How's Your Gratometer ?

Written by Fred Hughes - Tue 22nd Feb 2022

I was struggling to come up with a subject for this week’s blog. Something about storms would be current, or scandal or sports, but then it came to me on the daily dog walk. Gratitude.

I have so much to be grateful for this week; the safe delivery of a loved one through an operation, the wishes and love from friends, family and colleagues, a thriving business, a lovely home etc. etc. etc.

Then someone told me a story. Two, (currently single) ladies, who are friends and neighbours, each received a bunch of daffodils from a male neighbour on Valentine’s Day. As they were both aware that the other had also been given flowers they discussed it on a walk.

Lady 1: “My daffs are just starting to come out. They look lovely! I love daffodils. They are so bright and cheerful; it was so lovely and unexpected to get them.”

Lady 2: Mine are the same, but I’m not being funny, but a bunch of daffs? They only cost a quid. I can buy them myself anytime. . .”

That got me thinking about how people react to a small gesture of kindness and thoughtfulness. Yes, agreed, daffodils are only “a quid” in the supermarket, but it`s nothing to do with price or availability, it’s about the fact that someone has thought about somebody else whilst doing their shopping.

In a week when it seems to be all doom and gloom on the news - people are struggling with illness, rising prices, the threat of war in the East and people who feel, because of the position they were born into, it gives them the right to be above the law, a simple act of getting a bunch of flowers meant so much to one person but was dismissed by another.

One thing we never dismiss at the Lead Generation Group is our gratitude for having great clients, great staff and great colleagues who inspire us each and every day and give us the impetus to go on doing what we love doing.

We all appreciate the grand gestures! However, not everyone is in a position to make a grand sweeping statement of gratitude. Many people are just thankful to have a roof over their heads, food in their belly and be surrounded by family and friends.

Sometimes, when life is trying to throw us a curved ball, we are stopped in our tracks by the small things that bring us joy and show us that we are loved, cared for and appreciated for just for who we are.

Being able to derive joy from a simple bunch of “cheap” flowers is a reminder that, whilst we all love to give and receive presents to just say “thank you” or “I’m thinking about you”, it’s not the size of the gesture or the gift, but the size of the impact it makes upon those who receive.

Daffodils, red roses, Swiss chocolates or diamonds, they all say something to someone. For us here at the LG Group, helping others to help their enterprises grow and thrive, is all the gratitude we need.