I know people who find it difficult to show their appreciation, to praise someone who did something good, looks good, or behaved in a way that deserved to be highlighted. I know we were brought up without too much positive feedback (the word feedback being non-existent in our parents, grandparents or school teachers’ vocabulary). We were raised not to praise ourselves, not to stand out ‘like a louse on the forehead’ (I read this expression a while ago and it amused me), to want more, to have high expectations, but also to look in our neighbor’s yard and wish, somewhere within ourselves, they should crack.
I agree that we were raised differently but we are not 7 years old anymore. We have been through many situations, experiences, we’ve read throughout our lives, and so it goes without saying that we were educated. To continually blame our family or upbringing shows lack of responsibility for who we are, a “mioritic” attitude: ‘What am I supposed to do? I am the victim of my parents, of my school (and I had measles when I was a kid, too).
Furthermore, I think that we can put on hold our ego and tell someone ‘thank you’, ‘I appreciate it’, ‘that tie looks good on you’, ‘congratulations for what you have done’. To give these kind of words of appreciation, thankfulness, will not make you poorer, quite the contrary – it will make you more generous, more in balance with yourself and with the others.
We can start in December, even if it might sound fake, but if not as soon as possible then when? What I propose is to make a list of the people around us (family, colleagues, friends, clients, suppliers) and to write them a message of gratefulness and appreciation (if we are more of an introvert) or to call and tell them directly how much we appreciate them. Life shows us that we never know what will happen tomorrow, next year, and so it might be too late.
#gratitude
#appreciation