Let Gratitude Give Us Peace

Every Monday is Gratitude Day.

• Gratitude helps us control anger.

Imagine if we cherish an attitude of gratitude in our heart, how can we get angry easily?

I just heard a story from a new female friend. One of her female friends got some disagreement on which way was closer with a taxi driver one day. On their way to the destination, the taxi driver was angry and kept scolding as he believed he knew the way better than she. At last, the driver sent her to another building which is named Tower 2, instead of the destination Tower 5. And he said it was her that led to the wrong tower.

Most of us may get angry and even quarrel with the driver. It’s quite normal. However, my friend’s friend said nothing but “God bless you. Have a nice day!” Then she left. The driver couldn’t believe what he had heard. Neither could we! How couldn’t she get angry? How could she even give bless to the driver? My friend told me, her friend was also unhappy, but she thought it was also the gift given by God and anger didn’t help anything. As a result, the driver apologized. A nice day really began for both of them.

• Gratitude helps us relieve anxiety.

Set a ritual for gratitude, every day or 3-4 times a week. Every time when we observe it, we close our eyes and show our appreciation to people or something, and we’ll get some moments of calmness. We appreciate not only good things, but hardships and difficulties. By thinking out ways to deal with the negative things, we relieve our mind from worrying and fearing them eventually.

How to Make Our Relationship Last Long

Every Friday is Relationship Day.

I’ve been watching Desperate Housewives these days, and got some thoughts on lasting relationship. I found one of the most important ingredients for a long-lasting relationship is compromising.

We all have our own habits, and our own ways of seeing and doing things. There is no right or wrong standards for them. They made who we are. However, in a relationship, we may need to change our habits or ways of living a little bit.

Bree is a master in housework. She keeps everything clean and in order, and does well in every aspect, cooking, sewing, gardening, etc. Ironically, no one in her family understands her and acknowledges her efforts. She’s pathetic, not only because she failed to get understanding and support, but she does not know what is more important in relationships.

Harmony is one of the goals in a relationship. In order to get harmony, we need to give up some of our habits or ways of living sometimes. Bree doesn’t realize that it is her sticking to the unimportant trivials and perfectionism that kind of ruined her relationship. Those things are so unimportant as making our partner happy and at ease. If she could be a little compromising in her perfectionism, her relationship will definately change.

Meanwhile, Rex is sticky as well. The biggest difference between Rex and Bree’s second husband, Orson, is that Orson knows when and how to be compromising. Although sometimes outwardly and temporarily agrees with Bree, Orson knows at that moment harmony is the most important thing, instead of arguing or just expressing his opinion. Compromising is not to give up our opinions totally, instead, it’s a timing-choosing about when and how to express our different opinions. Compromising is supposed to be a win-win strategy.

What’s your opinions? You are most welcomed to share with us in the comments.