Darren Hardy, the publisher of
Success Magazine, Times bestselling author, and mentor-to-many, tells the story
about writing, a journal of gratitude daily for one year. The object of his gratitude was his
wife. After the year was up, he gave the
journal as a gift to his wife. I have a
friend David that broadcasts messages twice a day, the first one is a positive
message, insight or an accounting of his personal journey. The second one is always a message of
gratitude for something that he is thankful for on that day. As Thanksgiving 2015 just past, it is worthwhile
to highlight the importance of being thankful and letting the people around us
know what we are grateful for. In the
law of attraction, if we want to gather feedback on the impacts we have on
other peoples’ lives, we have to be willing, unsolicited, to thank others for
the benefits or acts of kindness received from them or seen given to someone
else.
That leaves it pretty open
ended, doesn’t it? We do not really want
to be in the habit of handing out thank you’s, “Atta-boys”, and “Atta-girls”
willy-nilly to everyone, especially if they are doing the things that they are
supposed to be doing. To be honest, we
all like to receive them, but if the thank you’s, “Atta-boys”, and “Atta-girls”
are given for every action taken, it can water down the impact or, like Pavlov’s
dog, make us only look for ways to receive them. There are cases where a letting someone know you
are grateful for something shows that you paid attention or care. Here are a few categories and examples that I
keep in mind throughout the day:
1. Spouses:
Your spouse is the person that you have chosen to spend your life with. If you cannot find words of gratitude for
this person, above all others, you need to evaluate who your life partner
is. In my case, I am grateful each and
every day that I have found Debbie as my life partner. Debbie added balance to my life, provides a
wonderful home and helped raise two fantastic children. I just kissed my wife (yes, while writing
this) and thanked her, for no other reason (at the moment) other than just
being her.
2. Family
– First, as a child, no matter what our relationship with our parents is, we
should all have at least one thing to be grateful for and that is the precious
gift of life. The more they provided for
us, the more we have to be thankful.
Second, as a sibling, I have great memories growing up and continue to
be very close with my brothers. I am
thankful to have grown up in such an amazing environment. And lastly, as parents, a choice that we make,
we should feel blessed to have children.
I am thankful for Gab and Bec being in our lives. I am grateful to see them grow into the
mature young women that they are becoming.
And, of course, I am thankful for the perfection that happens to be our
rescue pet, Lucy Lou, which rounds out our little family (can you guess the
guest editor this week?).
3. Project
teams / Work associates – As a project manager, a team member or a
fellow worker, it is important to let the people we work with know when they do
a good job. While we expect every person
we work with to carry their weight, when they step up, go an additional yard to
complete something, it is important to let them know how well they did. If not, it could be a disincentive in the
future. It can be as simple as an email thanking
them (including management on the email), or, a dinner as a thank you for the
extra time and effort spent.
4. Social
groups – Many of us are involved in social groups or
organizations. These tend to be voluntary
in nature and as such, the time and effort that we provide, assist or help,
comes from our free time. Volunteers are
sometimes a forgotten group of people that do not receive a thank you. Being involved in a leadership role, I have heard
people say they do not feel appreciated.
An article in the group’s newsletter, a word of appreciation for the
help during a presentation or even a personal thank you goes a long way to
validate their time spent.
5.
A
Higher Power – For those that are faith-based, whether religiously or
spiritually, gratitude is part of some liturgy.
We read it out of practice, say it by rote or chant in a group. A moment out of the day where a heart-felt
thought of gratitude helps us to tap into, for lack of a better, broader term,
the Cosmos.
"Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie
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