We all need to start saying please and thank you more often. Yes I used the word need. And like so many things, it’s not that we’re doing it for others, we’re really doing it for ourselves in a couple of different ways. Starting first with the word please, it is foremost an acknowledgement that we’re asking something of someone. Second, it reminds us to be grateful for the help of others. And outwardly, third, it makes the world a better and a happier place. And okay, fourth, it makes our request more likely to be considered.
Using thank you provides similar benefits. Thank you builds a better world one thought, one word, one action at a time. Thank you, once again, invites us into a space of gratitude and presence. Hopefully, thank you will also remind us to generously consider the pleases from others coming into our world.
This whole topic is kind of like smiling. I am nearly always disarmed and filled with instant joy when I encounter someone who smiles genuinely. It happens quite often, thankfully, and it simply makes the world better. It costs nothing. It’s a perpetual motion machine, and it’s kind of like thank you and please.
Sprinkling more thank yous and pleases into our life will make us happier. It will make the “other” happier (there is no other of course, but you know what I mean). It will make the world happier. Can’t we all agree that we want the world to be better and happier? At least can’t we all agree that WE want to be better and happier….okay, how about just happier?
Why don’t we simply do this then? Looking squarely into the mirror I know that I cannot answer this question for myself in regards to the thank yous and pleases, but more broadly all the other things that I know deep down (really deep) that would benefit me, make me happier, that I just keep not doing. I know that meditating helps, why do I simply not prioritize it higher on my list every single day? I know that hugging makes me happy, so why don’t I, okay, well at least that is one that I really do a good job with!
I am making homemade chicken soup as I type this, so I am not completely lost. I need to balance accountability with grace. Acknowledge the progress I make and accept with humility the many times I stumble.
This iis not a “one-and-done”, check that off my list for the day, for my month, for my life. Is anything a one-and-done? This is a rewiring of my and our collective brain. It is integrating, building from the bottom-up a presence of acceptance, optimism, compassion, and even self-preservation. This is a cornerstone of the path, the actual fabric of our lives. Maybe the few times when we need not consider saying please and thank you more is when we are actively listening. We need to do more listening as well 🙂
