Practicing Gratitude

Earlier today, I dropped by the Shakey's restaurant near our neighborhood and I interacted with an on-duty supervisor WHO seems new to me [at least for that branch].  After giving her a spate of details regarding my inquiries and need for help, she DIDN'T waste time to attend to all my requests as she asked me to be seated.  Before I walked off, I asked for her full name and for transparency sake, I confided to her that I will be sending a customer feedback to their company and I'd like to commend her.  That was one small, minor and petty way of Practicing Gratitude📗📙📘

Zillion times in the past and till to date, YES, I would admit that I do 'walk the talk', pitching and 'preaching' tirelessly the need for us to be PRACTICING GRATITUDE.  WHY?  For a zillion reasons and topping that mile-long list is that it cost ALMOST NOTHING to commend OR appreciate the good deeds of someone.  YES, PRACTICING GRATITUDE can be a 'game changer'.  It can have the far-reaching benefits and effects, from improving our own mental health to boosting our relationships with others.  I remember WHEN I was at the far-flung pineapple farms of Dole Food and our HP server got hit with a hardware problem and the only solution was to have a replacement part sourced out from Manila [which was a good 2 hours by air travel]!!!

WHAT did I do next?  I chartered a private plane and flew the HP engineer all the way down.  After our problem got fixed, come next day, I emailed a commendation to the HP country manager.  Months later, that HP engineer called me to thank me because he was promoted 2 levels up in the HP hierarchy.  YES, living your life with GRATITUDE does help us to notice those LITTLE WINS, like the bus showing up right on time, a stranger holding the door for you [especially if you literally got your hands full], OR the sun shining through your window WHEN you wake up next morning.  Let's think about of these SMALL MOMENTS and let us string them together to create a web of well-being that, over time, strengthens our ability to notice the good✅✅✅

As I am NOT an expert, allow me to refer to the experts' advice that 'BUILDING YOUR CAPACITY FOR GRATITUDE ISN'T DIFFICULT'.  And I CAN'T agree less because as I have done it through the years, it just takes PRACTICE.  And before you know it, you have developed that habit-forming GRATITUDE PRACTICE.  And the more you can bring your attention to that which you feel grateful, the more you'll notice to feel grateful for.  SO HOW?  Start by OBSERVING.  Notice the THANK YOUs you say and note how much of a habitual response is it💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  From a personal perspective, I'll share HOW I feel when PRACTICING GRATITUDE.  Firstly, I intentionally affirm the 'GOOD THINGS' or 'GOOD DEEDS' I experienced OR received.  And secondly, I acknowledge the role of the person[s] WHO were instrumental for me to experience such GOODNESS.  As an afterthought, minutes and hours and even days and months after, I feel good for PRACTISING GRATITUDE and that meant a lot for my mental health as well.  It's a low-hanging fruit for us to reap, dude WHEN we PRACTICE GRATITUDE😃😃😃