By Mark McGee – My Take
What better time to talk about gratitude than Thanksgiving week.
Just when I thought gratitude was a lost art I was pleasantly surprised by a recent poll in the New York Post. I am seldom — if ever — pleasantly surprised
So you can imagine how shocked I was to know that people on the average express gratitude an average of 2,200 a times a year and an average of six times a day.
I, for one, am grateful to know this. In a world that appears to be ever more busy and more self-centered and contentious this is a poll that makes me smile.
Conducted by OnePoll, 2,000 people 21 and over were surveyed. It doesn’t say where they were located.
Thanksgiving is traditionally the start of the holiday season. According to the poll, 77 percent feel more gratitude during the holidays than any other time of the year.
I know I don’t show gratitude enough. There are so many things to be thankful for, but we often take them for granted.
Gratitude is a way of letting people know we appreciate them and especially the good things they do for us.
It is often verbal, but can also be a note, handwritten is always best I believe, a personalized present or a gift of someone’s favorite food or lunch or dinner at their favorite restaurant.
Based on this poll we don’t need the holiday season to remind us to be grateful. And that’s a good thing. In addition to what people do for us, we should be grateful to the daily blessings in our lives – sunrise, sunset, waking up to a new day, good health, family, friends, our houses and our lives in general with all of the ups and downs.
These are things we often take for granted because they are a daily part our lives. We forget how special these gifts of God are.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to be grateful. Be like the majority of those 2,000 polled. Make every effort to be grateful whenever possible. You might not get a second chance.
I often regret I have never said “thank you” enough to those who have been there for me through good times, but especially bad times when I needed them most.
Dr. Tiffany Sauber Millacci, in an article entitled “What’s Gratitude and Why Is It So Important” on the website “Positive Psychology” in February of 2017 writes, “In a state of gratitude, we say yes to life. We affirm that, all in all, life is good and has elements that make it worth living.”
My oh-my-do-we-need-that attitude now.
I want to be part of the 80 percent of the poll respondents who plan to make it a daily practice to express gratitude in 2024, but with the holidays upon us there is no time like the present to express a “thank you”.
