When was the last time you sincerely thanked a family member or friend for all that they have done?
Its been a while, eh? Don’t worry you’re not alone.
It’s unfortunate, but many of us, including myself, often take our relationships for granted.
We expect Dad to always support us.
We expect Mom to always have dinner made.
We expect our friends to be there when we’re feeling down.
We expect our brothers and sisters to come running when we find ourselves in a jam.
Yet we rarely take the time to give praise.
As my high-school career is coming to a end, I have found myself spending a substantial amount of time reflecting on the people that have influenced me.
One of my greatest personal faults is that I often fail to give praise. While I strive to live a life of gratitude , I often forget to voice how much someone means to me. This is something I’m working hard on to improve.
The past few days I have made a conscious effort to praise my family members and friends as much as possible and have found the process to be very rewarding, not only for me but those receiving the praise as well.
When you give praise you are sending out positive energy, which results in more good deeds being done. Everyone loves a good, ” I appreciate you.”
Expressing praise is a simple way to benefit humanity. While giving praise is almost effortless, it makes people work harder and feel better about themselves.
When I learned that I was moving to China, I spent an entire day writing notes to the members of my cross country team. To this day a few of them keep the letter in their wallet. You never know how much your praise might mean.
In the next few days I plan on writing numerous hand written notes expressing my praise to the many individuals who have influenced the person I am today. I intend to spend many hours crafting these notes to convey the importance each individual has played in my life.
Although it isn’t necessary to write letters in order to express praise, I personally have found it to be a very effective medium. The act of expressing praise is all that matters; you can always give more thanks.
Have you been taking your relationships for granted? Do you give thanks daily?
Who will you praise today?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i will praise you. nice entry, good job.
notice how that was effortless…and without sincerity.
i agree with you that giving praise is a great way to make both your own and others’ days, but i think you can’t just…create praise. it has to be somewhat sincere and natural. if you just go up to a friend and say you appreciate them…its not as strong as if it happened naturally (like if they really did good on a presentation or something).
…or maybe you (and I) mixed up praise and thanks?
Great insight Bud! It’s amazing how you can change someones day, and maybe even their life, just by showing how much you appreciate them. When you do this with the people around you, they are often happier and more appreciative of you which is certainly a nicer environment to be in. This especially applies with family where it’s so easy to take things for granted.
I agree that most of us take our relationships (and some of the most important ones!) for granted far too often. I really try to do my best to thank those who support me (including the “givens” like my parents and family members). It really doesn’t take much time to say a heartfelt “Thank you” or to drop a little note in the mail (people LOVE snail mail). Thanks for reminding me to always be grateful!
I’m a typical Anglo-Canadian – I thank people for everything as well as apologize for everything.
Nice bud, it’s actually really true. I’m lacking in that myself. Thanks for the insight.
Thanks for the comments guys. As I mentioned in the post one of my goals this upcoming year is give more praise. Should be a great year
What about praising you Bud? When I worked as a teacher, they had a system of “Report Notices” as they called them, that were to inform parents to everything their children had done wrong. In my own class I added the “Positive Report Notes” which were about what the students had done right.
They worked to a point, specially with those kind of “unnoticed”, straight C kids. Now, it was my first year as a teacher -and probably my last, teaching was nothing I planned to do- and there a few things I could have done better at implementing it, but I believe the promising results I saw prove the principle was right.