Embody Mental Health

I always try to be grateful and verbalize that gratitude if someone does something nice, goes out of their way for me, or is just accommodating in any way BUT I am terrible with “Thank You” Cards.  I never remember to send them`or any mail for that matter. 

Today a friend of mine did a wonderful, over the top, kind and giving thing for me.  She went out of her way for no other reason than she knew I really needed something and she knew she could help me with it.  I was so grateful to her and sent her an email (we live at a distance) telling her so, but somehow the act felt flat.  In an age where an email is a couple of clicks away it didn’t quite seem to match her gesture in terms of going out of my way to give her something.  Not that I was looking for a this-for-that kind of act but I just felt like I wanted to put some effort in return for all of the effort she put forth for me.  And then I thought about the “Thank You” Cards on my desk that I never use and have sat in the same desk console forever. 

The Thank You Card seems reserved for traditional thank you moments: someone gives you a present all shiny and wrapped and you give them the requisite card with the requisite statement.  What about giving a thank you for the everyday things–those moments that come and go where someone does something special for us.  I am feeling a want to acknowledge all the moments of gratitude, all the wonderful acts the people in my life bestow on me with no thought but to be helpful, and all the great people with great hearts I encounter.  I figure, what a better way to maintain a perspective on all the good in the world–as, especially with the recent Haiti disaster, there are already plenty of reminders of all the bad, sad, and ugly in the world. 

I have decided to take one moment in my month, every month, and really give attentive gratitude to it with the effort and intention of sending out a Thank You Card someone–1 someone for every month of the 12 months–who has done something lovely for me.  As I think back over my last year on moments when others went out of their way for no quid-pro-quo reason I think this may be the easiest thing I do this year…and maybe one of the most rewarding. 

Who would you give a Thank You Card to this month?  What act of random kindness has come your way recently?  Looking at every month with this vantage point I hope to cultivate an intentional awareness and appreciation of the goodness in my own life.  I will let you know how it progresses.  Likewise, although the crisis in Haiti is horrific and awful, in crisis some of the most inspiring acts of kindness and giving are exhibited.  I am hearing those stories already of people coming to the aid of others in this time and I am compelled to both give more of myself to others and acknowledge those who give more than they need give to me.

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