As I reflect on my personal journey of growth and development, I am ever mindful that I owe much to others. I stand on the shoulders of family members, teachers, friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers. Small gifts of kindness, advice or support at critical times helped to keep me journeying onwards. Such gifts are still powering the winds that help to keep me uplifted each and every day.
As I reflect on these small gifts – I know in my heart – that today would have been totally different without those gifts of yesterday, and tomorrow will be positively different from today: A tit-bit of advice that put me in sync with my internal desire to be a teacher; A one sentence comment that reframed worry into positive wonder and curiosity to take up my spiritual journey; A small envelope with less than $100 that – at the time – was a fortune because it came at the right time. That small gift was the ‘tipping’ point that helped me decide that I should “go for it”, “take the plunge”, leave home and attend college.
G. B. Stern says that, “Silent gratitude is not much help to anyone.” And, so I have been on a mission of finding all of my benefactors and thanking them for their help. Many have responded to me that they didn’t know and wasn’t aware of the impact of their assistance on me. Truth be told – I am only now coming to the fullest awareness of that myself.
And, it feels good to be sharing this with them.
What about you? Are you harboring “silent gratitude” in your heart?
According to Shakespeare, “Ingratitude is monstrous.” Several of my benefactors are persons whom I can very easily find great fault with – either for things in their public or private lives, or things they have said or done. And, sometimes I do critique them – directly and in person. Yet, I am always grateful – always publicly articulating and demonstrating my deepest appreciation for their support when I needed it. Though it might have been long in the past… theirs was a supportive and unhesitatingly given shoulder shared in the right place and at the right time.
- How are you demonstrating your gratitude for small acts of kindness?
- What are you doing to helping others in need?
- And, most importantly, what opportunities have you passed up to say, “Thank you” for a benevolent act?
Whether it happened yesterday or ten years ago, reach out with an attitude of gratitude.
“I am thankful for small mercies. I compared notes with one of my friends who expect everything of the universe, and is disappointed when anything is less than best.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
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