The Art Of Gratitude:
A Daily Practice
The art of gratitude takes practice, and as you practice you will get better and better. I believe somewhere in these pages I was once called the Queen of Gratitude. Another person stated that I was better at acknowledging people than a highly trained person.
However, I didn’t start out that way. I started out just like everyone else. It was the events that transpired on one of the gratitude stories that had me see the real value of gratitude.
Even when someone THINKS they have mastered gratitude, there is always another level. There is no top to that mountain. And, when you get good at sharing gratitude, the next level is to start to give it away and see how far you can go with it.
But, let’s start with some examples where people practiced the art of gratitude…
The Art Of Gratitude In Business
When I moved to Virginia, I started out in a Tae Kwon Do school run by a
very charismatic leader. He began training students to teach and
assist in teaching Tae Kwon Do classes.
One of the things he taught us is to appreciate students when they were
practicing during class. If they had a great kick, acknowledge the
great kick.
If they had a great punch, acknowledge the great punch. If you could not find anything to acknowledge, acknowledge their hair. Find something to acknowledge the students for.
The idea was that if a student was terrible at everything, to just find one thing to acknowledge them for.
As you kept acknowledging them, they would keep getting better and better. You could turn someone into a great student just through gratitude and showing them appreciation.
However, you could have a great student and criticize one small thing they were doing wrong. Pretty soon, you could turn a great student into a terrible student.
I think this speaks to an idea I have shared elsewhere which is you envision who people are becoming. They often will step into that kind of vision.
In addition to acknowledging people, we had to keep it high energy. People might be coming in from work tired and stressed. You had no idea what people were dealing with that day. Our job was to give people 45 minutes of engagement, aliveness, and fun.
What was very interesting about this Tae Kwon Do school is that it was one of the most successful schools in the area. That is the art of gratitude in action.
In fact, when I went to other schools, I could tell if they were succeeding or not. The schools that didn’t engage students in the way I described were very low energy. The students didn’t give their best, and the school was not doing near as well.
The Art Of Gratitude During Adversity
Gratitude is not always about those times when things are going well. The art of gratitude is also about how we face adversity. We can face adversity and fight it or you can see how to move through it a little more gracefully.
There was a work situation where I was really frustrated. People were not doing things in the way that they are typically done. Nothing seemed to be making any difference, and I was at my wit’s end. But then I remembered something…
I could practice the art of gratitude. I took a look at the situation, and asked, “What lesson can I learn from this situation? What new opportunities am I now taking on that would have never been available before?”
I discovered that no, I cannot make a difference. However, I COULD facilitate making a difference. I could create the conditions in which people would be much more likely to succeed, but they have to be willing to accept the contribution.
I also discovered that I was taking on educational opportunities that I would have never considered before. I was finding ways to make myself more marketable, and I was finding ways to differentiate myself from other employees where we each provided our own unique contribution.
Now there are still times when I became frustrated; however, I began to go through my day with a greater sense of ease and grace.
The Art Of Gratitude At Work
This next method of dealing with the art of gratitude is really cool. I love the story captured in the story of gratitude for life and work. The person discovered what was missing was him expressing gratitude to other people.
Often, people go through their days unacknowledged. What could a day in a workplace or business look like if people knew they were appreciated even for the small stuff?
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