Silent Gratitude
Thousands of articles have been written to remind us to have gratitude. Studies show that keeping track of our thankfulness has a delightful ripple effect. It is relatively easy to do and reminds us how fortunate we are to live with such abundance. It even gives off a little patina of guilt when we compare our lives to the global community. Since writing it down is difficult at first, a silent nod to the gratitude spirits can be a great place to increase the accounting. Silently saying a little thank you throughout the day adds up and doesn’t require stopping to get out a journal.
Gracious Thanks
Since we devote a whole food and sports-filled day to this activity, most of us get our quota of thank yous in one family centered holiday. Pre-pandemic, gathering together with scarcely seen relatives was the price to pay to demonstrate our required respect to those who helped us grow up to be the fine individuals we are today. The food is good, sharing the highs and lows of watching a game brought us together and it gave us a chance to check off the day devoted to family love. The pandemic changed the way we automatically gathered and even produced thoughts about how nice it was to have family to argue with. The absence made our hearts grow fonder. Who knew?
Graciousness
I want to increase my graciousness. It sounds adult and lovely and sentimental and something that nice folks do. Being gracious has an air of civility about it and would make my charm quotient increase. This type of gratefulness is not just a static list; it seems more dynamic. It is more centered on the way I treat the people around me and less on remembering to smile at the receptionist in the morning. Less stuff, more fluff.
Thanks First
I am going first to start my day by still giving thanks. As each foot dangles and eventually meets the floor, I start my day of thanks. It’s been a topsy-turvy year but I am still here able to wake up with intention. For that, I am super grateful. But I want to do more, so that silent thanks I think all day long when something comes my way needs to have a gracious flourish and I need to add some charm to the way I show my thanks to my family, friends and everyone I am lucky enough to encounter along my path. I want to make everyone welcome and create another ripple that doesn’t require logging my actions as if they are so special. Graciousness should be normalized as the standard treatment. So thank you, friends. You don’t know how much it means to me for you to read my words. If there is some way for me to reciprocate, please let me know. That would be super gracious of you.
Are you more into gratitude or being gracious? Who do you need to really thank? What cool way could you convey your gratitude to those who make your life a little lighter?
