Gratitude

I was brought up to express thanks to people. As a young child, it felt quite a burden to “have” to say this and it was even more irritating to be reminded by my mother, father or some other adult in my life when I forgot to do this. Nevertheless, it became pretty much engrained into my behaviour and for the most part, I would remember to express it. The original rules around this linked to “being polite”

I’d state now that gratitude goes far further than simply being polite. When a thank you is expressed as an automatic response conditioned into us as politeness, I wonder if it we miss an opportunity to really make use of the power of the expression.

When you say thank you to someone, do you just say the words or do you really express and feel the emotion of the expression?

I guess there are times when we do and times when we don’t. In recent years, I’ve taken to adding to the words “Thank you” with the added words “bless you”. For some people, that may create some labels related to religion.  . I’d like to state that that is not the case in me. In fact I dislike the word religion purely because of how people do make assumptions and add labels. By adding bless you, I seek to give added value to the thank you in that in gratitude, I’m seeking to call in a feeling of wellbeing for the person I’m expressing it to. Lets call it an aura of positive energy. I’ve used “Thank you, bless you” simply when being served in a shop or fuel station.

Many people add "Bless you" as a response to sneezing

The sort of material I’m reading at the moment speaks a lot of positive energy being attractive and multiplying. The reverse of this is also true. This again comes back to choosing how we think and feel when empowered to do so. Getting to the point of making real choices for ourselves takes quite a bit of work on self development and self acceptance. I’ll state here and now that it is worth it.

As I’ve stated before, 2010 has been a great year for me. It’s had some challenges particularly with regard to bereavement. I’ve seen a friends lose family in tragic circumstances and I’ve experienced bereavement myself with regard to my mother and 2 very good friends of mine. Under other circumstances, these experiences would have brought me down, but I’ve learned to build some good foundations in my life that have helped me to file good and bad experiences appropriately.

At this end of year point, I want to give thanks for all the good experiences I’ve had this year and to give thanks for the power to endure the difficulties.

I give thanks and blessings to all those I’ve been in contact with this year for their interaction in my life. Extra special thanks and blessings to those who have motivated, encouraged, empowered and trusted me. You know who you are!

As a moderate Christian, I give thanks to God for all of this.

I encourage readers of this blog to take a calculated  risk (or perhaps you might consider it a step of faith) to evaluate your last year and give honest and heart felt gratitude to positive events that have happened in the past year, no matter how small they may seem compared to what may appear to be insurmountable difficulties.

1. Give thanks for being alive and to have experiences.
2. Give thanks for eyes to see (assuming you are reading this yourself) or ears to hear if somebody is reading it to you.
3. Think hard about some more simple examples such as these.

Here’s to 2011 in the hope that it will be a better year, regardless of how 2010 has been for us.

Marty

P.s. I'll be gigging with my band Beggars' Belief tonight. We've worked a version of Auld Lange Syne  thats not too disimilar to this version on YouTube. See below and enjoy.