The very act of thanking someone is a pleasant thing to do.

It is also a pleasant thing to receive.

Do you remember when someone last thanked you for something that you did?

Was it sincere, or was it a throwaway comment?

The chances are is that it was a throwaway comment, and the person that thanked you, they thanked you with a limited amount of enthusiasm.

Think back to the last time someone really thanked you, and you could tell that they meant it. The person that thanked you made firm eye contact. They smiled, and you could see in their face that it was coming from somewhere deep inside of them. The words were more than the simple phrase. It was all-encompassing. 

You remember that. 

Do you have the picture in your head now?

I bet that you have a smile on your face. You are happy now. You have reset your brain chemistry. 

Cool, you can sense the benefits of using recollections of the moments to be grateful for and in doing so, you change your thought patterns.

And that is the thing. It means so much more when it is real, tangible, and you can link it to something or someone that you can visualise.

It takes a vibrant story and a rich life to be able to have that material ready on hand. We have to work at creating that.

If we are not purposeful with it, then it just becomes a hollow daily routine.

We look deep inside ourselves with gratification mantras and morning routines, yet they are only half of the story. 

A flimsy narrative.

Do not get me wrong here. I am a big fan.

Daily gratitude is a powerful thing to do. I do it every morning, and it gives me the time to reflect and recognise what I have in my life and what I have around me. 

It helps me realise that it is the little things in life that count the most.

Daily gratitude for me is a list of five-morning reflections captured in my Day One app but only after giving myself the time to think. If you do not give yourself the time to think, you will often write the same sh*t. 

It will not mean much.

Give yourself the time and space in your head to think.

If you don’t, you will definitely run out of things or people to be grateful for when you are journaling (I recommend writing it down app/paper – your choice). 

You have to dig deeper into the reasons for you to be thankful.

You have to be the creator of the story.

The real challenge is living that gratitude as a daily routine. Wearing it as a jacket for all to see rather than something you keep in your pocket or on your iPhone to pull out to make yourself feel good.

Be super positive. Be on the lookout to say thank you and mean it. 

Recognise other people’s greatness, and you will receive the mental material you need to drive a fruitful gratitude practice.

It is the little things that can bring you joy. 

Recognise them.

Be thankful for them, and they will repay you in such kindness.

So much so that when you say or write out your morning gratitude, you can receive a beautiful mental story back in return.

“I am grateful for the small child that waved at me after I opened the door for his mother, and I am thankful that his mother asked him to say thank you to me. He did in his quiet broken English, and as he walked away, he looked back, and he waved. I am grateful that the world has such positivity in abundance when you look for it, and I am grateful that I waved back. 

I am grateful that he ran back to his mother and grabbed her hand again because it brought back memories of my children being so young. I am grateful for my children, who have grown up to be such beautifully crafted people and contribute so graciously to their world. I am grateful for the air that I breathe and the food I eat, and I am grateful for the day I am about to have.”

Thank you for reading this post, and I am grateful that you took the time out of your day to read my work.

Thank You

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