Expressing Gratitude Helps Recognize the Things Most Important to Us in Life
Writer / Chris Palmore
Photography Provided
It’s often said a good practice is to list three things we are grateful for every day. The idea is to take time each day to think about
all the things and people we are grateful for in life.
The way to make things memorable and to create a more lasting impact is to list everything connected to the things we’re grateful for as well. For instance, I am grateful for my coffee. I’m grateful for the water with which I make it, the beans, the machine in which I make it, the cup out of which I drink it, the warmth, and, after twenty minutes or so, the little perks the caffeine is going to give me.
Expressing gratitude in this way is much more powerful for the person, the person it’s for, and the audience. It intensifies it, adding another dimension to the initial expression of gratitude.
The idea is taking the simple statement of what we are grateful for and expanding it. It will make our appreciation grow. This is wonderful to do when listing people we are grateful for in our life. For example, I am grateful for my dad. I’m not only grateful for my dad, but also for all the love, care and support he has given me. I’m grateful for him teaching me about love and dependability and for all the adventures and all the fun we’ve had together.
I am also grateful for water. I’m grateful I can drink it and use it while cooking, washing and cleaning. I’m grateful that it flows endlessly into my home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I’m grateful that somewhere out there, people are checking the water and filtering out elements that would be harmful to me. I’m grateful that I was born in this day and age, so I don’t have to travel great distances by foot to a lake or a stream or a well to collect it. I’m grateful that I always have easy access to it.
Let’s take it a step further. I am grateful that I get to pay the water company every month for this amazing service that really is worth far more than its cost to me. I love this incredible life-sustaining substance that flows endlessly within steps of where I lay my head. I can think of all the people and all the time it took to lay the pipes and how the creation of new types of metal made it safer. Then, there’s the filter cover on the sink, the adjustable volume and pressure and the adaptable temperature.
Naming what we’re grateful for is the tip of the iceberg in relation to how amazing something or someone is and how much gratitude can be given.
