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Photo by Martin Heigan
After half a year, everything is finally kinda settled down.
A lot of things happened in the past six months. Quitting the job, becoming jobless and hopeless, encountering a turning point, struggling to adapt to it……
I often think, after so many difficulties, there’ll be nothing that could beat me down. It reminds me of the song Thank You For Hearing Me from Sinead O’Connor, which says “Thank you for tearing me apart, now I have a strong strong heart”. The more hardships we experience, the stronger we become. No matter what will happen in the future, I’ll face it with a smile and confidence, with the belief that everything can be conquered with my strong will and faith.
I’ve travelled to a lot of places. During these trips, I’ve seen a sprout growing out of a rock. I was striked by the strong will to survive, even from a small plant. The strongest thing in the world is not the rock or stone, but our willpower to survive.
There are other hundreds of difficulties ahead, while I’ll march forward fearlessly with a peaceful mind that could empower me, and with gratitude from those who lent me a hand when I was in difficulty.
Every Monday is Gratitude Day.
Last week, my father and sister helped me a lot in dealing with some important thing in China as I’m in Singapore and couldn’t handle it by myself. It was a troublesome task as we all hadn’t experienced it. My father went to two relating departments at least 4 times.
I appreciated their help pretty much although they thought it was no big deal as they are my family. I still sent one thank-you message to them. I’ve decided to say thank-you in person when I go back to China.
In Chinese families, family members, especially parents, feel it’s their duty to help their children no matter how old the children are. As children, we feel it is what we deserve and seldom say thank-you to them. As I grow up, I feel more and more important to show my appreciation to my parents. If we could say thank-you to them no matter how insignificant the help is, they will feel what they have done is worthwhile and contented in spite of great hardship they may have gone through. It is what we should do.
Every Monday is Gratitude Day.
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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.
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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.
Every Monday is Gratitude Day.
I happened to hear this song (What Goes around Comes around)last Sunday after I read the Gratitude chapter (Chapter 7)in the book, The Science of Getting Rich.
The essence of his idea about gratitude is exactly showed in the name of the song, what goes around comes around. Wallace Wattles used action and reaction to elaborate the law of gratitude as a natural principle.
Action and reaction are always equal and in opposite directions. “Draw night unto God, and He will draw night unto you.” To fix our attention on the best is to surround ourselves with the best, and to become the best. The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best; therefore it tends to become the best; it takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.
Gratitude will lead our mind out along the ways by which things come; and it will keep us in close harmony with creative thought and prevent us from falling into competitive thought.
Gratitude is of significance at any time, even when you want to get rich.
Every Monday is Gratitude Day.
It is less powerful for us to become grateful by simply knowing the importance of gratitude.
Sometimes, after we do something good to others and see the happy faces and appreciation, we are so excited that we can’t help doing more for others. Little by little, we begin to cherish the friendliness and harmony we create around us and begin to become more grateful.
Helping others is not that difficult. It can be giving your ears and patience to a friend who needs to talk, can be sharing some of your time and thoughts to a friend who needs suggestions, or can be lending a sum of money to a friend who’s temporarily in monetary trouble.
You can also help strangers: someone who’s carrying a lot of things drops something and you help pick it up; a child happens to fall down to the ground and you raise him up; a homeless street singer performs for money and you drop some pennies……
Helping is everywhere. You’ll feel great when you do it and see the happy and appreciating faces. You’ll feel greater when you realize you may help shape our world a better place. You’ll thus feel grateful for what a beautiful world we are living in. How amazing!
Don’t ever ask for anything, just do the help from this moment on! You’ll find out how big the impact of the help is gradually.
Every Monday is Gratitude Day.
Many of us tend to have year-end review on new-year resolutions and yearly performance.
This year, I’ve decided to show my gratitude to all my friends through emails.
It is the best time to show our appreciation, as well as affection, towards our friends. Tell them how important they have been to us and how appreciated we are to their help, be the help big or small, out of their consciousness or unconsciousness.
