“Find the Silver Lining: When things don't work out the way you wish, always look for some positive outcome to the situation working out the way it did. For example, you can always be grateful that things didn't turn out even worse.” WayLooksTurnsWishSituationExampleGratitudeGratefulWork OutOutcomesSilverBe GratefulPositive Outcome Author:Zelig Pliskin
“For example, I'm terribly proud. I'm as mistrustful and as sensitive as a hunchback or a dwarf; but, in truth, I've experienced some moments when if someone had slapped my face, I might even have been grateful for it. I'm being serious. I probably would have been able to derive a peculiar sort of pleasure from it-the pleasure of despair, naturally, but the most intense pleasures occur in despair, especially when you're very acutely aware of the hopelessness of your own predicament.” IfsHas BeensMomentsMightAbleFacesPleasureExampleSeriousProudDespairGratefulIntenseSensitivePeculiarHopelessnessDwarfsDwarvesPredicaments Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky
“My personal time is limited, more so than I wish. However, my wife and I have talked about the fact that there are opportunities right now that won't be there forever. For example, when the Grateful Dead offered me to tour in 2004, my first reaction was to say no, I just can't do it. Then my wife said, "Well, let's rethink this. You don't want to look back down the road and say, I could've done that, but I said no." So, we made it work.” WantFirstsWellsLooksMadeSaidDoneFactsOpportunityWishForeverWifeExampleRight NowGratefulMy WifeReactionsMade ItDown The RoadPersonal Time Author:Warren Haynes
“I'm grateful for the likes of Kundera, Murnane, Markson, Berger, and, in his recent work, Coetzee. But no matter how celebrated they are, critics still consider them askance. Elizabeth Costello, for example, is a great novel, but it got quite a critical panning when it was published. The complaint was that it was simply a book of speeches, without the machinery of conventional fiction. Markson's books are compilations of facts and alleged facts, very artfully.” StillsBookMatterFactsFictionNovelExampleSpeechGratefulCriticsCriticalLikesConventionalComplaintsMachineryGreat NovelsCompilationCoetzee Author:Teju Cole
“In the hours that followed, I learned that Ademic hand gestures did not actually represent facial expressions. It was nothing so simple as that. For example a smile can mean you're amused, happy, grateful, or satisfied. You can smile to comfort someone. You can smile because you're content or because you're in love. A grimace or a grin look similar to a smile, but they mean entirely different things. Imagine trying to teach someone how to smile. Imagine trying to describe what different smiles mean and when, precisely, to use them in conversation. It's harder than learning to walk.” TryingLooksMeanDifferentUseHandsHoursSimpleWalksTeachImagineExampleExpressionComfortConversationHarderGratefulSatisfiedDifferent ThingsGesturesAmusedFacialFacial ExpressionSmile BecauseGrimace Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“You went to all that trouble just for my body?" I said, amazed and so grateful. Reyn looked up, irritation on his face. "Yeah. We were going to have you stuffed, as an example to future students." I grinned, "You could put me on wheels, move me from room to room.” SaidBodyFacesMovingRoomsTroubleExampleStudentsYeahGratefulWheelsAmazedIrritationSo Grateful Author:Cate Tiernan
“Sometimes we forget to be grateful until we survive a trauma. For example, after having the flu when you ache all over, throw up for hours, and have little people pounding in your head with hammers, it is sheer bliss just to eat a piece of toast, walk outside without getting dizzy, and breathe fresh air. Part of the journey toward joy involves not waiting around for trouble, but being continuously aware of our blessings.” PeopleLittlesSometimesJoyWaitingHoursWalksForgetPiecesTroubleAirJourneyExampleGratitudeBlessingGratefulTraumaBreatheBlissSheerBe GratefulAcheHammersFluToastsFresh AirDizzyWaiting Around Author:Charlotte Sophia Kasl
“Duane Allman didn't see himself as the bandleader .. he led by example, and you gained a lot of respect from Duane if you earned it, if you proved you could keep up with him. If you couldn't, you'd either end up in awe of him or you might not even like him. He was very different from Jerry Garcia (guitar/leader of the Grateful Dead) who was very easy going. Duane didn't have time to be easy going ... there was much more urgency to his personality” IfsDifferentEndsMightEasyLeaderMusicExamplePersonalityGratefulGuitarAweUrgencyJerryEasy Going Author:Richard Betts
“[Every disappointment or misfortune can become a blessing in disguise, for which we should be grateful. But only if the hidden blessing is anticipated, expected and searched for will it be found and recognised as such and the most made of it. For example...] Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger.” IfsKnowsMenShouldMadeFallFoundExampleBlessingRainGratefulHungerDisappointmentExpectedCurseAbundanceMisfortunesAnticipationDisguiseBe GratefulBlessings In Disguise Author:Saint Basil
“Keep everything in perspective if you wish to be happy. For example... Losing an arm is more an inconvenience than a catastrophe. Things could be a lot worse so why not be grateful they aren't and thereby happy rather than sad?” IfsWishExamplePerspectiveArmsGratitudeLosingGratefulWhy NotBe GratefulCatastropheInconvenience Author:Eric Allin Cornell
“No life is so hard that you can't make it easier by the way you take it for example by seeing it how it could be worse and then being grateful it isn't.” WayHardLife IsSeeingExampleEasierGratitudeGratefulBe Grateful Author:Ellen Glasgow
“I shall mention in passing just one example of a gift from the Arabs that I for one am rather grateful for: coffee -- especially as it was originally banned in Europe as a 'Muslim drink.” ExampleDrinkEuropeGratefulCoffeePassingPassingsJust OneBanned Book:Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science Source: Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science