Acknowledging the invisible

I have just returned form travel to Bangkokg, Pattaya, Philadelphia, Vermont and places around DC.  So many people make the workd we live in livable, enable us to get from A to B, make our stays in hotels, airports, trains, planes, busses possible.  They make sure the restrooms are clean, the sidewalks de-iced and clean, the hotel showers filled regularly with shampoo….People ask for money to eat, ride the metro, get healthy.  I have been making a particular effort to acknowledge them with greetings, praise and acknowledgement, gratitude shown in letters, small gifts and a long eye contact when culturally appropriate.  I stop, I engage, I thank them, I ask them to be my partners if someting needs to be sorted out.

I don't want to take any action for granted, anythign running smoothly as a given.  I realize that I can easily jump to action when things go wrong, blame, judge - but when things go smoothly, it is just business as normal.  Well, enough of that.  If I don't acknowledge the people, the commitment, the service behind it, things will stop runnign smoothly.  I am so grateful that I can live the life I can because of so many people's effort.  

I broke my toe and so had to rely on wheel chair handlers, airline staff helping me with luggage, taxi cab drivers taking me the extra step in front of the stairs.  I saw parts of the airport and service people I never see otherwise.  There is a whole world out there, invisible to us that makes the visible world able to run the way it does.  I have been stopping repeatedly to be grateful that it does and make it visible to me and those behind the scenes.

And so , in the spirit of the holiday season, I have also sent cards to a wide circle of those who support me - postmen, bank tellers, doctors, accountants…. all those who are regularly in my life.  My clients who trust and support me and my business and practice and growth and my friends and family who make me who I am and allow me to love and thrive.