5 Reasons to Say “Yes” to Saying “Thank You”
Guest post by Julia Osovskaya
There are many reasons why one decides to start their own gratitude journal, be it a physical notebook, a document on your computer, a blog or a helpful smart phone application, and while for some the decision is a no brainer, others can get hesitant. “What exactly is so attractive about this whole gratitude movement? And why should I express my thanks daily, if I’m going to express them at all?”, one may ask.
People who are no new to the practice know its power, and it seems that the more serious they are about the whole thing, the more they tend to get out of the experience. Thankfulness is known to increase happiness and bring new awareness of one’s blessings, and people practicing gratitude daily report higher levels of satisfaction with just about any aspect of their lives. With these kind of benefits being quite obvious and widely advertised to all, one may wonder if there’s more to it, some hidden perks of sorts, something that can be easier sensed and easily defined or even if there’s just a simpler reason to try it than the good old pursuit of happiness.
Along with the things you may have heard about the power of gratitude before, there are unexpected benefits of being thankful too. So, if you need a good reason to give gratitude a try, here are 5 main “attractions”:
1. A “thank you” a day keeps the worries away.
Giving sincere thanks for at least one good thing about your day is guaranteed to produce at least one positive thought, and taking a moment to focus on something good you take away from the time you could have instead spent worrying or getting upset. So with each thing you’re feeling thankful for, no matter how small or even insignificant such thing may seem to you, there’s one less moment left for worry. One by one, you make room for joy.
2. Being thankful helps you connect with your true self.
Gratitude can give you a clue to what your true personality is and help you better understand your true values and needs. When you give thanks daily, at some point you start seeing patterns – the kind of things you’re most often thankful for or things you didn’t even know meant that much to you. You get to know yourself better and it leads you to discovering your true identity. And as Richard Grant once said, “the value of identity, of course, is that so often with it comes purpose”. What follows is a purposeful life, which means a happier life.
3. Gratitude can turn a negative experience into a powerful driving force.
Finding a way to be thankful for a negative emotion or a bad life experience helps you transform this negativity into a positive all-consuming force. Whether it’s a mistake you made or an unfortunate life event that happened to you, finding a brighter side to it not only helps you see it as something you can overcome and deal with, but it also helps you learn and grow from the experience. And knowledge is power - it helps you find the strength to move on and prepares you for future setbacks.
4. Gratitude doesn’t cost a thing, and it’s a technique easily adopted.
Gratitude is free, because you already have what it takes – you just take all you already own and approach it consciously. It’s easy to use too, because most of us were taught how to say “thank you” as kids, and everyone has tried saying “thank you” at least once (or so I hope!). But giving it a little more thought and seeing it from a new point of view may help transform your life experience for so much better, as consciously acknowledging a blessing makes your life instantly feel richer.
5. A “thank you” is a powerful tool in fighting back.
And this is not a joke. Just try saying “thank you” instead of a harsher word or giving in to a whole swearing tirade next time a stranger is being inappropriately impolite, arrogant or rude. The point being, it’s just hard keep being a jerk to someone who just thanked you for it. So just look them in the eyes, smile gently and calmly (and even cheerfully, if you dare) say “thank you!” And either walk away or keep smiling at them until they do. Works wonders every time, trust me on that one!
Image courtesy of LaurieCoyleDesigns
Julia Osovskaya is a thankful spirit who believes that positive thinking, optimistic attitude and thankful mindset go a long way. Having completed a personal blog challenge of giving thanks daily for 365 days in a row, she has made it a mission to spread the word about life transformational power of gratitude. In addition to being a thankful person, Julia writes for blogs about chair design and all things golden and works in the social media marketing.
