be the change !

Be the change you wish

to se in the world...

Gratitude is contagious - you can catch it from other people

and/or they can catch it from you. But you don't spread gratitude

by preaching or scolding or admonishing - you spread it by living it.

For, as Gandhi wisely said,

"We must BE the change we wish to see in the world."

A simple story illustrates my point:
According to legend, a young man, while roaming the desert,

came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water.

The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could

bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher.

After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man

who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student

lavishly for the sweet water.

The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.

Later, the teacher let another student taste the water.

He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale

because

of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher:
"Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?"

The teacher replied,
"You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift"

The water was simply the container for an act of loving-kindness

and nothing could be sweeter.

Heartfelt gifts deserve the return gift of gratitude.

You teach gratitude to others by living it - every moment,

every hour, every day.

Others will see the happiness that gratitude brings, and soon,

they, too will be grateful. And before you know it, you have started

an epidemic of gratitude - what could be more wonderful!

This is to reinforce and teach the power and magic of gratitude. To some,

it may sound too simple to feel important, but if you can truly

grasp this powerful concept, it will change your life forever.

German poet, Johannes A. Gaertner said this:
"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude

is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch heaven"