Merci pour l’année – Thanks for the year

When I was in consumer advocacy, essentially a combination lobbyist and public relations function, I used to say that “thank you” is the most important thing you can say to influence people. It’s not when you are approaching somebody for a favor that you win his heart; it is when you are appreciating what he has done.  And this is a universal sentiment that applies to all facets of life, all manner of people and all situations you will find yourself in. Everybody, from the President in his executive suite to the guy whose boot is stuck in the mud a few feet below the oil slick in the Gulf, appreciates being appreciated.

We teach the value of expressing thanks to our daughters, too.  And hopefully some of the message will stick with them over the years.

In the meantime,this is the thank you card my younger daughter prepared for her teachers this year…

Something about the colors and the balance of shapes spoke to me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Comments

  1. You are so right! Thank you is a very important word to say to anyone! When i was little my mother always bothered me with her discussions about Thank you. When she passed the salt to me, she always was annoyed that i didn’t say thank you. Then i was like : Why do i have to say thank you to my own mother, brother, sister for passing the salt? Wellll when i got older i understaood the importance of saying thank you even after a small thing and even to your siblings

  2. Saying thank you to someone, and more importantly meaning the sentiment, is such a small thing we are all able to do easily and effortlessly.

  3. For me Thank You is the most important yet almost always forgotten word by all of us. When a boss asks his secretary to do something and the secretary fails to do it correctly or misspelled something in a letter perhaps, instead of saying Thank you for the effort, the boss gets angry. This is almost always the case right? Instead of showing our gratitude, we find something we can pick on a person (which is most often than not a negative thing). Life is short, let us all learn to show love by saying thank you to 1 person in a day, we won’t even notice that in a month, we were able to say thank you to 30 persons or 30x already.
    P.S. Check out http://sn.im/103mjh it’s an article I read about turning anger to love. Very inspiring.

  4. The “thank you” card looks messy but it is full of sincerity from a kid. It would melt my heart if I were the teacher.

  5. Motorcycle Jackets says

    Saying thank you to someone, and more importantly meaning the sentiment, is such a small thing we are all able to do easily and effortlessly.

    http://www.padana.com

  6. so sweet..good for that angel..adults don’t even know how to do that themselves..

  7. Saying thank you can really uplift the feeling of one person, and its always nice to say to make the people around you feel appreciated.

  8. Cute card. I believe that a directed mind is very powerful in your journey in health. Especially with you are giving to someone.

  9. So sweet – thanks.

  10. Saying thank you can really uplift the feeling of one person, and its always nice to say to make the people around you feel appreciated.

  11. The little effort of saying “thank you” or of writing and sending a “thank you” can have benefits far beyond the value of the moments involved. “Thank you” can motivate, validate, and give positive reinforcement. “Thank you” for the ordinary as well as the extraordinary can enhance the nurse’s interpersonal relationships immeasurably and make it well worth the time spent. You can’t afford to not say thank you frequently and graciously to those around you.

  12. Gratitude is the best attitude. There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance.

  13. Think. The good that comes to us, comes from somewhere. From our parents who raised us. Teachers who taught us. Friends and colleagues who help us everyday.

    Even others we don’t know very well. The delivery man, the shop assistant, the bus driver.

    Can we even count the number of people who assist us in our daily life?

    Do you remember to thank them all?

  14. Ha ha… I have been reading this blog a while, but first posting is on the Thank you! Yes, it makes a difference… to say to everyone everyday… but also to look at all you can find each day to be grateful for… huge impact on happiness!

    Thanks for the blog.

  15. only trumped by the ‘thank you for today’ card, which is itself trumped by the thank you for this hour, and so on and so forth 🙂

Leave a Reply to Motorcycle Jackets Cancel reply

*