The Character of Gratefulness

Character Leadership - The Character of Gratefulness

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust

   

Definition:  Warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received from others.  

Ingratitude, and Disapproval are the opposites of gratefulness. This means the refusal to acknowledge and respond to what others including our family have done for us. Gratitude is an attitude of being thankful, even when we do not see what we have. Although gratefulness can mean thankfulness, or to respond to a favor we have received, it is a much deeper response where our hearts are filled with gratitude for the people who have benefitted us in our life, and this includes being grateful to our parents for their unconditional nurturing. Even when what they did may seem small to our wants, or even though we may not be able to see them.

Gratefulness is what happens in the “dark”. It is what happened when we are in solitude and when we are aware that we need to respond to what others have done for us. The preparation of response to show our gratitude hence happens in the “dark” as we do not show off to others when we want to show gratefulness.

Reflection:

Ask yourself; “Have I been grateful to those who benefitted me?” Parents and teachers are the one who make the most impact on our lives. They need to be appreciated for their devotion to our upbringing. We should show gratitude by showing respect to them and honoring them with correct behaviors.

As Character leaders, we must extend ourselves to other people with gratefulness and what flows out of gratefulness are joy in our hearts and genuine friendship and love in relationship.  Gratefulness is more than just being thankful. It can also be expressed in action like writing a “thank you” note. To express our gratefulness in writing is a good form of action to others. Gratefulness is also about contentment with what we already have. To want more and more of material things means we will never be satisfied. To be satisfied with what we have will make our lives richer as we need very little to be happy. Relationship with family, friends and neighbors can make us happy. However, being contended does not mean being complacent. They are two different things.