Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 203 - Gratitude is a Duty Which Ought to be Paid, But Which None Have a Right to Expect


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 4	Issue 203
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GRATITUDE IS A DUTY WHICH OUGHT TO BE PAID, BUT WHICH NONE HAVE A RIGHT TO EXPECT In his book There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem, Wayne Dyer wrote : Stop looking for the approval and gratitude of others as your reason to do good. Even if no one ever says thank you, do for others as your heart dictates from spirit, which is rooted in the faster energy of love, kindness and connectedness to all. We should not expect gratitude for kindness. When we expect gratitude, we destroy the kindness and actually prevent the person we are helping from enjoying the feeling of gratitude. Gratitude is the recognition that you have been the beneficiary of someone else's kindness. Indebtedness is the recognition that because of that kindness, you now owe something to that person, and ought to pay it back. Coach Wooden helped me countless times over the years and never made me feel like I owed him one. In his book The Wisdom of Wooden: My Century On and Off the Court, Coach summed it up this way: In life there are few goals more worthwhile and satisfying than helping others. Teachers, coaches, mentors and leaders have that wonderful opportunity. It is an opportunity exceeded only by that of being a parent. All are based on giving—not the material things, but rather love, support, knowledge, guidance, kindness, discipline and even wisdom, such as my father and mother offered my brothers and me. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well: “Material things are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of thyself.” What he didn’t say is that it’s also the most joyous and rewarding gift to give. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Twitter: @woodenswisdom	COACH'S Favorite Poetry AND PROSE Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours The Sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The Moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back to where they were. The life of man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Black Elk (The Sioux) as told through John G. Neihardt
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