Gratitude

A writer once wrote:

"Why can't a bride find the time to write a thank you note for the 163 presents she received during the wedding when she can actually find the time to address 200 wedding invitations?" 

This is to address the issue of ingratitude in today's world. The word 'thank you'can be easily uttered, but oftentimes it is not a sincere expression. Most of the time, that simple phrase even goes unsaid. In some cases, gratitude is being replaced with flattery. Flattery are words that are said without being sincere, and it is mostly exaggerated. It may be due to an ulterior motive to gain a personal advantage. Nowadays, not all people are thankful. If you show an act of kindness to ten people, only few of them will mos probably express their gratitude. 

How about you? Are you a grateful person? Or have you ever met someone who acts like he is entitled to everything that he have, and doesn't feel thankful for he receives. It doesn't feel nice to be around such person right? So it is really important to cultivate the spirit of gratitude and be thankful for everything, even the simple acts of kindness showed to us.

Reasons why it's good to cultivate gratitude

• It can help you to maintain a positive view of yourself. The more you sincerely give thanks, the more you'll feel good about yourself, thus it can contribute to you having a positive mindset. And it is not only us who feels good when we give thanks, the person who receives it will feel better as well. Consider this: when you realize that someone really cares for you, is willing to do something for you and makes you feel that it is worth to make efforts for you, you'll feel good. You'll feel good because someone cares. And when you express a gratitude towards that person, he'll also feel that all his efforts didn't go in vain and that feels good too.

• Being thankful can draw people together and strengthen relationship. Gratitude can also make us gain true friends. Most people will agree that they like to feel being appreciated, so when we give a sincere thanks to someone who showed kindness to us, we are more likely to be drawn to each other.

• Being grateful will move you to be helpful. When you are a grateful person, you will always notice even the smallest acts of kindness shown towards you. And when you notice those kindnesses expressed to you, it'll have a domino effect, you'll be moved to be kind in return - it may be towards the person who showed kindness or to other people.

• Cultivating the spirit of gratitude will help you to focus on the positive. When you are a thankful person, you'll be most likely to eliminate negativity because your mind will make you concentrate and focus on the positive things, and you'll pay a little attention to problems. Thus, the more thankful you are, the more you'll see the positive aspects of things around you, and it will make you even more grateful. As a result, you more likely to be happy.

A Harvard mental health letter article says: “gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. It helps people relish good experiences, feel more positive emotion, deal with adversity, build strong friendship and improve their health."

This passage shows the positive effects or benefits of being thankful. It doesn't only benefit our emotional well-being, but it also includes our mental and physical health. So it is really vital to make gratitude a part of our daily lives.

Yes, we would love to be a grateful person and gain the benefits from doing so. We want to express our gratitude to people who do something good and shows us acts of kindness. But there is someone we should be most grateful to - God. God gives us many physical gifts every day, he continues to provide us with our needs - both physical and spiritual needs. He gives us the gift of life every day which is the most that we should be thankful of. How he is indeed! So why not ponder on the unending blessings and goodness you receive from him? When we meditate on our creator's generosity, we will be moved to appreciate him more and feel how much he loves and cares for us. And aside from just pondering on his generosity towards us, why not give a sincere thanks to him in prayer too? 

A bible text says: "give thanks to God, for he is good."

So count the blessings you received from him, ponder on the positive experiences you have in life and practice being grateful instead of taking the good things for granted! Thank you for reading!