The Thoughtful Thinker

I would like to send you a smile today. Do you consider yourself to be a thoughtful person? If you were to search a few dictionaries to get a good definition of thoughtfulness, you may be surprised to find that there is more than one definition, however they all revolve around and agree with two points in particular. One being, “exhibiting or characterized by careful thought.” and the other “considerate of the feelings or well-being of others”. The first being a generalized statement and the other being related to the first but is a more focused description that I think we all relate to when we use the term “thoughtful”.

Being considerate of the feelings or well-being of others is not the entire story. In my opinion, true thoughtfulness is to be considerate of the feelings and well-being of others at the risk of inconveniencing ourselves. Let’s face it, we all think we are thoughtful but as soon as someone else’s feelings infringe on our own ideas and contentment it’s over. In Bubbie's view, when we can count the number of times we’ve held our tongue or walked away from a fight or given someone a hand or helped a friend does not make us a very thoughtful person. It should be so ingrained in our lives that we couldn’t begin to count and no one should even notice. Often our most thoughtful act is taking very good care of ourselves so that others don't have to be burdened with our shortcomings.

I would never want anyone, from a loved one to a friendly stranger, to ever feel that I wasn’t taking them into careful thought 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but I know it happens. This is because even though I try hard to always be thoughtful, I am human and often have my own agenda as to what I think is best for someone else. Also, each of us has our own perception of what we think others are thinking of us. But in the end, I pledge daily to lend quite support and consideration to every person in my life. My daily goal is give my best effort to be considerate of the feelings and well-being of others at the risk of inconveniencing myself. Won’t you join me? *smile*