For too many people 'Thank You' is reserved for special occasions.Yet it's so easy to do and so often forgotten
Saying thank you and letting people know you appreciate them and / or something specific that they have done has huge impact and benefits everyone in so many ways.
It creates a desire to give discretionary effort
It fulfils our need for meaning and purpose
It lets us know that our efforts are understood and appreciated
It makes others feel good hearing a thank you
It's infectious and it spreads. 'what goes around comes around'
it makes us feel loved, respected, cared for, noticed, understood.
Having said all that - saying 'thank you' and not mean it is the worst thing you can do. Think about the last time you got a Xmas present you didn't really want - what did your thank you actually communicate? Probably something like 'why would you buy me this?'
Many years ago - my wife and I came out of our front door in London to witness the terrible scene in broad daylight of an elderly man being mugged for his watch. In an un thought through fit of pique I screamed at the assailants - both wearing motor cycle helmets and ran towards them shouting as loud as I could. Thankfully they were startled, they let the man go and sped off on their moped (I have no idea what plan B would have been if they had stood their ground). The point is that this elderly man and his wife were taken off to hospital in an ambulance and were clearly shaken to the core .. and they got his watch. That same evening our doorbell rang and the man, his wife and their adult son - were all stood there with flowers for my wife and a bottle of whisky for me.
I hadn't thought about any part of what happened - other than I was very happy they left and it was just instinctive. Yet them taking the trouble on what must have been a hugely difficlutday for them to return - to seek us out and to say Thank you made me feel very humble and very special. A feeling I will never forget
There's been a lot of research into the science of Gratitude and guess what ..... saying thank you makes people happier, more productive and healthier.
Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, a psychologist and leading thought leader and researcher in thefield of positive psycholoy at the University of Pennsylvania, tested the impact of various positive psychology interventions on 411 people. When their week's assignment was to write and personally deliver a letter of gratitude to someone who had never been properly thanked for something they had done, participants immediately exhibited a huge increase in happiness scores. This impact was greater than that from any other intervention, with benefits lasting for over a month.
So it's Friday today, tomorrow is the first day of summer and for many life is quite hard right now - so go on....... say thank you to someone, do something nice for someone and let's make our lives just that little bit happier.
What will you do?