Gratitude and thankfulness are two terms that can be interchangeable in a conversation. If you were sit down and dissect the meaning of the two words, they are quite distinctive in their own ways, but so similar that they are difficult to define without using the other in the definition. The basic definition of both words is to be able to count your blessings for all that you have. Gratitude is the base that thankfulness flourishes from. Thankfulness is a fleeting emotion while gratitude is a way of life. Appreciating all the things in life for exactly what they are, comes from deep within and takes someone being grateful.
You may have seen kids say “thank you” for receiving something, but they may not know why they are really saying it. Saying “thank you” is polite and can be the necessary tool that teaches somebody what it takes to have gratitude by just understanding what “thank you” actually means. To be in gratitude would signify that you are attuned with your surroundings, connected to the people around you, and believing in the function that you were meant to pass onto another.
When you spend time with others and you get a feeling of prosperity through words of affirmation or expressions of hope and love, the result is usually thankfulness. Once you reciprocate their affections and their gestures, you begin to grasp the knowledge of being in the amazing state of gratitude. Thankfulness and gratitude encompass each other and are excellent tools to appreciate what life has to offer. Good days will produce contentment and bad days can demonstrate the things that still need to be cultivated within you where thankfulness and gratitude are concerned.
Gratefulness does not mean that happiness will be present at all times, but that your pursuit for a grateful life will show you thankfulness to be happy. Thankfulness starts with appreciating what you have instead of focusing on what you do not have which ends with being in a state of gratitude.
Spouting off the words “thank you” are childlike and simply not enough, but living for thankfulness to achieve gratitude is the right direction in life. Doing things throughout your day to initiate thankfulness such as small acts of kindness or spending time with loved ones are the things that make you have a grateful heart, and sometimes all we have is heart.
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