Psych fest in college

This week we had psychology fest in our college. Anddd to my pleasant surprise the topic was – Positive psychology!

It was focused on choti choti khushiyan. i.e – Happiness in little things.

We learnt a lot in detail about happiness and other positive psychology concepts and had fun.

There was also a session on gratitude. They talked about expressing gratitude in our Indian culture.

Expressing gratitude is not so common in our culture. I mean we don’t go on saying thank you to our mom and dad everytime they do something good for us.

Its understood that our mom dad are going to take care of us and we love them, they love us.

If you try to say thank you to your mom dad for something they’ve done for you, they’ll probably say something like – Usme kaunsi badi baat hai?

Our ma’am shared her experience. When her husband was out of station and she had to look after her kids on her own, she realised how tough it is. She realised that her mom must’ve went through the same struggle to raise her and her brother. She felt truly grateful for everything her mom had done for her and she called her at night. (just to say a big thank you)

Her mom heard what she had to say and said – Teri tabiyat toh thik hai na? Itni raat ko kyu jaag rahi hai? ja so ja.

😄Happens.

I heard another incident.

This lady was a single mother. She worked and looked after her little daughter. Whenever she came home from office her daughter used to run and hug her and tell her how much she loved her. Every day she unknowingly waited for this moment.

One day her mom came to stay with them. She felt really good whenever her mom came to stay with them as she would take care of the household chores and reduce the burden on her shoulders.

After some days she realised that her mother was helping her so much, but as her daughter expressed her love every day, she didn’t express her gratitude to her mom.

One day she decided to tell her mom how much she meant to her. She rehearsed everything she was about to say.

Next morning at breakfast table she was planning to say it. But then she realised this might sound artificial or wierd and so she left that day without saying anything.

That day she was thinking about it every moment and felt guilty for not saying.

Next day, she decided to express her gratitude no matter what.

Next morning she told her mother how much she meant to her. How much she valued her presence in her life, how grateful she was to her by her side.

Her mom said nothing.

She left for work. This time she felt light. She had finally expressed her gratitude.

That day when she came home in the evening she saw her mom was cooking (as usual) but there was something unusual – She was humming a tune while she was cooking. 🙂

These heartfelt words touch our heart somewhere deep down.

So guys I want to tell you – Expressing gratitude might seem a bit weird or unusual – but say what you feel. Tell them how much they mean to you. How happy and blessed you feel to have them in your life.

They may not react in a way you expected but you will feel light and these words will touch their heart. And honestly – It’s so beautiful to express our love to our loved ones while we have them with us.

Tell them how much they mean to you. Express your love and gratitude. Especially to your parents, because it’s most likely that their efforts while raising us go unnoticed.

Do you have any such memory? Where you expressed your gratitude and felt good? When someone else expressed their gratitude towards you – how did you feel?