Appreciate People You Love

Today’s blog is about a small habit that if inculcated in our everyday behaviour, can bring huge changes in our life. Read on to findout something that’s even among my New Year Resolutions.

Whenever I have seen some person A buttering any person B, I have Never liked these Person A(s). Out of that Hate, I have always tried to Not-be even nearly like Person A.

And due to that mindset, manytimes the first thought that I get on recieving Appreciation used to be like, “Why is this person appreciating me?”, “She must be having some work from me, so she is being this sweet” etc. This was me as a Reciever of Sweetness.

But the worse part was that I wouldn’t easily Convey Appreciation even if I Genuinely liked something.. I would always feel thefear that ‘What if that person thinks of this as buttering and puts me in a category of People that do Flattering to easy out their jobs?’ And thus I would mostly end up with those Good Words lying in my head only.

(No, I wasn’t a person who would not like things easily, in fact I am so poetic and appreciative that way that I even acknowledge the beauty of Flowers and Moon and Clouds and such silent stuff.😂 But I think if a flower would have had a mind of it’s own, the old me wouldn’t even have praised its beauty, no matter how colorful or good smelling it is..😅

What is Appreciation?

The act of recognizing someone’s worth as a person or showing that you are grateful for something that the person has done.

WHY we should Appreciate Others?

NOW, as I met more people, made new friends, watched more movies and books, I realized that Genuine Appreciation Exists. It is actually Difficult to Be Nice to everyone and even difficult to go out, break the ice and Hesitation and Praise Others.

In college,I have a friend who has this Habit of telling her loved ones repeatedly that She Loves Them. And today I feel that if I would have told my friends at school how much they mean to me, we would probably be better friends today…

My Father is also a person who acknowledges even the Small small things that he likes. For example, he never fails to appreciate a nicely prepared Daal, even if that’s a routine task for my Mom. He even acknowledges people who generally are the least recognized. And I have seen him win hearts with these little Appreciative conversations.

But this realization is just the First Step of my Journey of Appreciating others. I then read about it and this is what I learned:

Benefits to Appreciator:

• It Improves your Mindset: You look out for good things in others and thus focus more on Positives and less on Negatives.
• Improves Mood: Just removing Negative words from your Vocabulary is proved to significantly improve your mood. Then imagine how effective would Using more and more Positive words be!
• Feel Fulfilled: When you make someone else Happy, you would feel really happy about yourself too!
• Makes your liking Clear: When you appreciate the kind of work you like, people will know it for the next time and you are more likely to receive more of your liking.
• Leadership quality: People who work for you would show improvement in Productivity, Innovation and Engagement. Moreover cultivating this quality will prepare you to be a good leader in future.
• Deepens Emotional Connections: Usually when people receive Unexpected Appreciation, they become truely Happy and would love you. They will stay Dedicated and more engaged.
• Helps Compensate: Sometimes you may have to make Critical comments. But putting such comments in between words of appreciation shall help.

Benefits on Recieving End:

• Improved Engagement:It could be Disheartening if you don’t get recognition when expected. This may discourage you from giving your 100% the next time. Instead if you get even a little appreciation, you will work with more Dedication.
• More Innovative: You would want to try your best to find a solution out of a problem so that you can get the praise, thus engaging all the creative juices!😄
• Stay Motivated : Even when you face failures, past appreciation can help you stay motivated.

HOW to Appreciate Others:

1. Appreciate the world around you: Look around and take a moment to enjoy the beauty of animate and inanimate things around.
2. Imagine life without them: Think what your life would be in absence of the thing/person you want to appreciate.
3. Share your feelings: Tell your friend the qualities that your admire in others. This shall encourage you to Express.
4. Practice Appreciating Yourself: Every night, ask yourself, ‘What can I be proud of, today?’ Write it down or Speak it Aloud.
5. What would you like to appreciate: Appreciating others shall help you recognize what kind of comments you like and what would you like to tell others.
6. Start with people you are NOT attached to: Tell your driver or maid or barber that they have done a nice job today. (You may not have to fight with Hesitation much, here)
7. Birthdays/Occasions: Such special days are Easy Opportunities to tell someone what you like in them.
8. Be Specific : Don’t say,”You are awesome”. Say,”I like that you are so punctual. ” Avoid Vague, broad comments.
9. Make I statements: It is about how You and not the other person. So instead of, “You are so organized”, say, “I like it how you keep your things so organized. I should catch some inspiration from you!”.
10. Challenge yourself: This is a work of Self Development. No one else is going to force you to start appreciating. You have to force deadlines upon yourself and be your own boss. Make a target for yourself.

Mode of Appreciation:

We must consider the medium through which we appreciate, because it may largely affect its Impact.

• For the Deepest appreciation, write a Handwritten Note.
• But when you can’t wait to write the note, do Express your appreciation via text or Email or over phone.
• From my personal experience, I feel that here, Talking could be more effective than Texting.
• Personal appreciation(especially for Team Projects) means a lot. Also, when you take a person’s name, you appeal him more
• Appreciation done in Public proves to be greatly effective.
• Get Creative: Send a box of their favorite Sweets with Appreciation note. Or Write a Poem for them! Just be creative.

Okay, I am very Sorry for the extensive use of the word Appreciation😂 Thanks for excusing me and reading on till here.

And, this is one of my Resolutions for the Upcoming year. I have promised myself that I will praise people more. (I will probably need some more time to tolerate very sweet people😂, but I will make sure I do not prevent myself from expressing words of Praise.)