I probably say "Thank you." at least a dozen or more times a day. I don't say it unless I mean it usually, but it is an easy habit to get into. You see, I am thinking "I appreciate what you are doing in this momentary interaction." when I say "Thank you." It is my way of connecting with a clerk or a person in the supermarket who may move her cart to let me pass down the aisle. In these times of mass alienation, I find that this simple phrase can convert a zombie into an animated human being. A true miracle. If I see that happen a dozen times a day, it cheers me up. I begin to believe that I am still living in a world of awake human beings, despite so much evidence to the contrary.
Every day is Thanksgiving Day for me on this basic level of practice. No deity required. Just a determination to be alive and interactive with other members of my species in a peaceful way.
