Being grateful and being kind are different processes but can be incorporated with each other. Gratitude comes in many forms: a thank you note, recognizing a person for their contribution in a group or tagging them on Facebook, or the reliable goody bag at the end of an event. Thoughtfulness is similar to thanking by sending a note to say I’m thinking about you, lifting someone up, or giving a person an omiyage (a gift to bring back to family and friends when you have traveled).
I admit it; I am not good at writing in my thankfulness journal. Honestly, I have written only three things that I am thankful for in that journal. I have heard that if you write down ten things that you were thankful for that day, you are a much happier person and content with your life. I do pray every day and thank God for three things – the people that I have met, the people I am going to meet, and the people that I will never meet. He knows the people that He will place in my life are people that will need the gifts that He has given me.
At times I have been thoughtful and thoughtless. I catch myself and assert what I think people should know, or I’ve been a real jerk and dismissed the person from collaborating with me and missed a golden opportunity.
Sometimes I surprise that person in such a way that I didn’t think my thoughtfulness made a difference. After 27 years one example has stood out for me. I used to send birthday cards to a lot of people before good old Facebook. I barely knew this person but found out his birthday and his address. He was amazed and was thankful for that one small act of thoughtfulness. I didn’t expect anything in return. I don’t think he knew my birthday or my address. At that age, everything was freely given, and I wasn’t guarded.
Life happened, and my thankfulness and thoughtfulness have changed. I think I am more thankful and less thoughtful. I want to work on having both equal and abundant and not be in competition with one another.
I am thankful for you my readers and joining me on this journey…..
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