Through people that I did know or through things that I did touch, I am connected with everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. Everything hangs together with everything. David Steindl-Rast More Quotes by David Steindl-Rast More Quotes From David Steindl-Rast From experience we know that whenever we are truly awake and alive, we are also truly grateful. David Steindl-Rast gratitude grateful alive One can learn to focus on "opportunity" as the gift within every given moment. This attitude towards life always improves the situation. Even in times of sickness, someone who habitually practices grateful living will look for the opportunity that a given moment offers and use it creatively. David Steindl-Rast gratitude grateful attitude Impatience makes us get ahead of ourselves, reaching out for something in the future and not really being content with where we are, here and now. David Steindl-Rast here-and-now reaching patience The challenge is to learn to respond immediately to whatever it is time for. Not to wonder whether you have time for it or whether you like it, but simply to respond when it is time. David Steindl-Rast you-like-it challenges wonder What is necessary when we want to face reality? Stillness. David Steindl-Rast faces want reality What brings fulfillment is gratefulness, the simple response of our heart to this life in all its fullness. David Steindl-Rast gratitude simple heart Gratitude is here presented as more than a feeling, a virtue, or an experience; gratitude emerges as an attitude we can freely choose in order to create a better life for ourselves and for others. The Nigerian Hausa put it this way: Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. David Steindl-Rast gratitude attitude order A lifetime may not be long enough to attune ourselves fully to the harmony of the universe. But just to become aware that we can resonate with it -- that alone can be like waking up from a dream. David Steindl-Rast unity dream long Try pausing right before and right after undertaking a new action, even something simple like putting a key in a lock to open a door. Such pauses take a brief moment, yet they have the effect of decompressing time and centering you. David Steindl-Rast keys simple doors If there is anything the artist or a true work of art teaches us, it is that variety and complexity really increase the unity, and that to achieve unity within a great variety of complexity is a greater achievement and more satisfying piece of art than to achieve unity with just a few elements, which is relatively easily achieved. David Steindl-Rast unity achievement art Look closely and you will find that people are happy because they are grateful. The opposite of gratefulness is just taking everything for granted. David Steindl-Rast gratitude grateful opposites The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone - that is pure hope, rooted in the heart. David Steindl-Rast faith gone heart The greatest gift one can give is thanksgiving. In giving gifts, we give what we can spare, but in giving thanks we give ourselves. David Steindl-Rast thanks gratitude giving By looking up, by raising our eyes above our limited horizon, we are more likely to perceive the blessings hidden in affliction. David Steindl-Rast eye blessing thank-you Home and journey together constitute the creative polarity of the heart, the two dimensions we must cultivate if we want to 'develop the heart. David Steindl-Rast journey home heart Gratefulness makes us aware of the gift and makes us happy. As long David Steindl-Rast gratitude keys long Beauty seen makes the one who sees it more beautiful. David Steindl-Rast beautiful Each string of a wind harp responds with a different note to the same breeze. What activity makes you personally resonate most strongly, most deeply? David Steindl-Rast independence different wind The artist ought to know that a thousand painful deaths always lead into greater life. David Steindl-Rast painful-death thousand artist Gratefulness is not just saying "thank you." It's acting. It is being yourself. A mother is grateful, shows gratefulness by mothering, a scientist by doing science. David Steindl-Rast being-yourself gratitude mother
