Gratitude = Healthy Living

Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.
             -Doris Day

Hey friends! I recently finished reading the amazing book by Janice Kaplan, The Graititude Diaries. 

​Holy cow!  Game changer! 

Each night, I literally took a pen and underlined words, phrases and sentences that made the most meaning to my life.  When reading a book like this, I think it's essential to be able to apply what you have learned to your own life. And I am absolutely taking action to make this book applicable to my life, because gratitude = healthy living.  

This a book about how making small positive changes (looking on the bright side) can TRANSFORM your life.  She discusses how to apply gratitude to everyday occurrences, such as marriage, eating habits, your job, kids, money, and so much more.

There is also aligning research that supports how giving gratitude has a positive effect on your well-being and overall health.

How amazing is that! 

This book has now become a lifetime resource and/or guide for me and my family.  It is a simple and small reminder of just how grateful I am to be alive.  

Below are a list of my Top 30 Favorite Gratitude Quotes from The Gratitude Diaries (in no particular order).  Pick a quote every month and write it on a chalkboard, a white board or even on your bathroom mirror as a simple reminder to practice gratitude every day. 

I want to be reminded everyday of how I can make my life amazing, not only for me, but for my family and friends.  


TOP 30 FAVORITE GRATITUDE QUOTES

1. Gratitude may have the highest connection to mental health and happiness of any of the personality traits studied.

2. Researchers have found that people who write down three things they're grateful for every night improve their well-being and lower their risk for depression. 

3. Grateful people reframe whatever happens to them...don't focus on what they're lacking, but make sure they see the good in what they have. 
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4. Avoid the wrinkles in life by focusing on the joys (on growing older). 

5. Sometimes you need to stop your experiences completely and look at them a new, not keep on repeating them like machines. Let the fresh air into your mind.

6. There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

7. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. 

8. Taking several short trips in a year is likely to give you more peak experiences-and grateful memories-than one long but unremarkable vacation.

9.  The more joy we have, the more nearly perfect we are.

10. If you trade expectations for appreciation, the world instantly changes.

11. Being grateful for your current job doesn't make you less ambitious, it makes you happier and probably more productive. You can be grateful for your career-and still soar in the future.

12. You can't be optimally healthy if you're not happy.

13. Thinking about the past or future are really the only two ways people can be upset by the world.

14. I have two arms, two legs, I'm breathing.  Life is good.

15. A natural environment...allows us to relax and reflect without feeling overwhelmed.

16. Nature lowers stress and improves our ability to focus.

17. It's the little things that make us grateful.

18. Eat only food that makes you grateful.

19. It's such a waste of mental energy to be furious that something isn't the way you want it to be.  Fighting life is what causes problems. When you can accept life on life's terms, you pave the way for a measure of peace that you miss otherwise.

20. We often look so long and regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.

21. Gratitude isn't just a nice feeling. Gratitude at its best is an action.  It's about something you do rather than just something you feel.

22. Gratitude is a muscle that we all need to flex.

23. Appreciating the world around you made you more eager to be part of making it better. 

24. You think gratitude is something you express when everything is going well. But really it's what you feel when everything is going against you.

25. My mission every day is to stay buoyant and joyous.

26. Be grateful for the simple gifts of life and love and cooking bacon.

27. Living gratefully...had given me the simple ability to experience joy for almost any reason.

28.  Our bright-side banter saved us from frustration (when in traffic).

29. Instead of being the mastery of misery, we can become experts at gratitude.

30. Grateful to have enough (on money).

I hope these quotes help bring gratitude to your life as well :). Enjoy!


         Always craving good vibes,
                     Jillian