The focus for the 9th week (Feb. 28 – Mar. 05) of the 52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge was:
How Did You Do & Feel?
Expressing gratitude is not as easy as it sounds. It gets weird if the person you have to express gratitude to, it not exactly you friend. Well at least, that was my experience last week when I got to the 3rd person I was to express gratitude to.
The question of how I did and felt, is about last week’s focus in this 52 weeks of gratitude challenge.
How Did I do?
According to me, I didn’t do so bad in the end. It took me 8 days to actually express gratitude 3 different people. I have expressed gratitude for or about several people on my blog before. So I decided that this list should not include anyone I have written about before.
As a result, last week’s challenge was a bit challenging. A couple of names came to mind, but I could not write about them a second time on this blog. For some other, I realized that I have expressed gratitude to some in recent times. For some others, I realized that I express gratitude them like once or twice each year or so.
I had to think about those other people for whom I should be grateful, and then in turn express that gratitude. This challenge forced me to pay attention to everyone I interacted with last week. I was looking to see how much impact these people had in my life.
Behold, on the 8th day, I had expressed gratitude to 3 people. It took me 8 days because the initial 3rd person was not exactly my friend.
How Did I Feel?
The first person who was to be the 3rd person, is the woman who helps my mother with chores around the house. I have hardly ever had a conversation with her, but I have always appreciated the work she did around the house.
Last Saturday though, I had just gotten out of the shower when I realized how clean my floor was. I often too feel lazy to mop, so I don’t get to mop my room as often as I should.
Even so, I will sometimes notice that she mopped my floor. It might not seem that much, but I was grateful! So bringing myself to say what was in my mind last week, was difficult for me.
Whenever she’s around though, I always do what I can to reduce the amount of work she has to do. I do as much as I can before I have to do something else. Just because she get paid, doesn’t mean I can’t make her job easier, you know.
But the other 3 people to whom I expressed gratitude to, were all my friends. Not just friends, but friends for a long time. One has been my friend for 10 years, the other for 9 and the third has been my friend for about 8 years now.
So how did I feel? It felt good! I know how it feels when someone expresses deep felt gratitude to me, and I cannot compare both situations. But I can tell you that it felt good! It felt like I was doing the right thing. I felt like I was doing them good, but saying “I’m grateful for your friendship”.
I also know the importance of reassurance. I realized something as I expressed my gratitude to them. I was reassuring them that I do not (and will not) take our relationships for granted. I was also reminding myself of their place and positions in my life. Thus, we can say that expressing gratitude often, offers mutual benefits both everyone involved.
Now What?
Expressing gratitude to 3 people last week taught me something, as I write about it now. I believe that this is something everyone should do often. I will commit to being mindful about expressing gratitude on a regular basis.
Your turn… has someone expressed gratitude to you lately? Or have you expressed gratitude to someone lately? How did you feel?
Please share in the comments section below.
7 things I was grateful for during the 9th week of this 52 weeks of gratitude challenge:
- It’s 65 days into the year 2016, and I thank God that I’m not doing so bad on reaching my goals for the year
- I’m really grateful for the rain of today. At least, we get to have a break from this brain frying heat!
- I’m thankful for post offices
- Some people learn about business from life or from family. But not everyone has that opportunity. So I’m grateful for business schools
- I’m thankful that we were able to register for TOEFL for one of DeQeo Consulting’s students today
- I’m thankful for airports, one of the gateways from one country to another
- I’m thankful for business centers, places where we can get printing, scanning and similar jobs done at
View last week’s post: www.kheme.tk/2016/02/gratitude-challenge-week-8-express-gratitude-to-3-people/