I can't remember where I heard or read this, but recall being introduced to the idea that living in a state of gratitude is living in a state of prayer, or constant communion with God, or the divine. Either way, every once in a journal entry I try to make gratitude list, and usually I find that gratitude begets more gratitude. This flood of gratitude can materialize in various ways, and one of the most simple way is through thank you cards. It's admittedly humbling to receive one. Almost always handwritten, you can feel the gratitude emanate from the card They remind me not only to be grateful, but to share and express my thankfulness, and that people care, even if it's just a 'thanks for listening card' (which this picture is). Gratitude, like almost everything in life, should be shared. How it connects us :)
It's funny that I should read this blog post immediately after posting a thank you to someone I've been working with on a volunteer project for the past several months. And my thank you came right after his thank you to me. Granted, posting a thank you online doesn't feel quite as heartfelt as you are handwriting it, but I guess you never know if it will mean just as much to the person who is reading it.
ReplyDeleteThere's also something jarring when thank you's aren't received in the way they were intended. I had another experience with this tonight...a little more mundane... this one involved pizza. Anyway, I was ordering pizza from the person working at a drive-thru, and she was just incredibly rude to me, interrupting me twice while all I was trying to say was "One pepperoni and one cheese." I was upset about it at first, but while she was getting the pizza I was thinking that I don't know her, she might be having a really awful day etc... so I decided I would drop any edge or attitude I might have felt and just simply thank her when she gave me my food... nothing sarcastic, just as genuine a thank you as if nothing had gone wrong between us. So I said, "Thank you" and smiled as she handed me my food..... ....and she slammed the window shut in my face/hand without saying anything to me. And I was REALLY upset then.... and it bothered me for a really long time tonight. But now I'm reading your post and thinking how gratitude is this invisible energy, and when it is genuine, it can really make someone's day... and when it is disingenuous, or not returned... it can break someone's day. And ultimately, that just goes to show how important a thing it is in our day to day lives.
Wow. I really didn't intend to go off on that pizza tangent! :) Anyway, THANK YOU for posting this.
:) Loved the pizza tangent! Reminds me of something I read, I think in conversations with God, but I can't remember, something to the effect of 'you can't control how the message is received, only how it is sent'. Send genuine gratitude and hope it's embraced by the receiver.
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