If She Can Write A Thank-You Note You Can Too

Thank-You Note

My wife received a thank-you note from someone today. This is not just anyone.

The person she received a thank-you note from has a husband who is dying from cancer right now. He does not have much longer to live. This has been a long battle, he has fought bravely and he has lived much longer than the doctors thought he would. But, his time is coming to an end.

The family has little children as well. In the past few months the wife’s mother died from cancer. Her husband is staying in the hospital because his body is too weak for him to live at home right now. So you can imagine how much time they spend at the hospital.

I can’t imagine the stress and anxiety she is living through right now.

Yet, she found the time to make a handmade card and write a thank-you note for a minor thing that my wife did to help.

Do you know how much this thank you note meant to my wife?

What’s Your Excuse?

The common courtesy of writing thank-you notes is something that is, unfortunately, a dying thing.

I am horrible at writing thank-you notes.

I am horrible at writing thank-you notes when my life does not include the prospect of a spouse passing away and dealing with how to help young children deal with losing their dad.

I know that I don’t have any excuse for being so lousy at this other than laziness.

How is your track record at writing thank-you notes?

If it is lousy, what’s your excuse?

The Moral: Write Thank-You Notes, You Have No Excuse

Writing a thank-you note is a small gesture that means a lot. It does not take much time and the time invested is well worth what it means to the person who receives it.

If you owe someone a thank you, go right now and write them a note. Everyone who reads this can probably think of someones they can say thank you to.

Shut off your browser, don’t email the person, but hand write them a note. Both they and you will be thankful you did.

Are You Thankful For Anything?

Group of turkeys

Image via Wikipedia

What are you thankful for? Are you thankful for anything?

When was the last time you took time to think about what you were thankful for? Thanksgiving is a great time to do just that.

I have some friends who are living in the United States but are from a different country. They love Thanksgiving because they think it is such a great idea to have a national holiday with the purpose of giving thanks.

Do you take this for granted like I sometimes do? We have a day off to give thanks.

Being thankful is a choice that you have to make a concerted effort to be. It may get easier after awhile, but it takes time to develop. And sometimes there are certain experiences that will help you to be more thankful.

Years ago, I had the privilege to spend a few days in the Australian Outback in an Aboriginal community. The children there were so happy but had so little. It was humbling to be around people who were living off of  so little. I realized I take too many things for granted and was very thankful for all of the blessings that I have, not just material things but also opportunities. I have traveled to over a dozen countries; most, if not all, of the children will never even visit Sydney or any other world famous city in their own country. But even more humbling, I can eat what I want, when I want…they cannot.

I am thankful for these things and more.

Here are some ways that you can give thanks:

  1. Spend time with friends and family and tell them why you are thankful to have them in your life.
  2. Spend time helping those who have needs. This will help you to be thankful because you will realize all that you do have to be thankful for.
  3. Spend time taking a personal inventory of your life, and not just your possessions. Your personal inventory may include possessions, but I am talking about everything that you have (relationships, health, experiences, memories, a job, etc) and what they mean to you.
  4. Spend time being thankful to be alive.
  5. Spend time in the morning giving thanks. You will start the day with a better attitude then if you wake up complaining about _________. You fill in the blank.
  6. Spend time at night picking something from that day that you are thankful for and meditate on that. It will help you sleep better because you will not be focusing on something else that stresses you out.

Do you notice a similarity in all of the above suggestions?

Time.

Being thankful does not come naturally for most people. You will have to spend time developing the mindset of being thankful.

In Toy Story 3 (Spoiler Alert), Woody realizes how much he values and is thankful for all his friends after he spends time away from them. He is so thankful, he risks his “life” to help them escape a certain situation. Woody then chooses his friends over going away to college to be with his owner Andy. It took him spending time thinking about and reflecting on how much the relationships mattered to him to realize what he would be missing. This time helped his relationship with them mean even more than it already did.

During this holiday season, and every other day of the year, take some time and make it a priority to be thankful.

Everyone else will be thankful you did.

Share with us in the comments below what you are thankful for.