Cultivating a Thankful Mindset

I’ve told this story a couple of times. Today I want to put it into writing. The power is gratitude is overwhelming. I’ve always counted myself to be lucky to have received this advice early on before I started senior high school.

I say I am lucky because going to senior high school is a crucial part of our lives as we climb the academic ladder. One of the things that I’ve come to realise along the way is that the impressions we live with are always going to stand no matter the circumstances.

A lot of people might say that having connections is what you need in this life to progress. I don’t deny the fact that you need to have connections but then I also side with the fact that even after your connection you need to be human. As humans, we tend to be overwhelmed by what we face so much that we end up forgetting that we only have each other.

I came across a post on X that said, “Sometimes the good name that your father left behind can go a long way to help you in life”. A lot of people might argue that this day what your father left behind is not relevant if it’s not a valuable asset or money that can take you places. But then there are times when you’ll enter a room and your surname will work magic for you without you even knowing it. The people there might not know you but because your father or brother was of good behaviour they conclude that you will also be of good behaviour.

Back to the storyline. Before I started senior high school my auntie sat me down and said a lot of things to me. She said a lot of things and the only thing that I took from her was these three words. She said in my 3 years of schooling only these three things would help me live in harmony with my dorm mates. She said to always say “thank you”, “I am sorry” and “please”. Now saying these words makes things easier for you in most situations.

She cited some examples and I will cite those examples. The word please makes no sense in whatever you are saying to someone no matter how bad or rude it might sound. Adding the word please before saying whatever you said after takes most of the rudeness from the sentence.

She also said that saying you are sorry even when you are right to avoid conflict is the best way. Now I took this with me in the latter part of my days in senior high. Things were going violent and in most situations uttering the I am sorry word took you away from the crime scene.

I decided to bring the last instant cause it is what I am going to talk about emphatically. The words thank you, show gratitude for whatever someone has done for you no matter how small it is. Now these words look so small but the impact it carries is far more profound. There have been a few situations where I have shown gratitude to someone and it made me get more from that person.

There are times when someone even cheats you out of your share and you still show gratitude. It doesn’t mean that you are stupid or dumb. It just shows that no matter how small of a share you get you will always be grateful.