Today, I want to reach out to my fellow writers and readers to say that I am grateful for you. These dozen quotes remind me that I am not alone, that I live in community with my fellow human beings, and that living a full life begins with appreciating the life I am living. I hope these words move you as much as they do me.
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” — Henry David Thoreau
“Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to ‘jump at the sun.’ We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.” — Zora Neale Hurston
“I looked around and thought about my life. I felt grateful. I noticed every detail. That is the key to time travel. You can only move if you are actually in the moment. You have to be where you are to get where you need to go.” — Amy Poehler
“Come celebrate with me that every day something has tried to kill me and has failed.”
— Lucille Clifton
“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” — Brené Brown
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” — Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” — Willie Nelson
“We’re all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we’re alive together during the same moment.” — Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
“Now that I knew fear, I also knew it was not permanent. As powerful as it was, its grip on me would loosen. It would pass.” — Louise Erdrich, The Round House
“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” — Albert Schweitzer
“You are your best thing.” — Toni Morrison, Beloved