Sara In Akko

A recent Blogher post caught my attention. It is the pledge of a a woman who blogs over at Time' s Fool to spend a month being thankful by writing a thank you a day for 30 days.

I (perhaps foolishly) have taken on this superb personal challenge by declaring my undying love for the art of thank you note writing in a public forum, and  have pledged to spend this month being thankful. In addition to my normal posts, which I promise will be more forthcoming in the nearing days, I will also be posting a daily thank you note for the many things I have to be thankful for.

February 1, 2011 Thank You Bobby McFerrin. Truly, thank you.

Dear Mr McFerrin,

When I got in the cab on my first day of my new job early this morning I heard something quietly playing in the background. I thought to myself that this song would carry me through a day of bureaucratic paperwork and processing with the gentle guidance back towards the larger picture of life.

When I learned that I had jumped the gun and arrived for a job that I apparently did not yet receive, I stayed calm and hummed quietly in my head the words I heard earlier. When I thought of tearing up just a bit out of embarrassment, I played your voice back  as my mantra and as I waited for the cab that never came to take me home and remove me from this catastrophic inward hate-fest I repeated it louder to myself.

Some words can be manipulated to sound angry when used out of context or turn around to bite us when we shout them inside our own minds. Your words seem to be so perfectly clear that even in some very unpleasant situations they can pull a person through.

So  thank you Mr McFerrin for your prolific advice. I did not for an instant worry but instead, decided to be happy.

Please accept my most sincere thanks for your guidance.

PS Next time I write you, would it be alright if I called you Bobby? I know we've never met before but I feel like the two of us have been through so much today, it only seems right that we bypass the  formalities.