Giving thanks for the generosities, courtesies, and sacrifices others have extended is what grateful people do.
Acknowledging and giving thanks for the benefits and good fortune one has received suggests a person who is highly aware of just how lucky they are to know those who are willing to put their own needs aside to help others, including them.
Expressing gratefulness is usually reserved for acts of kindness that have already occurred. Gratefulness is more commonly considered a recognition of the past, rather than an acknowledgment of the future.
But to be truly grateful is to think differently about time. This kind of gratitude is more about giving thanks for what will happen than it is in paying homage to acts that have already transpired.
The reasons we feel grateful are typically about what bounties in life we currently enjoy because of others. However, upon reflection, we can see that these reasons, feelings, and expressions truly shape our expectations and outlook. As a result of the good fortune we have received, the future is full of opportunities, learning, and growth.
The highest expression of gratefulness is recognizing what lies ahead and cultivating a positive outlook of what is in store for us. It turns “thanks” into “thankfulness” and creates an optimism about the future that pays tribute to the past but focuses on the good fortune yet to come.
When we are truly grateful, those around us can sense the awe and optimism we have even with the future’s uncertainties. This energizes others and inspires the kind of hope they need to become more grateful, as well. As the old maxim goes, ”A grateful mind is a great mind that eventually attracts to itself great things.”
