiveness) may be an essential attitude to cultivate — in spite of appearances — to further a person’s healing of cancer and other dis-ease, peace of mind and spiritual progress.

In this context, it may be helpful to keep a gratitude journal in which one notes each evening for instance five things, happenings or people for which one is grateful that day — while remembering to include the so-called simple things, those we so easily take for granted. One may also simply content oneself to think of such “assets” before falling asleep...

Gratitude is one of the tools and attitudes to nurture (in fact perhaps the most important one) that contribute to keeping one’s mind and thus life on a positive track.

When one is in a negative spiral, reminding oneself of what is RIGHT in one's life — or reflecting on how whatever currently seems so negative could actually be to one's ultimate benefit — not only feels good and momentarily breaks the cycle of negative thinking but also helps steer us towards more positive circumstances (if we are to believe — and in my view, there are convincing grounds to do so — the numerous philosophers, thinkers and observers of life who maintain that "as a man thinketh", so he is.... compare Healing Cancer & Your Mind).

In fact, there are former "cancer patients" who are convinced that "cancer is the best thing that ever happened to them" because it helped setting them on a new and better path than they had been on before (see Inspirational Quotes for Cancer Patients).

Here are Gratitude Quotes to further inspire you.

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted — a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.
Rabbi Harold Kushner

Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.
Alfred Painter

Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.
Albert Schweitzer

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Cicero

Gratitude is heaven itself.
William Blake

A single grateful thought toward heaven is the most complete prayer.
Gotthold Lessing

Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleases me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.
George Herbert

(Some people) have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.
A.H. Maslow

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.
Gladys Berthe Stern

God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.
Izaak Walton

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum

I remember those happy days and often wish I could speak into the ears of the dead the gratitude which was due to them in life and so ill-returned.
Gwyn Thomas

If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart

Find the good and praise it.
Alex Haley

Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.
The Hausa of Nigeria

They are not poor that have little, but they that desire much. The richest man, whatever his lot, is the one who's content with his lot.
Dutch Proverb

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
Seneca

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
Henry Ward Beecher

What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it — would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.
Ralph Marston

A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
Henry Ward Beecher

Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.
Christiane Northrup

Love wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise — then you will discover the fullness of your life.
Brother David Steindl-Rast

Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road.
John Henry Jowett

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Happiness is itself a kind of gratitude.
Joseph Wood Krutch

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.
Denis Waitely

If you can't be thankful for what you receive, be thankful for what you escape.
Unknown

Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.
Marcus Aurelius

You will not have that for which you ask, nor can you have anything you want. This is because your very request is a statement of lack, and your saying you want a thing only works to produce that precise experience — wanting — in your reality.

The correct prayer is therefore never a prayer of supplication but a prayer of gratitude. When you thank God in advance for that which you choose to experience in your reality, you, in effect, acknowledge that it is there... in effect. Thankfulness is thus the most powerful statement to God; an affirmation that even before you ask, I have answered.

Therefore, never supplicate. Appreciate.
Neale Donald Walsch in Conversations With God, Book I

Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.
Sara Ban Breathnach

Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.
Estonian proverb

A thankful person is thankful under all circumstances. A complaining soul complains even if he lives in paradise.
Baha'u'llah

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
Henry Miller

Do you speak of prosperity, joy, and abundance or do you speak of pain, problems, and woes? You may think that if you told everyone how abundant your life is when it isn't you'd be lying — yet I will say if you tell everyone how abundant your life is, very shortly you will be telling the truth!

Watch your words and energy as you move through the day. The instant you notice that your energy is dropping in any way, that doubts are creeping into your mind, that you are feeling bad about who you are — stop! Take a deep breath and look inward for a higher image.
Orin through Sanaya Roman in Personal Power through Awareness

Be in an "attitude of gratitude" and you will feel yourself blessed beyond counting.
operationterra.com

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say 'thank you'?
William Arthur Ward

Jim Hicks offers the concept that if you decide, just for now, that there is nothing to fix but only life to savor, you can transform your reality. And he is right.

