I Am Grateful For

A while back I wrote about saying “Thank you” to people. Last night I was listening to NPR on my ride home from a great New England SQL Server User Group meeting (yes, I listen to NPR). Two different reports came on during my ride that got me thinking again about my previous blog post. The first talked about how negative emotions directly impact your ability to make rational decisions. They’ve found that people actually spend more money on items when they’re depressed than they do when they’re happy. There’s a bunch of research around it, but I missed where it was published. It was a great discussion. They found that getting yourself into a positive mood directs your focus outwards rather than inwards. One of the best ways to get that positive emotion train running is to think about what you’re grateful for. More specifically who you’re grateful for in your life.

Then, a couple of segments later the author of this book, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
(on my reading list, I’ll get back to you) was on talking about how positive/negative emotions transmit themselves through our social networks, and not just the people next to you, but the people they’re next to and the people they’re next to. Three layers of separation.

I’m not the brightest fellow, but taking my “Thank you” post, in combination with the two segments on NPR, I’ve decided to get off my behind and start a blog series, “I Am Grateful For…” and I’m going to single out someone that I’m personally grateful for and tell you why. Still trying to decide on frequency, but probably one a month for a little while. The purpose is purely selfish. I want to think better, so I’m going for that positive emotion. I want to be in a positive environment, in order to maintain the improvements, so I’m going to spread that positive emotion.

Let’s get started.

I am grateful for Aaron Bertrand (b|t).

I consider Aaron a friend. We’ve known each other quite a few years although I don’t remember where we met exactly (had to have been at an SQL event somewhere). Aaron lives nearby in Rhode Island (and I forgive him for that) so we actually get to see each other occasionally in the real world. I’m ashamed to say that it’s Aaron that usually reaches out for these get-togethers. He’s great that way. He invited me down to his house to help raise money and awareness for ALS. Even though he works for a company in competition with mine, we get along great and he regularly invites me to events his company is putting on. He’s also terribly smart and shares that through his blog all the time, stuff that I learn from and incorporate into what I do (no, I don’t steal it). I appreciate his voice when we get in discussions (you should hear him at an MVP meeting) because he always seems to come at things from such an informed place. Funny enough, he’s one of the meanest Canadians you’ll ever meet, but I think that makes him great too. He takes time away from a very young family to get out to events and share all the stuff he knows on a pretty frequent basis.

Thanks Aaron.