Dear Sister Queens,<\/p>\n
I am back. Again! What a few months this has been. First I was out for weeks dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. And then I was felled by a super nasty flu.<\/p>\n
I am fine now and back to my old tricks.<\/p>\n
So here we again! This daily blog has been a great joy to present, and your comments, your confidences, your confessions and your creative spirits have made it even more so.<\/p>\n
I am so thankful to be connected to this incredible Court of Kick Ass Queens\u2122. May we continue to grow in the nourishing soil of each other\u2019s support.<\/p>\n
With royal appreciation,<\/p>\n
xxQueen Mama Donna<\/p>\n
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.<\/p>\n
– Melodie Beattie<\/p>\n
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A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer.<\/p>\n
– Doris Lessing<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily. The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.<\/p>\n – Adabella Radici<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Grow flowers of gratitude in the soil of prayer.<\/p>\n – Verbena Woods<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it\u2019s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.<\/p>\n – Shakti Gawain<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.<\/p>\n – Author Unknown<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.<\/p>\n – Christiane Northrup<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend\u2026 when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that\u2019s present \u2014 love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure \u2014 the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on Earth.<\/p>\n – Sarah Ban Breathnach<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gratitude is the heart\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n – French proverb<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One can never pay in gratitude: one can only pay \u2018in kind\u2019 somewhere else in life.<\/p>\n – Anne Morrow Lindbergh<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gratitude is our most direct line to God and the angels. If we take the time, no matter how crazy and troubled we feel, we can find something to be thankful for. The more we seek gratitude, the more reason the angels will give us for gratitude and joy to exist in our lives.<\/p>\n – Terry Lynn Taylor<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren\u2019t grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.<\/p>\n – Cynthia Ozick<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I thank God for my handicaps for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.<\/p>\n – Helen Keller<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.<\/p>\n – Margaret Cousins<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.<\/p>\n – Melodie Beattie<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.<\/p>\n The Hausa of Nigeria<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Gratitude helps you to grow and expand; gratitude brings joy and laughter into your life and into the lives of all those around you.<\/p>\n – Eileen Caddy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n O, may we, may I, with your help, remember that each moment is this same edge, this choice… trust, gratefulness, grief and…and praise.<\/p>\n -Judyth Hill<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Donna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife<\/em><\/a>. She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n