Welcome back to the “How to Be” Series! Today we will be talking about what you can do to be more grateful. Please enjoy the second entry:
It was getting dark and the only light around us was extinguishing. We were all tired from working hard all day and wanted to finish the task at hand. Suddenly, the last nail was in and the emergency home was complete. It was a total success, all the effort and sweat paid off. We were able to finish the hardest home in the roughest terrain. I’m never going to forget the look in the eyes of the mother of five children feeling the joy of fulfillment. I volunteered that summer to build emergency homes in Latin America and witnessed the meaning of gratitude. To this day, this moment still remains fresh in my head.
Today I want to share with you what I learned during my trip and how you can be more grateful:
1) Learn the Value of Time
Everything takes time and time’s forever running out. This was the first concept I learned. Therefore, I needed to learn the value of other people’s time before I could genuinely be grateful for them. I realized that this mother knew the effort it would take to go from living without a floor to building a fully enclosed home. She couldn’t do it alone and she knew it. She appreciated our effort and valued our time greatly. When you start seeing the time that others takes for you, you will start feeling more grateful.
When you ask others for a favor or even when they do you a favor without asking for it, try to catch yourself and think of the effort it took that person to get it done for you. It could be something small like handing you a glass of water or big like helping you move. They sacrificed their time to invest it in your life. Be grateful for the time others take to go out of their way to help you.
2) Don’t Take Anything for Granted
Sometimes we will not have the means and methods to give back. The mother we built the home for was living in extreme poverty and had very little. She was not able to give back what she had received, and she understood that acts of kindness go a long way. The mother expressed her gratitude through the meals she made for us and the attention she gave us to make sure we were well.
Even if you don’t have ways to give back physically, you can always give back spiritually and emotionally. This means that there will be times when people will reach out to lend you a helping hand and even though you may not have anything for them at that moment, you can be grateful and express your gratitude through acts of kindness. When this happens to you, try to complement them or make sure they are well served, and treat them with love and respect.
I try to catch myself constantly in order to be grateful, to value the time of others, and to appreciate the effort that others make for me. Keep these two reminders close to you and appreciate the people who are there to help you. Are you ready to be more grateful?