On appreciation: Learn to thank those who contributed to your success

When we fail to achieve something, it is easy to find the reason(s) for our failures in others or something. It is all too easy to find someone or something, or some circumstance to blame for our lack of success. If our marriages fail, it is because our spouses don’t understand us, or are not supportive. It is because of our in-laws or our family. It is because of our friends or our work. The list goes on. When are kids don’t succeed in school, it is because of the school system, incompetent teachers, bad influence of friends, or the neighborhoods. The list goes on. If we have difficulties at work, it is because of our employer, our supervisor, our colleagues, or unsupportive spouse and family. There is always someone or something that had contributed to the failure. Everything in society seems to be against us.

However, how often have we tried to identify the causes and contributors to our success? All too often, we over-hype our own contribution for the success. But, the reality is that our success, just like our failure, depends on other people, things and circumstances. The same factors that we identified for our failure, if flipped around, may be the same factors that contribute to our success. Therefore, when our marriages succeed, we should recognize the positive contribution of our spouses, our families, our in-laws, our friends, our spouses’ friends, our co-workers, our employers, and our society. These are all skewed in our favor for success. When your child success at school, we should recognize the positive contribution of their teachers, the support staff, the school system, their friends, our families, our friends, and the society. When we succeed at work, we should recognize the positive contribution of our spouses, our children, our co-workers, our employers, and our society. For, if these contributions were negative, it is easy to spot and blame them for the failure.

Appreciate yourselves and others, for no man is an island, and no one lives in isolation. We are an integral part of our society, for better or for worse.

And, above all, thank God.