Attitude of Gratitude [CC # 3]

Year 2005. I was in Mumbai then. During weekend we visit the big malls there to celebrate friends' birthday or just have a group lunch or dinner. One weekend we visited Pizza Hut in the famous R-Mall to celebrate our friend Venkat's marriage.  We savored some of the fine Pizzas of different variety. After the food we paid our bills and came to the entrance.

To show we are pleased, we rang the bell hanging at the door. We heard a "Phank You"! Yes, we heard a phank you and  not a thank you. None of the boys looked at us, or the person at the counter. Everyone was busy with their job of taking orders, serving orders, printing bills. They didn't even look like they are willing to say thank you. And yes, all these turned their Thank you into a Phank you. I have never ringed a bell since then. I don't feel like. Because that is not the way a "Thank you!" is conveyed.

As the pace of our life speeds up, we tend to lose some of the simple gestures of life. The more is the pace the greater is the impact of these gestures in some of those most deserving of them. We have forgotten the proper usage of the two tools - Thank you and Sorry. These are to be felt and expressed at the right time. A birthday card sent a day late is like a month old newspaper!.

Many of us are too shy to say thank you or sorry. We want to put them across nicely, when we are in good mood. This is where we actually lose the right opportunity, the right context and the right moment to express our gratitude.

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but also is the father of all virtues. Do not forget that 'thank you' is a poor wage. And whenever, someone has done a job for you, you must pay and then give 'thank you' as a bonus. Your reputation will spread slowly and steadily.

When you convey your thanks:

                   What you express in words is 10%

                   What your eyes convey is 20%

                   What you say from your head is 30%

                   And what you say from your heart is 40%

The same goes for 'Sorry'. So, my dear friends, you can fool yourself but not others.

If you have not said "Thank you" or "Sorry" yesterday, where you should have said so, do the next best thing and say it today.

When Jesus Christ cured 12 lepers only one stayed behind to thank him. Today, one in a hundred is fine. Do you want to be the one or one among ninety nine?

Likewise, there is one more simple gesture that is almost lost and has profound consequences. It is the lost art of writing "Thank-you Notes".

Everyone loves getting e-mails. It's a fact of human nature. We all have a deep seated need to feel important. I truly love receiving letters/fwd. messages/feedback. I feel great when I receive a note on my speech delivery from my fellow TMs and Guests. A sincerely written thank-you note has the power to build and to cement relationships with those heartfelt letters of thanks. It shows you care; you are considerate and human.

By saying thank you and sorry promptly, you can reduce your stress a lot in your personal as well as professional life. Every morning when you get up, Thank everybody, for all that they have given to you. In this way, you start your day with gratitude and this attitude of gratitude will help you deal with the above simple gestures throughout your day.

When you go to places in a taxi, after you pay the driver, bless him with the bonus of 'thank you'. This way, you are actually depositing the blessings into your love account. These deposits will give you far more happiness than any amount of money in your bank account.

Go out and buy a package of "thank you cards" and start writing. You and other people that you deal with will be glad you did. My teacher, Ms. Swati, was glad for I wrote her a thank you letter. And I am glad for she acknowledged my act with an Archies thank you greeting card.

To explain it more, the tree that has the most fruits is the tree that bends to the ground. Practicing humility shows that you respect others and in return you too receive respect from others.

I leave you with this quote well stated by Emerson "Without the rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar".

♥ ~ Smile

[Some of the thougths and statistics are inspired / extracted from books written by Dr. Pramod Batra and Mr. Robin Sharma.]