How to show gratitude

Our True Character word of the month this month is gratitude.

Gratitude means, “I’m so thankful.” We say that for the younger kids. With older kids we say, “Gratitude means appreciating and recognizing those things that we’re thankful for.”

We can show gratitude in many ways.

Last week we talked about saying “thank you” all the time.

Today we’re talking about some different ways we can show it besides just saying “thank you.”

Send a letter or card

One way is to send a letter or card. A letter or a card can mean quite a bit, especially nowadays.

This year has been kind of tough on everybody. A lot of people are feeling a little bit lonely.

And we get a lot of digital messages. There’s a lot going on in emails, Facebook, voicemail, text messages, Snapchats or whatever else you use. There’s a million of those messages out there digitally, and they tend to get a bit lost.

What we don’t get a lot of anymore is mail.

And you know what? It gets opened every day.

So, one way to really show that extra gratitude for somebody is to send a card. Send them something in the mail, something handwritten — something from you.

It doesn’t have to be complicated, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. But when it gets there it really can touch someone’s day.

So, try doing that. Try sending a card in the mail.

Give back

Another way we can show thanks is to give back. You can give something back to somebody that has helped you out.

When we give back to people — when we try to do a favor for them, when we try to help them — we’re really showing how thankful we are for what they did by doing something nice back for them.

Nothing shows somebody you appreciate what they do for you more than you doing something nice for them.

So, for kids, try giving back to Mom and Dad. See what you can do to help them out. Especially here during the holiday time, life gets busy. There are a lot of things to do, and you can really help out.

Help out with a younger sibling, help out preparing for the holidays — something to give back to really show you’re thankful for everything they do for you.

Spend time with someone

We can also show our gratitude by spending time with someone.

Spending time with someone could, for example, be on Zoom. You could Zoom in with a relative that you haven’t been able to see for a while, right?

You can also spend some time with a friend on a video game to show you’re grateful for them. I know my son does that one a lot.

You can spend time with Mom or Dad, just because. You could sit down next to them and say, “Hey, what are you doing now?”

You can spend some time with your brothers and sisters. You can give a phone call to grandma and grandpa and spend a little time on the phone with them.

Share your talents

Another way we can show our gratitude is to share our talents.

You could contact someone on Zoom and play them a song. You can contact somebody and sing them a song.

How about artwork? Nothing says gratitude better than a nice drawing. I still have lots of drawings from my kids hanging up in my room. We have stuff hanging up from our students all over the studio, showing our attitude of gratitude.

We have all of our students’ vision boards, all of that work that they’ve done showing their vision and their goals towards black belt.

When we get those things in here, it really makes me feel good — makes me feel that our students have gratitude for that path they’re on. And we truly love showcasing these kinds of things — it reminds us of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

So, by doing something for somebody, you can really show a tremendous amount of gratitude. Sometimes a little symbol like that — a little something you go out of your way to do — can mean a lot more than just a thank you, right?

And, again, the word of the month this month is gratitude. So, make sure you’re showing it all the time.

Thanks, and we will see everybody on the mat.
-Master Helsdon