Gratitude

What is gratitude and why do we need it? Here's the dictionaries' take:

"Gratitude - 'gra-t&-"tüd, -"tyüd Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin gratitudo, from Latin gratus grateful: the state of being grateful : THANKFULNESS " - Merriam-Webster

It's very easy to get out of "the state of being grateful"; there are always bills to pay, and sometimes not enough funds to pay them, demands from family and friends when all we really want to do is get started or get finished with that piece of artwork, maybe a boss from hell is jumping on your last nerve. The days fly by and it seems we get nowhere.
But if we can put the brakes on for just a moment, take a breath, there is something in each day we can be thankful for. A child spontaneously putting their hand in yours, the first rose bloom after a bleak winter, the light in a loved one's eyes when they see you again.
As an artist I am thankful to be able, although inadequately, to express my feelings visually, to be able to connect to another human being in such an intangible way. As Picasso so eloquently put it, "The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape..."
Now, to my mind, that's something to be proud of, a special gift. Each experience in life can transform us, our art, into an ever changing kaleidoscope, a beauty to behold.