Grateful People: 7 Characteristics That Distinguish Them
The ability to be grateful is one of the reasons why human societies can exist. Because of this reciprocity, it is possible to establish links that unite people beyond the mere fact of providing well-being to those who receive gratitude.
¿What are grateful people like and how can we recognize them on a daily basis?? Let’s see what its main characteristics are.
These are the typical attributes that characterize those who are spontaneously grateful to others. Of course, they do not have to appear all at once in the same person, they only serve as general guidelines.
1. They do not say thank you in a strategic way
It is clear that, if we think about it, any prosocial behavior can be seen as a strategy to obtain benefits in return. However, in practice when we do things that benefit others we do not usually stop to think about how that will benefit us.
This is another key that helps identify grateful people: They give thanks spontaneously, irrationally, without this obeying a calculation of costs and benefits.
2. They show gratitude to everyone
For grateful people, showing gratitude is one more element that frequently comes into play in personal relationships. Therefore, they do it regardless of the degree of friendship or the intensity of the emotional bond that unites them with that person.
This is especially important in adulthood a life stage in which the number of friends with whom one has close contact is relatively small and consequently most of the people with whom one interacts are relative strangers.
Deep down, this characteristic is related to the previous one, since the cases in which gratitude is expressed towards people with whom one does not have much contact, it is most likely that the opportunity does not arise for them to return the kind gesture.
3. They use creativity to show gratitude
Grateful people are grateful in all the ways in which it is possible to give thanks; They are not limited to a single category such as “material gifts” or “thank you notes.”
Any context, with any type of resource, It is possible to reveal how much we value and appreciate what someone has done for us and with a little imagination, the idea of what to do to express it appears easily.
4. They adapt their message to the person to whom they are addressing it
Something to keep in mind when expressing gratitude is the knowledge you have about the tastes and personality of the person to whom the message is directed. Ultimately, if you want to convey a feeling of well-being, It makes sense to maximize this effect by adapting the way you say thank you
5. They don’t always wait for the celebrations
Why be constrained by the calendar when it comes to giving thanks? There is no reason to stop being grateful people during the days that go from one celebration to the next. Beyond birthdays and Christmas, there are many other moments in which you can give gifts or make dedications. The message is even more powerful precisely when it arrives on any given day.
Being grateful does not mean that you have a natural tendency towards naivety or altruism, but it does mean that you tend to offer fair treatment to everyone. Beyond the image that is offered to others when speaking or the ease of making friends and being liked by others, who is grateful? integrates this fact into his way of seeing human relationships and these are governed by the idea that justice is important.
7. They make sure the other person understands the message
It is of no use to say thank you if the person to whom this symbolic action is directed does not interpret this sign of gratitude as such. It is not a question of gaining positive points in front of her, but the important thing is that she is aware that she has given someone reasons to thank her, which says a lot in her favor.
