Here we are in the last month of the year, 2020, and its been a wild ride. I’d like to utilize my last few articles this year to peel back the layers of something, but from a different angle…. That of gratitude.
Many articles are written this time of year about gratitude, and this is one of them, however I believe there are two ways to look at yearly timed / themed subjects, such as gratitude during the holidays, or new years resolutions, spring cleaning, etc.
The first way is the eye roll, ‘oh boy here we go again’ kind of thinking, and the second is, ‘ok, what can I glean this year that I haven’t thought about before. The first way is selfish. Harsh? Perhaps, however sometimes we close our ears to truths that we are fighting against. So, the second way reframes our thinking to help eliminate selfish thoughts and think bigger.
Gratitude Is Just The Tip
When it comes to gratitude, much of what is written about focuses on the giving, or rather opening the self up to giving / receiving without any expectations in order to stay humble. This mindset is not wrong or bad, in fact it is essential, but it is just the tip of what gratitude really exposes.
The Servant Leader
Certainly, there are hundreds of thousands of published pieces written around the idea of servant leadership. Yet, when combined with gratitude, servant leadership takes on a different allure. Of course, the primary elemental piece of the ‘servant leader’ inverts the norm of the leader barking the orders and the people following verses the servant leader who models the behavior to the workers on how to perform. Servant leadership also insinuates that the leader feels no shame or is not above performing what many believe are menial tasks in the workplace.
The same goes here for gratitude. Many take the gratitude path as a way to say ‘look at all the amazing ways I help others’ whereas a servants view of gratitude is serving others out of genuine care or concern and not needing to be known or rewarded for it.
Moving Deeper
The deep state of gratitude develops from how the servant views the concept of gratitude. Moving into that deeper view demands movement. That movement cultivates the momentum of gratitude. As gratitude moves, it multiplies which births dreams, builds bridges, ignites others towards being more grateful, resulting in the ability to be and demonstrate gratefulness and gratitude in all seasons of life.
“God measures people by the small dimensions of humility and not by the bigness of their achievements “
Billy Graham
The ultimate twist into a deep state of gratitude rests in how we look at gratitude by the means of doing. The doing comes down to two elements: listening and applying mental thought. Often when met with the opportunity to give we think linearly, without much thought to application.
Taking a moment to listen and to think about what action is needed, or sometimes requested can make all the difference between an attitude towards gratitude verses an attitude of gratitude.