Being grateful is a wonderful concept, but it is a challenge when our children are struggling.
The empty chair at the dinner table is painful for parents and other family members.
When our children with substance use issues are absent from the Thanksgiving table, it can be for a variety of reasons:
- Your child may be in treatment.
- Feeling embarrassed by their situation, your child may choose not to attend.
- Your child’s situation has gotten the better of them and they are not in good enough shape to attend a Thanksgiving meal.
- Your child may have lost the battle with addiction due to overdose.
The toll this takes on a parent’s health is tremendous. If you will be missing your child this Thanksgiving, remember to take care of yourself, practice self-compassion, and keep things simple.
Make this holiday something that works for you. Make it a day that you can remember with peace and joy. You may not have everything you deserve this Thanksgiving, but be grateful for those who are there and for what you do have.
Your life can begin to change when you feel gratitude.
Let’s all take a moment and send our good thoughts to those families who are missing their children on this Thanksgiving Day.
Know that you are not alone.
Here are 25 Gratitude Quotes to help you through your day:
- Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. ~ Seneca
- There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. ~ Ralph H. Blum
- God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” ~ William A. Ward
- Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. ~ G.B. Stern
- Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
- Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~ Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French
- Sometimes it is a matter of changing your perspective, but I believe there is always something to be grateful for. ~ Tina Swithin
- Peace comes from being aligned with the present moment. Wherever you are, you feel that you are home–because you are home. ~ Eckhart Tolle
- When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive– to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. ~ Marcus Aurelius
- We are never more than one grateful thought away from peace of heart. ~ David Steindl-Rast
- This is what grace looks like: amazing gratitude and relief at your plain old gorgeous life. ~ Anne Lamott
- Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility, to give something back. ~ Anthony Robbins
- Be thankful when you don’t know something for it gives you the opportunity to learn. ~ Unknown
- Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie
- Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~ William Arthur Ward
- Happiness is in itself a kind of gratitude. ~ Joseph Wood
- To be upset over what you don’t have is to waste what you do have. ~ Ken S. Keyes
- When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. ~ Lao Tzu
- Appreciate is an excellent thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us, as well. ~ Voltaire
- The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be. ~ Shakti Gawain
- If you concentrate on what you don’t have you will never, never have enough. ~ Oprah Winfrey
- The trick is to be grateful when your mood is high and graceful when it is low. ~ Richard Carlson
- Live simply. Dream big. Be grateful. Give love. Laugh lots. ~ Paulo Coelho
- No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. ~ James Allen
- There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle, or you can live as if everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein
Have a peaceful, joyous Thanksgiving!
THANK YOU for being part of our community and for all that you do to help your child change.
What makes you feel grateful? Let us know in the comments?
Get your Free Guide today.Is your child struggling with drugs or alcohol?
Beautiful quotes Cathy. So many that I like but I want to single out the Anne Lamott and William A. Ward and then there’s the….oh heck too many that I like. Great compilation.
Thank you Elle. Quotes are great – especially this time of year. Thanks for stopping by!
Dear Cathy,
Thank you for reminding us that it won’t necessarily be easy for everyone to feel grateful this Thanksgiving Day. Our heart can go out to those who feel troubled.
Thanks for these uplifting quotations. My favorites are the ones from Marcus Aurelius and Brother David Steindl-Rast.
Wishing you a beautiful holiday.
Hi Sandra,
It can be a challenge for families for a variety of reasons, but hopefully for most, it is temporary and next year may be more enjoyable. Have a wonderful holiday as well. Take care!
I am thankful that we took my son in this past year. Gave him a choice: rehab or the streets. It hasn’t been easy, we have had set backs & sleepless nights. We have joined a gym together, focus on health & therapy. He now has a job, 1st one in 5 years! I don’t want to paint a rosy picture, believe me, it’s day by day. I have stopped begging God to cure my son, instead I pray for peace in my family!
Hi Susan,
It sounds like you have put so much time and effort into helping your son, by setting your boundaries and being clear that he needed to get help, which I know is stressful for parents. That is great that he now has a job and is taking positive steps to change his life. Hang in there, it does get easier. I know that sometimes it can be a bumpy road, but with time, hopefully things will continue to stay peaceful and he will embrace long term recovery. Thank you for sharing your story. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thanks for sharing these beautiful quotes, Cathy! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!
Glad you enjoyed them. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well, Lisa. I’m so grateful that we have connected.
Hi Cathy,
I liked this quote “Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.” ~G.B. Stern.
Well it’s a fact;when we feel good about something that others do for us we are obliged to thank them.Yet there are numerous instances when we pass the chance to express gratitude.We assume that the other guy understands how grateful we feelto them.they do not.
There is nothing more beautiful for the human ears than praise and gratitude.That is how we are wired.And that is the least we can do for others .
Thanks
Mona
Hi Mona,
Great point! I like that quote as well. Sometimes we do pass up those great opportunities to let someone know how we feel and to express our gratitude. It is a great habit to get into whenever possible. Thanks for stopping by and appreciate your insightful comment.
Hi Cathy,
Hope you had a really good Thanksgiving! This was a wonderful set of quotes and thank you for compiling them.
In answer to your question, what makes feel you grateful is having the opportunity to help others you are experiencing similar struggles and challenges to those that I’ve been through.
Thank you.
Great answer, Hiten. When we do connect with others with similar struggles, it can make such a difference. I have found that once we find a group of like minded people, the issue loses so much of the hold over us, and helps us be more in control. Take care!
Love the Einstein quote. And here is one of my favorites: “In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but the gratefulness that makes us happy.” – Albert Clarke.
Talking about gratitude is a great chance for me to say thank you to you for all the good you offer here. One thing I’ve appreciated about your blog is that you have a clear target audience, and yet much of what you write here is helpful to everyone.
I’ve decided to step away from blogging, and I’ve posted my last post. Hope you will stop by. Wishing you all the best, and thank you.
Hi Galen,
I love the quote. Thank you so much for sharing and for your kind words. So much of recovery information does apply to anyone and any sitaution.
I’m saddened to hear that you are stepping away from blogging. You are a beautiful writer and I’ve so enjoyed reading your posts. I will head on over and read your last post!
Thank you for these wonderful quotes Cathy. I think it is so important to practice gratitude on a daily basis and these are great reminders. I bookmarked this page so I can look at it every day and pick one of the quotes and make it my gratitude motto for the day : D. I know that for me being grateful helps with my happiness level.
Thank you Sebastian for your kind words. I agree that gratitude is the key to happiness. Take care!