Читать книгу Giving Thanks - M. J. Ryan - Страница 25

Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.

—Jacques Maritain

A person does something kind for you, it could even be a very small thing, say

holding a door open for you. When you say, “Thank you,” and really mean it, rather

than saying it out of social convention, your heart instinctively opens to the per-

son. In that moment, you experience your connection to each other, even if you

never lay eyes on each other again.

This openheartedness takes courage. It requires enough trust in the good-

ness of other people and the universe at large that we can put aside our self-

protectiveness—that stance that says I am not going to be grateful for what I

am receiving right now because it’s too scary to risk getting hurt—and take a

leap of faith to acknowledge that we have received a gift.

The fact that true gratitude creates a sense of openheartedness is the reason

so much of the “thanks” in this culture is rote and unfeeling. People are afraid to

feel thankful, because they are afraid of the out-of-control experience that occurs

when they acknowledge the bond between giver and receiver. We are afraid to

feel the love that gets created any time we express true thanks. As adults, our

hearts have been broken many times and, by golly, we want to make sure it

doesn’t happen again.

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