This week was very stressful for me. With 15 credit
hours and working part time, I had lots of homework and projects and not enough
time to do it all. Thursday night I had committed to joining my family when they went to the opening of my
cousin's wife's art exhibit. I had almost resorted to eating cereal for dinner
before going, when my mom sent me a text asking if I wanted her to bring down
the leftover lasagna from my family's dinner that day. I happily accepted this.
When we left the art exhibit my mom gave me the leftover lasagna, along with
some salad. I was very grateful for this, and made sure to express my
gratitude.
The next day I got a text from my mom informing me
of how touched she had been by my expression of gratitude. It meant a lot
to her, especially since my dad has started a diet and no longer eats the food she prepares for the rest of the family. The kids who are still at home are picky eaters who haven’t
really learned how to show gratitude yet, so she sometimes feels unappreciated.
From this experience I have relearned the
importance of expressing gratitude. It ensures you continue to get food from
your mom ;). Jokes aside, though, gratitude really is important. People like to feel
appreciated, and showing gratitude also helps you feel better about yourself.
We all need to start showing more gratitude. It can have a great impact
on our relationships with others, and can help us feel better about ourselves.
This is something I will start doing - putting an extra effort into showing
gratitude.
It is interesting that I have this lesson near Thanksgiving. This post is not a Thanksgiving post - not that I don't think we should show gratitude at Thanksgiving, I just think that an increase in gratitude is necessary year round.
It's funny because I was just discussing this in a class. It is proven that expressing gratitude is the fastest way to increase one's happiness. And by doing so, you can also increase the happiness of those around you. It's also so important to be grateful because we really have so much to be grateful for! And I agree that we need to be more grateful all year round, not just in one season.
ReplyDeleteI felt this same way this weekend! My wife's family had a lot planned and yet I had a ton of stuff to do between work and school. I found that making it a priority to put family first makes a huge difference. I am so thankful for my family. I need to make the time for them.
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