I have promised myself that every day, as long as I live, I will try my best to show gratitude towards those who impress upon my life. I make it a point to say thank you, you're welcome, excuse me, may I? I tell others I appreciate them and their contribution to my day, my situation, my life. I try to ease through bad situations with humor and forgiveness so that eventually I can reach a place of acceptance, even if understanding is hard or impossible. It is not easy but I believe it is harder and more painful and selfish to hold onto negativity and not to see what is gained even when loss occurs.
This doesn't mean that all the people I encounter see the values of those who come into their lives. Or that every situation that I am part of leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy. It doesn't stop people I know, work with or encounter from taking others for granted or from assuming that the extra special concern and effort made by others are people just "doing their job" and therefore do not merit praise or support. Like dark and light, negativity and positivity will always be opposite each other.
In the end all I can do is continue to be grateful and live in hope. I continue behaving as I do trusting that the energy I project will attract like energy by return and that by living in gratitude I will be protected from the negativity we must and do encounter by being courageous enough to face the day.
