Seeking new non-theistic expressions for gratitude, etc

I sincerely hope and desire that this will not become another atheists vs. religionists brouhaha. This is just me, trying to find ways to express myself that don’t contradict my own views.

Are there already more colorful ways to say “I’m glad X happened” or “I’m glad Y didn’t happen?” Because those are so bland and colorless as to disappear from any conversation. What are the non-theistic equivalents for Thank God, Thank Heavens, Praise the Lord, and so on, for everyday conversation?

I won’t be very surprised to find out that it doesn’t bother other atheists to say at least some of those things at least some of the time. I have certainly done so, but lately I have been censoring myself more and now I feel left without appropriate expressions of generalized gratitude or relief. Although I am not intending to thank any person or other entity, nevertheless I often want to recognize my feelings out loud. For example, neither I nor anyone else caused the sun to shine today, but I’m glad it is shining. I want to build up new verbal habits for that sort of thing, to normalize non-theistic expressions that replace the ones I mentioned above.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

There are a million and one words and ways to express gratitude, and “I’m so grateful” is a perfectly good one!

In one of my social circles, expressions of gratitude are met with a dismissive, almost contemptuous “duh.” But the meaning is closer to, “you’re one of my oldest friends, I love you very much, and you’re welcome.”

Shared experiences and history forge expressions that are much more meaningful emotionally than they are syntactically. Don’t try too terribly hard to construct a new expression because it’ll be sterile.

I bet a hundred quatloos that if you spend some time being just a little mindful of what you say you’ll realize you’re expressing gratitude in a great many ways.

Just thinking back over the last day, I’ve said stuff like:

I’m so glad to know somebody I can have conversations like this with.
What would I do without you? (genuine)
What would I do without you (genuine but also sarcastic)
I really needed this today.
Nice!
Noice!

And most importantly, several variations of “thank you for ______.”

Specificity, context, and human connection. That’s how you show gratitude. The actual words are just the pegs to hang your emotion from.

But if you’ve just got to pick a new catch phrase, you could do way worse than frabjous day, calloo callay! :wink:

ETA: I hope this didn’t come off as dismissive; I think personal inventories like you’re doing in this thread are incredibly important. I also think you’re probably selling yourself a little short.

The problem you’re having is that gratitude is expressed toward some entity, whether that be a religious figure or a person. If you’re not expressing thanks then you are left with just expressing how much you like or appreciate something.

You might consider the song ‘S Wonderful for a whole collection of ways to say how great something is.

Back during President Obama’s time in office I used to say things like, “What a beautiful day, thanks Obama!”

I seem to be capable of expressing gratitude towards the universe (or on a smaller scale the lake, a field, the weather, a tree, a tomato plant . . .) without thinking that the universe is a kind of person.

I agree that coming up with the language for that can be a bit tricky, and came into this thread hoping to find some good ideas.

Praise chaos and entropy!

That’s a good one!

Praise chaos, the mother of order!

Praise be to darkness, which lets us see the light!
(It does, too. Ever been snowblind?)

– but I’m not sure either of those really work for ‘Praise for this bright sunny day!’

If you want to express gratitude to an inanimate object, you can use the exact same language you would use to thank anyone else:

Thank you, tree, for providing me with shade.

I really appreciate the warmth you are giving, sun.

I’m grateful to you, rain, for nurturing the soil.

Maybe it’s just a matter of feeling comfortable addressing thanks directly to inanimate objects or concepts.

After someone sneezes Jerry Seinfeld recommends saying “You are sooo good looking!”.

“We’re finally finished” “Thank God! All right!”
“Well, that was a close call” “Thank God it missed us!Whew!”

We still thank Obama (and Joe). :smile:

I training myself to say this.

Thank goodness, fortunately, as luck would have it, thank the stars, phew…

Yes, I do some of that.

– someone I know once insisted that I say grace over dinner. I thanked the fields, and the weather, and the plants, and the animals, and the people involved in helping to grow and harvest and transport. The insistent person was somewhat disconcerted.

Thank the dumb luck of a cold, uncaring universe, which allows me, as a free and responsible agent determining my own development through acts of will, to choose and create my own fate!

The right phrase is so context dependent. One might mimic a more religious phrase, express public or private praise to an individual or group, or just express general gratitude or relief.

Quasi-religious:
Thank dogs that…
O fortuna!
Thank Jeebus…
By the grace of Voltron…
By the powers of Greyskull…
Châlice!

General gratitude:
I’m just so pleased that…
Con un poco de gracía, soy capitán, soy capitán
As it happens…
Con suerte…
I’m so grateful that…
Fortunately…
Due to good luck…
Fate was on our side since…
As luck would have it…
Thankfully…
…with a little bit of blooming luck.

Not recommended:
…no thanks to you
…for giving me, the things I need, the Sun and the rain and the appleseed…
…Gentlemen, to evil. (Clink and raise glasses)

When they do that I say “grace”.

Why not?

At least, if you’re about to eat something involving apples; or to get paid for selling them.

The Lord is good to me. (Bangs table.)

(Condition made in first post. Doesn’t bother me.)

Yes, exactly. Maybe I’ll steal this for my new custom title.