This is a grateful and giving season. I call upon all of us, in our preferred ways, to show our appreciation and affection to our friends!
Every Monday is gratitude day.
I was a volunteer in Prison Toastmasters Speechcraft Program.
Last Saturday, in Table Topics session, I came up with a question to those prison inmates as “Is gratitude important in our lives?”
I was shocked that they had never heard of the word “gratitude”. But I don’t think it was all because they are prisoners. They are with little education and poor in English as well.
In fact, not only the prisoners, but many of my friends have never had the thought of gratitude. In their mind, gratitude equals to “thank you”. When someone helps you, you say “thank you” and that’s all. The truth is gratitude is not that insignificant.
- Gratitude is appreciation of life.
We are more likely to show our gratitude when we receive a favor from others. But what we can be grateful for is far more than that.
All that we experience every day is worth our gratitude. The pleasant weather, the blue and clear sky, a delicious meal, and a sound sleep…… The more you find that could be grateful for, the more contented you are with life. You will find life is so fascinating and full of beauty. You begin to live a life with appreciation.
- Gratitude is a positive attitude.
When we are disfavored, bothered or hurt by others, we tend to complain, get angry or revenged.
However, one coin always has two sides. Have you ever thought about the other side of the negative emotions you received from others? They give us the opportunities to learn, to grow, and to become tolerant and calmful. Shouldn’t we thank them for this?
Similarly, when we meet hardship, misfortune and stress, we should also thank them for giving us the opportunities to become brave to face them, to become determined to conquer them, and to become creative to work on the solutions. Those negative things are no more bad things, instead they become an asset for us!
Cherishing gratitude to everything, positive and negative, is sure to make us optimistic and happier.
Every Monday is gratitude day.
Last Thursday is Thanks-giving Day in the US. But I’m sure many people in other countries of the world also began to think about how important gratitude is and show their gratitude.
Gratitude is so important that I’ve demanded myself to think about it every week. What we are and what we’ve got today couldn’t have been achieved if it were no so many people helping us along the way. Do you still remember the friendly smile, the encouraging words, the consolation we received, the share of information……? Sometimes, we are helped without noticing it.
Those help made us feel warmed and find what a good place we are living in. In return for their help and the warmness we got, we become nicer not only to those who helped us, but to those who are in need of help. If everyone of us become nicer and help each other, our world will become an even better place. Isn’t that amazing? The world becomes better because of our efforts! Helping others is our right. Don’t give it up easily.
Every monday is gratitude day.
Without any preparation, I had my first Buddha teacher. In China, in this case we should have a big teacher-meeting ceremony. While in Buddhism, I guess simplicity and dedication are universal. It’s your heart, your sincere heart, that matters. What’s more, helping people reach a state of peaceful mind is supreme.
All can be freely used, tangible and intangible (teacher is just one case), although you’ll find how humble they are. It made me feel embarrassed. I’ve never used things for free. It also made me sigh with emotion and value the scarcity in our society. That’s why they have a donation box there to release your guilt, I suppose, or show your sincerity. It all depends on your own will. The best way to reduce your embarrassment is to get the peace and help more people get it.
Gratitude is not just saying thanks. It can be shown in other ways. It can also be shown by helping others to pass on the good.
May all who are pursuing the peace in mind succeed! Sadhu.
Gratitude should be a ritual of our life. I won’t restate all the benefits of gratitude. You may check Way to Happiness & Peace and Gratitude 2.0.
Therefore, I decided to mark every Monday as my gratitude day.
I’ve been in a very low mood these days. I’m afraid I have no enough guts to move forward. I couldn’t see any prospect ahead.
But this is life. We always have highs and lows. It happens to everyone.
I should thank life for letting me know the truth of it. Thanks for giving me hardship which helps me grow and gives me the chance to do introspection. I don’t think I’ve been working hard enough. I haven’t put all my efforts into work.
Life is still going on. No matter how tough it is ahead, we have to move forward. Rather than focus on the toughness and fail to step out of it, we should embrace it with delight. As long as you give it a try, you won’t feel regretted.
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