Learning The Art of Being Appreciative

I had this app on Facebook that never fails to inspire me everytime. For today it says,

On this day of your life, Patricia Marie, we believe God wants you to know ... that you are to let grace flow freely from your heart.

Think back over the last few days, - how many times have you felt appreciation towards another? How many times have you thought about another: 'what a lovely smile', or 'she is so nice', or 'such a kind man', or any of a myriad of other appreciative thoughts. Did you express them? Did you come up to her and say: 'you are so nice'? And why not? Why did you stop divine grace from flowing freely from your heart? Do you want to change the world to the better? This is it, this is how you start.

...which made me think "Have I been generous in appreciating small things in my life?" Sure, I appreciate big events or things that happen to me. It's normal. But what about the small stuff? For the past weeks, I've been blogging about "not-so-happy-things" that are happening in my life. For a change, I want to share some things that I'm really grateful for. It's important to think of at least one thing that made you happy for the day - it doesn't need to be grand like winning a lottery or something. Today, what made me smile is the thoughtfulness of my officemate Jason. Today he brought caldereta for lunch and he said,

"Patch, ikaw talaga una kong naalala dyan kaya nagdala ko nyan"

Oh myyyy. Am I the dreaded officemate who leeches other people's food kaya niya ko naalala?! Haha! I'm known for being matakaw though. Seriously I found the gesture sweet. Kaw ba naman maalala sa caldereta diba? Hahaha! And eventhough the food he brought is only good for one person, he shared it with everyone else, including me of course! Yummmyyyyy. Food talaga weakness ko. Hehe!

Starting today, I promise to be more appreciative of people and to be more generous in giving compliments. I admit I'm sometimes shy in giving compliments or thanking people for the small things they do for me. Nahihiya ako kasi baka sabihin nangbobola lang ako. Haha! I'm thankful of course but I just don't know how to express them in words. Maybe I should learn to be more expressive not just to people who are close to me but to everyone else.:)