From our early childhood we were taught to say "Thank you". These simple words express our gratitude and appreciation, teach that we have to thank for what we receive. We also show good manners when we say "Thank you".

Learning process begins with a child just repeating these words until it becomes her habit. At this stage words "Thank you" are still empty and dry, nevertheless parents are happy to hear them and continue encourage their children.

Due course of time as the children accumulate more experiences in hearing and expressing "Thank you", these words begin to come from the heart. Children start to feel them.

Thankfulness triggers and builds gratefulness. Gratefulness is like the youngest brother of love because it releases and builds warmth, happiness and joy and causes reciprocation.

As you can see these simple words "Thank you" lead us to love.

Another important thing is that words "Thank you" close the subject or the matter. When you say "Thank you", you are without the need of experiencing the same again because gratefulness also means that you are aware of what you have received.

I attended a discussion seeking wisdom in the following quotation by Richard Bach:

Within each of us lies the power
of our consent to health and sickness,
to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery.
It is we who control these and not another.

I agree with Bach that we have this kind of power within us. How does that power work? We not only give consent to the things that happen in our life, we actually create them. Our thoughts and words have creative power. We create desires and then they get fulfilled but we don’t control the time when we get to see the fruits of our desires.

Sometimes it takes a long time to become ready for a wish to come true. Why is that? Well, imagine a 10 years old boy desiring a car. It will take several years before he can legally drive, he will have to learn road rules and pass the test. His first car his parents may buy for him or he may have to wait till he gets a job and buys it himself. That process may take years.

As you can see desiring something is one thing but getting ready to receive it is another. We often want things right away but are we always ready to get them? I encourage conscious desiring, being very descriptive in what we want but also being patient and humble toward time since we can’t control it.

I can say more, we also don’t control the way our desires are fulfilled. Lets look at the example of a boy who wanted a car. Few weeks later he got a toy car. His desire was fulfilled but he is still waiting for a real car. And there are many desires like that, we wait for them to happen but they have been fulfilled already without us even noticing it.

Ok, but what about some negative things like illnesses? We don’t want to take responsibility for creating such desires but somewhere deep in us is a memory, a thought that started it.
What if I saw a sick person and others taking care of him. For a moment I thought, how nice it is to be taken care of like that… and that moment created a desire to experience it. Later of course I forget that thought just like many others and am surprised when unwanted thing happen in my life.

How often we desire something that is good for us right now but 10 years later it would be an obstacle. That teaches us to be very careful with creating desires. Wish only for the things that you really want to happen in your life and for those who believe in God – pray to God for eliminating all of your unneeded desires before they become a reality.