What if you simply stopped right now, right here, right in the moment, and chose to let go of everything that needs fixing (your husband, your wife, your children, your parents, your finances, your health, your shadow, your inner child, your past, your future) and just savored this precise moment — and this one — and this one? Why not stop reading for a few minutes and simply cherish? Cherish what? Cherish All That Is, everything, whatever comes up.
www.inwardjourney.com

Our first order of business must be to stay positive. To entertain only positive possibilities. To imagine only affirmative alternatives. To surround ourselves with wholly uplifting, life-affirming people and influences. To align ourselves solely with the greater good so that our actions will be born of only the finest of our best intentions.
www.DonnaHenes.net

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens

We never cherish what we've got until the day it's gone.
Dean Fraser

…grievances are poisons that prevent you from connecting with love and wholeness. They separate you from your loved ones, from yourself and from your true, divine nature. As long as you hold onto them, grievances will bind you to a painful cycle of negativity and suffering, and you will feel alone.
www.Selacia.com

Two men look out from the same prison window; one sees the bars and the other sees the stars.
Frederick Langbridge

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows.
Helen Keller, US-American Blind & Deaf Author

Fear less, cherish more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, listen more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.
Swedish Proverb

Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
John Petit-Senn

Realize that, when you dwell on what is lacking or seems insurmountable, you pour energy into the negative side producing more and more of what you feel you do not want.

The energy necessary to produce a different pattern lies in the acceptance and enjoyment of the present moment. Instead of keeping your attention on your pattern of lack, look instead at the richness of what already exists and appreciate the beauty of what has been designed.

You believe you lack motivation, yet you accomplish many things each day. Love yourself for that which you DO accomplish. You believe you lack happiness, yet you experience periods of genuine happiness and humor each day. Love yourself for your ability to express the happiness you have.

You believe you lack companionship, yet there are many around you who give you a great deal each day. Love yourself and them for the communication and sharing that takes place.

You believe you lack financially, yet you have never gone without that which you need. Love yourself for your ability to provide for yourself and your family without deprivation. See what is there for, in that, comes your expansion into other, increasingly beautiful patterns.

If you focus on what you DON'T have, you will never realize how much you DO have… How often do you take time to appreciate yourself? In your habits, in your conditioning, there is so much criticism to offer — of others, of yourself, of the way the world is run. How much time do you take to appreciate your world? Do it now. Do it more often. Make it a new habit.
www.operationterra.com

Studying and learning new concepts, new modalities, new perspectives is all well and definitely good, but will not take you fully up the seeking path until you incorporate all that you have learned at the physical level — until you gather it all into your heart, and live through your heart. What do we mean by living through your heart? Simply put, you will find your best solutions through loving thoughts and deeds, rather than fear.
www.beyondreiki.com

Every time you appreciate something; every time you praise something; every time you feel good about something, you are telling the Universe: "MORE OF THIS, PLEASE!" You need never make another verbal statement of this intent and, if you are mostly in a state of appreciation, all good things will flow to you.

We are often asked, "Isn't LOVE a better word than APPRECIATION? Isn't LOVE more descriptive of the Non-Physical Energy?" And we say that LOVE and APPRECIATION are really the same vibration. Some use the word GRATITUDE, or a feeling of THANKFULNESS but, all of these words are descriptive of Well-Being!

A desire to appreciate is a very good first step, and then, as you find more things that you would like to say, "Thank you!" about, it quickly gains momentum. And, as you want to feel appreciation, you ATTRACT something to appreciate. And, as you appreciate it, then you attract something else to appreciate until, in time, you are experiencing a Rampage of Appreciation!
Abraham through Esther Hicks

It is said that Mother Teresa would walk through the filth of the ghettos of India in full comprehension of the horrors therein but focus upon the energy of the beautiful flowers that grew from the dung. This enabled her to be the healer that she came to be.
www.lightandbalance.com (not online in 2018)

Incidentally...
you can even use the recommended EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) to help install “gratitude habits” and erase less positive thinking patterns.

Is there a cure for cancer? After 20 years of research

discover what this German expert thinks.

Emotions

Gratitude Helps Heal

Thankfulness quotes

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