Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Contentment: STATE OF THE MIND

I interact with people in different organizations/departments on a daily basis. I can confidently say that there is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people. Happiness is not a function of the department or unit you are in. it’s a state of the mind.

I know a couple of individuals who used to complain when they were in department x and 6 months after changing to department y they are still complaining. You cannot be better by becoming bitter. You need to shift away from the complaining mode.

Can you remember how excited and grateful you were when you secured the opportunity you now take for granted? Happy people are upwardly mobile. Opportunities identify them and court them always. You can’t afford to be disgruntled on the job. Be grateful.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. There are individuals who work in major oil companies and yet not happy and complain daily.

This season of your life is making certain privileges accessible to you…take advantage of it. Focus on what you can do rather than what you can’t. Gratitude will see us through this great economic meltdown.
I will like you to ponder on the following quotes to increase your gratitude quotient

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?" ~William A. Ward
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
If you have lived, take thankfully the past. ~John Dryden
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~Henry Ward Beecher
Praise the bridge that carried you over. ~George Colman
If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. ~Robert Quillen

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. ~Epictetus
Gratitude is the best attitude. ~Author Unknown
If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily. ~Gerald Good
Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices. ~Thomas Fuller
There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance. ~Joseph Addison
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart. ~Henry Clay
Who does not thank for little will not thank for much. ~Estonian Proverb
The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings. ~Eric Hoffer, Reflections On The Human Condition
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick
Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. ~Aldous Huxley
When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them. ~Chinese Proverb

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