Gratitude journal
The power of words
Our words have a lot of power to affect our mood. When we say “I love you” it probably helps us just as much as the person we are saying it to. Try it sometime, tell someone you love them and think about how good it makes you feel. You will almost certainly feel happier.
Many people teach their children to say “please” and “thank you.” If a child says “I want more milk” the parent says “What are the magic words?” The child says “please” and after the milk is poured says thank you.
Start the day right for a happier day
I don’t know who began calling them the magic words, but there is a lot more truth to that than we realize. Most people realize that when you start your day in a good mood, the whole day goes well. But if something goes wrong in the morning, like stubbing your toe as you walk half asleep to the bathroom, it can make the day go badly, unless you shake it off and think about things you are grateful for. Being grateful puts us on a higher plane, so to speak, and sets the tone for the entire day.
Some people say thank you as their feet hit the floor getting out of bed. They stop and think about how happy and grateful they are that they have a job to go to, or they have a bed to sleep in, food to eat for breakfast, a toothbrush, running water, and a myriad of other things.
Today we live like kings
Just one hundred years ago most people in the world did not have indoor plumbing, electricity, air-conditioning and many other things that we take for granted. In fact, even today hundreds of millions of people don’t have these things.
Today we have good transportation that can bring us a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meats and other good things to eat. It was not that way one hundred years ago.
It is so easy to forget about the hundreds of blessings we have and think about the few problems we have. But when we say thank you for every blessing we can think of as we start the morning, it brings about good feelings and makes the day go better. When we are grateful we begin to see more things to be grateful for and it actually brings about good things because our brain can see opportunities that it would not have seen otherwise.
So, “thank you” and “please” really are magic words that have a lot of power.
