not a passive response

"Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without and beside us. Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, it is the deep, a-priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life." - David Whyte

To live a life of gratitude is not only to be reactive, being grateful for what you have received but to be aware and grateful for merely being.

Thanks, Stan for posting this excerpt from CONSOLATIONS in the Palaestra.

:)

Pierre