Blog - November 7, 2022

Day 7 : The November Happiness Challenge 2022

Gratitude

“And if you are thankful, I will give you more” (Quran: Surah Ibrahim, vs 7) If the Almighty can clearly tell us to be grateful because it indeed opens the pathway to more blessings, then I don’t think we should require more convincing that Gratitude is one of the best traits anyone should possess. Many times, we get so lost in seeking more bounty from our Creator, that we forget to thank Him for the numerous blessings and gifts He has bestowed on our lives. I have a habit of thanking God after my daily prayers continously without asking of anything. This is because I have realized that Gratitude indeed opens more doors and shows total submission to His will. Many of us pray to God for particular things and when we get at least one of those things, we briefly thank Him and move on to the next requests. Our God is a faithful God and He is better than Man, so of course He would keep blessing us regardless, but why not follow what He has instructed us to do about being thankful to guarantee more and better blessings from Him?  Yinni Yinni, Keni se mi  (A Yoruba adage) The above adage loosely translates to : “Thank someone and someone does more”. Can you see how similar it is to the aforementioned verse from the holy book? This is to tell you that beyond religion, even our cultures support and encourage Gratitude. I’m making this inference because I am a Yoruba lady but I believe other cultures especially in my country, encourage this too. It is very heartbreaking to see people receive things in form of help/assistance or any form of kindness without appreciating it. The person who does the good deed might not really care about your nonchalance but if you indeed thank them, they would feel better for it and would be driven to do more. Now, don’t get me wrong. We shouldn’t practise gratitude solely because we are expecting more. No,we should practise gratitude because it is the right thing to do and it shows courtesy. I see and hear people say that others should do things without expecting thank you and I chuckle. There are probably valid reasons for them to arrive at this advice but please don’t bring that close to me. I expect Thank you when I do things for people, and I would never be reminded to thank people for their kindness towards me. What does it really cost us? Having the habit of grattiude goes a long way and it isn’t only for grand gestures. Even the everyday efforts from others that make our lives better and easier should be appreciated no matter how much we feel entitled to it. For instance, if your parents always give you money for upkeep, or they pay your school fees, or they make moves to ensure that you are okay, always thank them in many ways and don’t just receive the gestures with entitlement. They could have decided to not do any of those things, you know. Look around you! My partner always thanks me after every meal. He never misses it and sincerely? It makes me feel very good. Imagine  doing something daily that you are used to doing, and the recipient still makes it a habit to thank you for it, you will feel great and encouraged. Another example is the way my friends always thank me for being a good friend to them. I am a sucker for words, so you can imagine the joy on my face when they do this. I even once received a gift with the title: “Thank you for being my friend” and I don’t need to tell you how overjoyed I feel. I need to reiterate that I don’t only receive gratitude, I give it too. My friends would tell me that I can thank someone from now till forever and we’d all laugh about it. I rarely forget favours and I try as much as possible to not feel entitled to people’s time and assistance. So, if you do something for me no matter how little you think it is, I will thank you so much you’d get tired of it. What really does it cost us to be thankful? I once tweeted that Vendors should aknowledge when their customers pay them and also send a thank you, and customers can also do this when they receive items they are pleased with, e.t.c. It surprised me the number of people who didn’t think it necessary to thank their customers for paying since it was a transaction but my point didn’t negate that an exchange happened, I am just saying, why not thank them for keeping to their end of the bargain? Again, what does it cost us? The attitude of non gratitude is what makes many people consider what others do to them as bare minimum. You go online and see someone praising their partners for the wonderful things they do to make their life better and you’d see people there telling them that it is bare minimum and they shouldn’t be thanking a fish for swimming. This is always mind boggling to me because why does someone else’s gratitude bother you so much? This person knows why they are thanking their partner for these things and they know that even if it was their role, they still needed to be thanked for doing it because what if they don’t? I implore all of us to imbine the habit of gratitude from today and if we already practise it, we shouldn’t ever stop. Saying and typing ‘Thank you’ should never be far from our mouths and hands. Let us always be described as the people of Gratitude, it is a very beautiful description. Today, we are going to reflect and say the things we are thankful for.  For me, I am thankful for the ability to put my thoughts into words and write them, and I am thankful for you, my amazing reader. I’ll be back. OBA