Don’t Just Go Through It, Grow Through It

An attitude of gratitude can make a profound difference in our day-to-day lives. Yet, as we all come to know, not every day is filled with good things. We each endure difficult passages: illnesses, money trouble, work woes, relationship issues, the loss of a loved one, and countless others. These are the vicissitudes of life. However, it is the attitude you bring to each situation that makes all the difference. Share what you learned from others during these life lessons and offer help to a fellow traveler who is walking a hard path.

How to Have an Attitude of Gratitude

1. Be grateful and recognise the things others have done to help you.

2. When you say, “Thank you,” to someone, it signals what you appreciate and why you appreciate it.

3. Post a “Thank you to all” on your Facebook page on your blog, or send individual emails to friends, family, or colleagues.

4. Send a handwritten thank-you note. These are noteworthy because so few of us take time to write and mail them.

5. Think thoughts of gratitude-two or three good things that happened today-and notice calm settle through your head, at least for a moment. It activates a part of the brain that floods the body with endorphins, or feel-good hormones.

6. Remember the ways your life has been made easier or better because of others’ efforts. Be aware of and acknowledge the good things, large and small, going on around you.

7. Keep a gratitude journal to list the people or things you’re grateful for today. The list may start out short, but it will grow as you notice more of the good things around you.

8. Being grateful shakes you out of self-absorption and helps you recognize those who’ve done wonderful things for you. Expressing that gratitude continues to draw those people into your sphere.

9. Remember this thought from Maya Angelou: “When you learn, teach; when you get, give.”

10. Join forces to do good. If you have survived illness or loss, you may want to reach out to others to help as a way of showing gratitude for those who reached out to you.

Don’t Just Go Through It, Grow Through It

An attitude of gratitude can make a profound difference in our day-to-day lives. Yet, as we all come to know, not every day is filled with good things. We each endure difficult passages: illnesses, money trouble, work woes, relationship issues, the loss of a loved one, and countless others. These are the vicissitudes of life. However, it is the attitude you bring to each situation that makes all the difference. Share what you learned from others during these life lessons and offer help to a fellow traveler who is walking a hard path.

Teach Your Children Well

Sit down with your child and ask them to start a discussion about thankfulness. Provide a simple starting point: “Thank you for…” Then ask your child to draw a picture to go with the concept and get started writing the first of many thank-you notes for years to come!

Pass on the Wisdom of Grandmothers to Children Today

Rich, my beloved, was raised by his grandmother, whom he called “GM.” She had been the wife of the head of their village and clan in Southern China until the Japanese Occupation, when war devastated the community at the cost of many lives. She felt very fook sing (lucky) to have made it to America with her only son and they rebuilt their lives from scratch. She ran a Chinese laundry which I have no doubt was the finest in all of Flushing, Queens. While working and taking care of her grandchildren, she told stories of the homeland, including the hardest times of having to eat insects during drought and war, famine, and pestilence. She relayed all this with no bitterness, only a sense of great good fortune in getting to live in the land of plenty in the US. Day by day, story-by-story, she instilled values of excellence-gratitude, hard work, keeping a positive attitude no matter what-in her children and grandchildren. 

When Rich and his younger brother Jimmy went to public school in Queens, they made lots of friends in that melting pot metropolis, including a young African American boy who was really tall for his age and came from a family that had a hard time putting enough food on the table. One day, he stopped by her house with Rich and Jimmy. It took GM about two seconds to assess the situation and she told them to bring him by every day. She always made extra for their new fast-growing buddy. Having faced severe hunger during the war, GM was not going to let anybody in her circle go hungry.

  Every day, in ways large or small, she showed her family how to do the right thing-stand on the bus so others can sit, be polite even if others are rude and, above all, “Take care of your clan.”

How to Have an Attitude of Gratitude

1. Be grateful and recognize the things others have done to help you.

2. When you say, “Thank you,” to someone, it signals what you appreciate and why you

appreciate it.

3. Post a “Thank you to all” on your Facebook page on your blog, or send individual emails

to friends, family, or colleagues.

4. Send a handwritten thank-you note. These are noteworthy because so few of us take

time to write and mail them.

5. Think thoughts of gratitude-two or three good things that happened today-and notice

calm settle through your head, at least for a moment. It activates a part of the brain that

floods the body with endorphins, or feel-good hormones.

6. Remember the ways your life has been made easier or better because of others’ efforts.

Be aware of and acknowledge the good things, large and small, going on around you.

7. Keep a gratitude journal to list the people or things you’re grateful for today. The list may

start out short, but it will grow as you notice more of the good things around you.

8. Being grateful shakes you out of self-absorption and helps you recognize those who’ve

done wonderful things for you. Expressing that gratitude continues to draw those people

into your sphere.

9. Remember this thought from Maya Angelou: “When you learn, teach; when you get,

give.”

10. Join forces to do good. If you have survived illness or loss, you may want to reach out to

others to help as a way of showing gratitude for those who reached out to you.