An Attitude of Gratitude
I took another suggestion from the book "Write it Down, Make it Happen" and wrote "Thanks!" on the memo line of bills I paid today. Surprisingly, it did make parting with that money a little easier. :)
For example, when writing a rather large check to pay my electric heating bill, I thought about how hard the people work to make sure my place is warm - the electric company men & women who come out in all weather & all hours doing the best they can when the electricity goes out due to storms; the people entering the data from my check so that my bill gets paid on time and my electricity stays on - for you, I'm grateful. :) I'm also grateful I for the fact that I had the money to pay it with in the first place, and for the people working at the bank who process the checks too. So when I wrote "thanks" on the memo line next to my account number, I meant it. I still had to pay the bill, but at least it wasn't quite as painful. :)
I hope I can remember to be grateful more often.
I love doing that! I do that on all my checks. It's also an opportunity to thank those people whose services we buy that are truly priceless, like teachers and such. Every time I do, I think, "Man, I couldn't possibly pay enough for this!"
ReplyDeleteHi, spyscribbler - thanks for dropping by! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what a difference it can make, isn't it? :)
Y'know, I guess I've never really looked at it that way, Kate. The only thing I see is the bill getting higher and higher each month with the cold weather and don't really consider that these people do bend over backward to make sure everything runs smoothly.
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out something very important.
Great blog.
I love this blog, Rebecca. I love anything positive. I think I should get Write it down, Make it happen.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. When I first read about doing that, I thought okay, that sounds nice enough but didn't think too much about it until I tried it. It really does make a difference.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I highly recommend the book. I'm glad I looked into it after Edie had mentioned it.
Word of mouth... it does help sell books, doesn't it? I was going to check it out from the library, but it was already out, so I went ahead and bought it. :)
Kate, I'm with Liz. The electric company in southeastern Wisconsin raised the prices at least four times last year. And you can bet a huge chunk goes to their CEO.
ReplyDeleteTalking about paying checks, some writers I know put their bookmarks in with the checks they mail out. Now I think that's a great idea!
Edie, I've read about mailing bookmarks with bills as a way to self-promote - it's on my list of "things to do when the time comes". I also have a few other ideas that I've gathered and one that I came up with the other day that I hadn't seen anywhere. (Although I'm sure somebody somewhere has done it! :)) I'm going to post a separate blog about it in a minute.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this before, and I think it's a lovely idea. Thank you! :-)
ReplyDelete