How many ways are there to express gratitude?There are so many ways that you couldn’t possibly exhaust all of them in one lifetime.Gratitude has no attachment and something that can definitely make this world a better place.In many areas of India, saying ‘Thank you’ is uncommon.People don’t hold the door for you, let your make a left turn in traffic and don’t care if you need off the elevator first.
You have to be this change. You have to hold the door open when you are trying to leave with such gratitude that you are grateful for every person that works through the door. You have to resist the urge to think that people are ungrateful and rude. Furthermore, you have to not be affected in any cell in your body. While standing there, you must smile regardless of who says Namaste or not. Most likely no one will.
People live their horns here in Mumbai traffic. Even at 5:30am, I am always surprised to see the cars trying to cut in front of each other and honking their horns. At that time, it hard not to think of them as rude. They have a complete disregard for all of the adults and children sleeping in the towering buildings above or the tin shacks below. The motorbikes and vehicles all honk at you if you are paused for even a brief second. You have to be grateful. Perhaps they are warning the other cars that they are there. Perhaps they have some emergency that they need to get to.
I don’t think I will ever understand people that get off on the highest floor cramming in the front of the elevator. Equally, I will never understand the people shoving their way to the elevator doors without the ones already on it getting off first. I always smile and say ‘Excuse me.’ The gratitude comes in the fact that they are sharing this moment with you and teaching a valuable lesson unconsciously. They teach me patience and understanding.
With all the problems that exist in this world, it is an understatement to say that being grateful is really all we have left at the end of the day. Finding little ways to be grateful make your life more worthwhile and you start to pick up on more subtle things to be grateful for. You start doing more for everything around you not just people. You start to learn that all the pushing and rushing has a meaning or a lesson. You learn that being grateful is all that I have and all that I am.
