Gratitude: A Key to Happiness 2

One thing I have noticed in many people including myself is that often times, we wait for special occasions to show appreciation, we even wait till thanksgiving to say thank you to the Lord who counts us worthy to see each day. Instead of being grateful for the undeserved blessings that we enjoy, we adapt the consumer-oriented approach by laying emphasis on the things we want but do not have. In my opinion, that is not the best approach to get anyone to do things for you. If instead of thanking me each time I go out of my way to give you something, especially one that you didn't earn, the only thing you do is tell me about the ones I am yet to do, I would be reluctant or better yet, not go further in giving you any other thing.

Gratitude: A key to Happiness 1

First, I would like to say thank you for taking time to read my post despite the fact that I have been MIA for a while now. I am indeed very grateful :-)

Our discussion for today is gratitude. Have you ever noticed that when you show gratitude to someone, not only does it make the person feel good, you also feel good? In essence, that means gratitude produces win-win situations, as Dr. Shrand, a Harvard Psychiatrist put it in his book Manage Your Stress: Overcoming Stress in the Modern World, "In our hearts of hearts, we just want to be valued by another person" he also said that "Being valued is the essence of gratitude". So you see, gratitude is a key to happiness because when you feel valued, you will be happy.

The gift or the Giver?

One thing I've learnt to do is to observe and learn from other peoples actions/inactions, and funny enough, a lot of my lessons recently have been from kids.

Just the other day, I called a three year old three times but got no response from her, unknown to me, she heard me all along but refused to respond for two reasons: one, she was watching a program on the television and two, she thought I wanted to tell her to clean up a mess she made earlier. Unknown to her, I got her favorite yoghurt and wanted to give it to her. Can you believe my young sweetheart ignored my calls (despite the fact that I shouted her name several times)? However, as soon as I showed her the yoghurt, she came running to me with the biggest grin ever, took the yoghurt and left as fast as she came, barely mumbling "thank you".