Each Thursday at GRS Group we make it a point to take some time to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for.  “Thank You Thursday” has become a tradition and is increasingly rooting itself into our corporate culture.  In this crazy, pressure-filled life–where time seemingly moves faster everyday, workloads grow larger, and hard deadlines approach with a vengeance–recognizing and expressing real, sincere gratitude is truly becoming a lost art.  More of us need to learn to say Thank You.  More often.  It’s a simple, but contagious, gesture that makes a huge impact on the world around us.  So here’s to Thank You Thursdays!  At GRS Group, we share emails like this internally each week–and we thought it would be fun to pay it forward through this channel as well.  Hopefully, someone reading this blog will slow down for just a minute… reflect on all of the joyous and good things that life has to offer and enjoy a thankful moment with us…

Gratitude

Life Without Regrets

I recently heard an interview on NPR with Susan Spencer-Wendel, formerly an award-winning criminal courts reporter for the Palm Beach Post. At 44 years old, Susan was diagnosed with ALS, a neuromuscular disorder also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. Now, only two years later, muscular damage has caused Susan’s speech to be nearly unintelligible. She wrote a book, “Until I Say Good-Bye”, on an iPhone using only her right thumb, the only finger that still works. While I was inspired by this woman’s courage and tenacity, I couldn’t help but compare the great lengths she has to go through to communicate with the ease of which most of us speak and write every day.

We often take our ability to communicate for granted. But what would we do if we knew that a year or two from now, we’d be unable to speak or write? What if it happened tomorrow? Would we regret not telling our children every day that we love them, not having expressed our appreciation to a coworker who stayed late so we could meet a deadline, not sending a note to the manager of that customer support rep who patiently and tirelessly worked on our case until it was resolved? The best way to live life without regrets is to seize the moment while the opportunity exists. We can all take a page from Susan’s book.

Seems easy, right? There are some people who always seem to say the right thing at the right time.  But what about the rest of us? Why isn’t expressing appreciation part of our normal way of operating?  Maybe we think we’re too busy, or that the other person already knows how we feel. Or maybe we think if we give too much praise, the person will stop putting forth effort. However, think about how good you feel when someone takes the time to acknowledge something that you’ve done. Most people thrive on attention, and when they see that their actions are rewarded with positive feedback, they increase their efforts. And it feels good to make others feel good. Recognize someone today!

Guest Blogger, Traunza Adams, bonus.ly Advisor