Page 22 - Power of Gratitude

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of coins dropping in her hat, she would gesture her hands in the air

directionlessly to show gratitude. That was her daily experience, and for
her, nothing seemed new or different.

One day, a young man was walking by. As he got to where the little
girl was, he took a few coins from his inner jacket of his suit, and dropped

them into the hat. He then took a brief moment to observe the poor blind
girl and felt the need to change something. He took the sign from the

girl, spun it, and scribbled new words on the back end. Afterward, he
put the sign back in the girl’s hand so that everyone who walked by

would see the new words.

Soon afterward, the little girl’s hat started to fill up with coins. Then the

number of people who stopped by to give the girl money had increased.
That afternoon, the same man who had changed the sign returned to see

how things were. The girl could recognize his footsteps and ask, “Was
it you who changed my sign this morning? And can you tell me what

you wrote?” In his response, the man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said
what you said but in another way round.” I have written, “Today is a

beautiful day, but I cannot see it.”

Both the old and new signs spoke the truth. But the first sign simply

revealed that the boy was blind, while the second sign had passed an
explicit message to everyone walking by how grateful they should be to

be able to see. Often than not, when find it somewhat hard to maintain
the attitude of gratitude when our lives are full of chaos and unexpected

ups and downs. We allow the darkness of negativity cast its weight on
us so much that we all we see are our problems. And what about the

good moments when all simply appears to fare well? We often take these
precious moments for granted, too, don’t we? Caught up in the bliss,

comfort, and familiarity of it all, we can simply forget to be thankful.
That’s how an average person behaves. It is shocking to find out still

some people still hold tightly to the belief that it’s their natural right to
stay healthy and, perhaps, to enjoy the good side of life.

There are about two times during your day when the oral expression
of gratitude builds the best results. These are - when you wake up and