The Power of Saying Thank You

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Power of Saying Thank YouIn the coffee shop, I hold open the door for a man and woman. Both walked in past me, through the door and said nothing.In a building close-by I pressed the elevator to arrive. I politely allowed a woman to walk in before me. She said nothing.Someone replied to one of my emails. I replied and spent 10-minutes sending her the answer to what she asked in her question in detail. She didn’t reply.A child walked past me and dropped a toy on the floor. I shouted excuse me to the child, the child turned around. I showed him the toy, he ran back to me and said, “thank you”.Let’s face it manners cost nothing and use minimum effort.They are a simple act of giving back or a simple act of receiving.So why is it some people don’t or just can’t say thank you?Some people don’t because they are just rude and have probably inherited this from their family. It isn’t they don’t want to say thank you its more of a case it just isn’t in their embedded subconscious to say thank you on automation.They second are those that just don’t want to say thank you. This could be because they haven’t discovered how to value an act of saying thank you or feel they are probably better than those they do not respond to.Yet …Saying thank you can be a miraculous moment in anyone’s day.Saying thank you not only make the person saying it feel better about that moment but the person receiving the thank you actually feels motivated to repeat their act of kindness.Going back to holding open a door for someone that doesn’t say than you. Does that motivate me to want to hold open a door again for a stranger? Clearly not, yet I still hold doors open for strangers but at the same tome feel like I am testing them and asking myself I wonder if they will say thank you. Yet of they do say thanks… It has something magical that makes me feel good.So, every time you thank someone – anyone for anything – they will respond in kind.How many times can you thank someone today?You see on social media everyone wants to claim to be a lifestyle expert of some kind. It has shifted from money making expert to life creating expert. Interesting.It is also interesting to see that to take a photo and present that photo in Instagram there are some that spend a full day taking and editing one photo. There are those that will fly to the most magical location and then spend a full week trying to find the perfect photo to present on Instagram. Even more revealing is the unravelling of theses lifestyle experts lives when they offer tips on depression, anxiety, bulimia and other disorders.Not that that’s a bad thing but why aren’t they offering tips on how to live an incredible life, east amazingly healthy foods and showing how to avoid depressions?Life style is the style of life that you choose. Once chosen we then create that life. A few years ago, I decided that I didn’t want to cook breakfast again (small thing I know) so we all go out every day for breakfast and let someone else create our breakfast. This also means that my first part of most days is spent having a coffee outside and a walk.When we walk we walk under the trees, in the rain, in the sunshine and in the wind and snow. I love it. And when I get back to my office/writer’s room I then get started on projects I am working on.That might sound like nothing yet I know people that do not have the time to grab a coffee even at weekends.The only way to do this is to create a style of life that you want and can manage.Today is the last weekend before the schools go back. In a way, I am glad. I notice over the summer my gym becomes packed with teens. Now that isn’t a bad thing it is great. I never once so a finely tuned, muscled up teen when I was a punk rocking teenager. These days kids are looking amazingly healthy and are body conscious. That can only be a good thing in moderation.I noticed another shop opening in Altrincham. I predict it will close within 12-months. The reason is it is just a shop done the way that shops are always done… like a shop.I don’t think the high-street is dead I think shopping as an idea is dead. The reason is the human being has fundamentally changed. The human thoughts, actions and deeds have been reshaped, remoulded and are now on a very different experience based path. Unless shops provide a total experience, they will lose clients and close.I’m heading for a coffee now.Thank you for reading my ramblings, I hope they help you someone.Have the most wonderful weekend.Alan Forrest Smith[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]