Gratitude for the Cup of Coffee

This week I watched a TED talk about one man’s quest to show gratitude for the cup of coffee he has in the morning everyday on his way to work. He wanted to say thank you to everyone involved in growing, processing, delivering and finally pouring it for him. This turned out to be a major undertaking and he actually did quite a lot of travelling to fulfill his quest. Generally his efforts were well received, but occasionally he got a strange reaction from some people who felt that something suspicious was happeneing. Even when he explained, they didn’t seem to really understand and certainly didn’t appreciate his efforts.

And I was thinking, what an indictment that is on modern society, firstly that we dont show nearly enough gratitude, so that when someone is truly appreciative we are somewhat taken aback and secondly that there are people who regard expressions of gratitude with suspicion.

I know we live in a world where the pace of life is generally hectic, hectic enough to cause us to believe that we just don’t have the time to show the gratitude we feel or at least should feel. So I’m going to encourage everyone to work on this. As a child, I was taught that saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ was an essential part of everyday life and to forget to say those “magic” words was unforgivable. I still actually enjoy being polite and thankful to people and for the most part people seem to appreciate it. But there are those around us who never experience that little tingle of satisfaction that comes from just being nice to others. The person in the car, whom you allow to enter the lane in front of you and doesn’t doesn’t thank you. Or someone for whom you hold open the door, (now its become a sexist battle ,when did that start!) You know, the little everyday things maybe we don´t think about. The things that don´t really matter.

But just think if it did matter, if somehow our lives depended on the level of gratitude we show. Goodness me, what a change that would produce! We would then all be bending over backwards to thank everyone for every little thing. Ok I know that sounds silly, but take a moment to imagine how much nicer your day might be if people showed their gratittude for something you did, or for your job, or any little thing you do for someone, whether our nearest or dearest, or total strangers. Wouldn´t that be ever so much nicer? Wouldn´t it make your day a at least a little bit lighter?

If sincerity is added, it could make the whole day feel that its been a worthwhile day. Yesterday, someone did that for me, just took the time to personally and sincerely thank me for the classes I,d given. It was a talking point when I got home, because it made me feel so appreciated.

And in the end isn´t that what we all want? To feel that someone notices and values us? As humans we have this inbuilt need to be loved. And whilst we may feel that we just can´t love everyone, making someone´s day a little better can’t be a bad thing, can it?