God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?” ~William A. Ward
She looked at me with eyes that were fading with age, but still had the sparkle of a spirit that refused to age. “Thank you so much; you are my angel today.” All I had done was open a door for her at the grocery store.
She said thank you with such sincerity, her words poured a kind of warmth through me that reminded me that we are here to delight in the wonders of life and show our gratitude every single day.
I want to start a gratitude revolution. Why? Because I really stink at it. I’m great at finding the flaw in every situation, or even miss enjoying a beautiful moment because I’m dreading the moment when it ends.
And maybe it would be a relief to focus on other people. I believe that the downside of social media is that it can potentially turn us into, as my daughter and son would say, attention whores. We are so focused on who is looking at us we are forgetting to notice other people. We have forgotten to say thank you, because we’re too busy looking at small boxes that carry often meaningless messages from people we don’t know.
Therefore, I want to start an experiment called the Gratitude Revolution. Here are my gratitude revolution guidelines:
- I am going to try and thank somebody at least five times a day.
- I am going to move beyond a mumbled “thanks” and specificy why I am grateful. If they hold a door for me, or are especially good at what they do, I am going to say “Thank you for helping me – you are really kind to do that.”
- I am also going to proactively reach out to one person a week who has helped me in the past and write them a note of thanks. This includes searching for past teachers and mentors who made a difference in my life.
A gratitude revolution is something that I’m sure has all the potential of being viral, in the very best sense. I think it could change the world.
Anybody want to join me?