In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.
Interpretation
Gratefulness leads to happiness, not the other way around.
This quote emphasizes the importance of gratitude as a fundamental aspect of achieving happiness. It suggests that rather than waiting for happiness to arrive, one should actively cultivate gratitude for the positive aspects of life, which in turn fosters a sense of joy and fulfillment.
In practice
In a motivational speech about mental well-being, you could use this quote to emphasize the power of gratitude.
You want to get rich in order that you may surround yourself with beautiful things, see distant lands, feed your mind, and develop your intellect; in order that you may love others and do kind things, and be able to play a good part in helping the world to find truth.
Many people who order their lives rightly in all other ways are kept in poverty by their lack of gratitude.
Whatever you habitually think yourself to be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your destiny.
That which makes you want more money is the same as that which makes the plant grow; it is life seeking fuller expression.
Never look at the visible supply; always look at the limitless riches in the formless substance and know that they are coming to you as fast as you can receive and use them.
If we think we will have joy only by praying and singing psalms, we will be disillusioned. But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will be joyful, that is, full of joy.
To me, the message of my songs, of all songs, is "enjoy life." My message as a person who evidently doens't have much more planned is the same. It's the only message I ever thought art had any business having.
A well-spent day brings happy sleep.
Probably the happiest period in life most frequently is in middle age, when the eager passions of youth are cooled, and the infirmities of age not yet begun; as we see that the shadows, which are at morning and evening so large, almost entirely disappear at midday.
Mirth, and even cheerfulness, when employed as remedies in low spirits, are like hot water to a frozen limb.
In the end, you're trying to find God. That's the result of not being satisfied. And it doesn't matter how much money, or property, or whatever you've got, unless you're happy in your heart, then that's it. And unfortunately, you can never gain perfect happiness unless you've got that state of consciousness that enables that.
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