Thank You!
If the only prayer you say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
Meister Eckhart
Thank you
We often forget to say it. We overlook so many good things and people in our lives. We take so much for granted and forget the power of ‘thank you’.
It’s easy to address.
Start with whispering the words ‘thank you’ in your mind. For basics like:
- being alive
- the fact you can breathe
- see
- hear
- get out of bed
- walk
- dance …
Thank you for the gift of life – it doesn’t matter who you’re saying it to!
What you focus on will grow
Neurons that fire together, wire together. This means that each one of us has the power to use the mind to change the brain to change the mind for the better. To benefit oneself and other beings.
Rick Hanson
So this internal power is yours. Bring awareness to the quality of your thoughts because your thoughts create your life.
‘Thank you’ for the gift of your life. For your unique strengths and qualities that are yours alone.
Then look around you and notice the good things and people surrounding you.
As you focus more often on saying ‘thank you’, the good things seem to grow and become more abundant. And expressing thanks to others can be received with equal gratitude! 
Try it now – look around you. Name all the things there are to be thankful for! And the people who make a difference to your life.
You may be drinking a cup of tea. When you sit with complete focus, in calm and relaxing surroundings, it can become a little moment of relaxing joy!
It’s the small pleasures
You can give yourself just a few moments to enjoy something so simple. These are the small pleasures of life that give you a boost, a little lift, a daily joy.
I heard Terry Hall of The Specials on the radio talking about how one simple daily joy is enough to keep him going (as someone living with bipolar disorder).
That morning he’d noticed a fold-able bike which reminded him of the magic of origami. That little joyful moment lifted his spirits. Gratitude leads to these little mind-shifts!
You may be in the middle of busyness and chaos, but there is always some beauty to notice. Take a peek across to the window and notice that little robin hopping along the ledge.
Or see the clouds scudding across the sky.
These provide simple, joyous moments. Say ‘thank you’ to yourself for stopping and noticing. And for it’s existence.
‘Thank you’ to nature and the universe for being and doing what it does best.
Develop your appreciation
As Anne Lamott says:
Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds… Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open to business.
- Keep your eyes open!
- Express your thanks to colleagues, friends, family
- Be thankful for all the amazing things your body allows you to do and how clever it is to keep working even when you sometimes treat it with less care than it deserves
- The greatest challenges can also be gifts in disguise – search for ways to be thankful even for those
Grow your gratitude in simple ways:
- Actively seek things out around you to appreciate
- Write down daily thank-yous in a special notebook
- Write your moments of happiness down onto pieces of paper when they happen and store them into a special gratitude jar
- Seek some aspect of thanks even amidst the most difficult experience
Remember the words – thank you! And notice how it makes you feel!
Keep saying it!
You might like to read this blog post:
Use Gratitude to Improve your Focus
Be Mind Full of Good by Rick Hanson
Yvette Jane – Mindfulness & Meditation Coach
I’ve updated this blog since it was published in May 2014