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"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
-- William A. Ward
"When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed."
-- Maya Angelou
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
-- John F. Kennedy
"Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy."
-- Jacques Maritain
"There are many things to be grateful "for" but, as I ripen with the seasons of life, the many reasons blend into a sacred mystery. And, most deeply, I realize that living gratefully is its own blessing."
-- Michael Mahoney
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Looking for an inspiring and entertaining speaker for your organization or group?
My passion is helping others to discover their purpose and reach their potential. I would love to speak with your group about leadership, optimism, visioning, goal-setting, emotional intelligence and other development-related topics. For more information on how I can help your group, and to see a short video clip, visit www.kathylight.com/speaking | |
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Gratitude Makes You Resourceful
If you ever get a chance to hear Liz Murray speak, please don't pass it up! If her name doesn't ring a bell, she is the young woman in the "Homeless to Harvard" story. I heard her speak at a women's conference in October, and I will never forget the experience. Here is a brief synopsis of her life from Wikipedia:
Liz Murray was born in 1980 in the Bronx, New York, to poor, drug-addicted, HIV-infected parents.
She became homeless just after she turned 15, when her mother died of AIDS, and her father moved to a homeless shelter.
Murray's life turned around when she began attending the Humanities Preparatory Academy in Chelsea, Manhattan.
Though she started high school later than most students, and remained without a stable home while supporting herself and her sister, Murray graduated in only two years.
She was awarded a New York Times scholarship for needy students and accepted into Harvard University, matriculating in the fall semester of 2000.
She left Harvard in 2003 to care for her sick father; she resumed her education at Columbia University to be closer to him. In 2006 her father died of AIDS.
She eventually returned to Harvard in 2008 and graduated in June 2009 with a bachelor's degree in psychology.
As of August 2009, she had begun taking graduate courses at Harvard Summer School and would like to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology to counsel people from all walks of life.
What that synopsis doesn't tell you is how she survived such a difficult childhood and went on to graduate from Harvard. There were many factors that contributed to her ability to change her life circumstances, but the most powerful one was the power of her gratitude. As Liz so beautifully said, "Being in a state of gratitude makes you resourceful."
Liz told a story of attending the burial of her mother, who, without any financial resources, was simply placed in a pine box that someone had misspelled her name on with a black marker, and put into the ground. Fifteen years old and homeless at the time, but not without friends, she immediately went to a gathering of her friends at one of their homes. She heard them complaining about one thing or another, including their mothers, and it was as though someone turned her hearing up. She realized "I am just like them and I have to be something different." At the same time, she felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for her friends and their love and acceptance of her, and for her mother, who, despite the horrible drug addiction that ultimately took her life, had shown tremendous love to Liz and her sister. Liz decided at that moment to be something different.
To Liz, everything had seemed so hard before, and she would find herself saying things like, "I'll get back in school after I do this or that." But being in a state of gratitude made her resourceful, so, as she said, she "just got on the train" to find a high school that would take her. She almost gave up after several tries. With a 42 grade point average, a record of truancy, a Goth wardrobe and a bad attitude, she didn't have a lot of confidence she would get accepted. And with each school that rejected her, her prospects kept getting dimmer. Her pocket had only $2 remaining in it, and she almost bought a piece of pizza with the money, but something told her to try just one more school, the Humanities Preparatory Academy in Chelsea, Manhattan. There she met a man named Perry who told corny jokes, asked her if she was ready to make straight A's, and believed in her. Perry mentored Liz through graduating in two years with straight A's, getting accepted to Harvard, and finding a scholarship to pay for it.
When Liz later asked Perry why he helped her, he said, "Somebody mentored me, so I knew how to do it. And somebody mentored him. And we'll never know who my mentor's mentor's mentor was, but it was somebody. And now you'll go and help other people because I showed you how, and because you were grateful for my help."
Liz closed her speech with this advice: "Do you think I'd be standing up here if I had bought that piece of pizza, and if Perry hadn't been there for me to care about me and give me a hug and push me to make straight A's? . . . You don't have to solve every problem or even an entire problem. Just do your part. Just be a Perry for someone."
For Liz Murray, gratitude made her resourceful enough to set aside a life of overwhelming obstacles, and get on the train for something different.
What can your gratitude do for you? In this beautiful season of Thanksgiving, how can gratitude make you resourceful?
Could it help you take stock of all of your gifts and all the good that has come out of this year, and release the difficulties that may have weighed you down? Could it pull you out of whatever might be holding you back and help you "get on the train" to new possibility? And could it help you "be a Perry" for someone?
As W.T. Purkiser said, "It is not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, that is the true measure of our thanksgiving."
May we all use the reminder of this beautiful season to be resourceful with our blessings, and to use them to do good for ourselves and others.
I wish you and yours a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!
~ Kathy
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