Over a year ago I decided that it would be a good idea to write a morning journal and a gratitude blog every day. My journal writing typically occurs first thing in the morning before I’ve had my coffee and my blog is generally written just before I retire in the evening. There are some days when I am tempted to rethink this plan. Tonight is one of them. Last night I returned home at 12:45 a.m. after taking my sick “child” to the after hours medical clinic, finally going to bed at around 1:30, and rose this morning at 6 a.m. after having hit the snooze on the alarm every seven minutes between 5:33 and 5:53. I slogged through my day of meetings, undertook my daily commute, which this evening took one hour and 37 minutes, finally arriving home at 7 o’clock. Mama said there’ll be days like this, and I sure am tired. Nevertheless there are many things for which I am grateful and will, as usual, share a few thoughts on them.
I have become a big believer in gratitude. Writing this blog certainly is a testament to that after 500 plus days. I’m also a big fan of gratitude’s close cousin–appreciation– and I find distressing how few people really focus on expressing thanks to and appreciation for their fellow human beings. I have lately been the beneficiary of a number of expressions of appreciation from various people in my life. It is such a good feeling to be thanked for a contribution you made or a talent you have or simply for your presence. It is likewise a good thing to offer appreciations to others, recognizing their value, their presence, the roles they play in various settings. I read somewhere that gratitude begets gratitude, that the more we’re grateful for the blessings in our lives the more we see, we have, we gain to be grateful for. Similarly, the more we appreciate the people around us and express that appreciation, the more we discover what is “appreciateable” in that person. (Okay, so appreciateable is not a word, but you get the idea.)
This is not, of course, why we offer gratitude and appreciation–that we’ll get something for ourselves out of it; it is a positive side effect. But the principle holds true nonetheless. It takes so little effort to express thanks or appreciation and yet I see so many people who don’t bother, who pass up the opportunity to say thank you. For simple kindnesses like holding open a door for someone or letting someone pull in front of you in traffic more often than not go unappreciated, or if they are appreciated, the person on the receiving end of the kindness doesn’t bother with an outward gesture indicating their thanks. I try not to let it bother me, but it does. How hard is it to say thank you or to wave one’s thanks?
I am tired this evening, so perhaps I am not articulating this as well as I’d like. I simply want to invite each of us in to a space of gratitude and appreciation. I am grateful for the simple acts of kindness that people extend to me on a regular basis and I am likewise grateful for the opportunities I have to “pay it forward” and offer kindness and appreciations to others. I look forward to days when we can appreciate one another every day many times per day. What a difference that would make in the world. Meanwhile, I’ll keep doing what I can in my own small ways to bring gratitude and appreciation with me wherever I go.
