If you want to have a better relationship with your spouse, with your family or with co-workers, it all comes down to your ability to make them feel appreciated. Sometimes we tend to be selfish and always waiting for others to show us appreciation, respect, and love, but all these beautiful feelings amplify when we offer them. In other words, when you appreciate others, you will feel appreciated yourself.
Appreciation is truly an amplifier for your relationships. With your loved one, the passion and connection between you light up, just because when people feel appreciated they open up more. Not to mention the relationships you have with your kids or parents, how beautiful your home will blossom with love and joy.
Even in social or work situations, people tend to stick around and do favors to those who makes them feel important. Because we all walk with a big sign on our
forehead that says “I want love. I want to matter”. And how beautiful are those people that spent their lives making others feel important. Making others happy and confident, just because they were there. How not to love this kind of people? Today we will discuss how we can become one of them.
Fully engage
If you are with someone, and you chose to spend your time with that person and that person did the same, do yourself a favor and fully engage. It’s better to have a 30 minutes conversation that is truly connected than to have a 2 hours one when you constantly check up your phone or think about your work.
One of the major problems people face in relationships is the lack of connection. If you can’t have 30 minutes a day fully connected time with the most important people in your life, I don’t know what you are doing with your life.
The thing is simple: people feel appreciated when they receive attention. The world is full of pre-made unprocessed text lines that are programmed into our mind and is simple to just react, like a robot, without even filtering the thoughts or feelings of the other person. That’s why you will stand out if you are paying attention. Especially to your loved one.
You can buy tons of gifts, try to show all kinds of affection, but nothing beats having a conversation with somebody and be 100% there. Nothing shows more that you care. The one who knows to listen and be present, it’s the one who makes people feel appreciated. Therefore, the one who gets appreciated back.
When you are with somebody and you truly engage with them, you make them feel important. And that makes you the same.
Be polite
We all have struggles, we all have difficulties and we all are stressed out. Sometimes, even freaked out. Please bear in mind this before you try to judge someone for their attitude or behaviors. You never know what is going on in their lives.
Being kind and being polite is one of the finest human qualities you can find and develop. It might cheer up someone’s day saying “Thank you” followed by a smile when you get something, apparently small. It will heal a heart that loves you saying “I am sorry. Please forgive me” when you are doing something wrong. Always be polite, always react in a kind way.
I know it’s hard to react nicely when we face a situation we don’t like, an attitude we don’t agree or an opinion that is opposite to ours. But if we commit ourselves to become the nicest person we can be, it can change our world into better.
Being polite doesn’t mean you are weak. It means you are strong enough to control your own reactions and be a positive role model. It wouldn’t be a trait if it would be easy.
But if you are polite to people and you always try to be nice, people will feel appreciated around you and will value you. Even those that don’t like you will respect you in their own hearts, even if they don’t want to recognize it. It’s nothing more impressive than a kind soul.
“It is nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
– John Templeton
Be punctual
If you respect your own time (which I recommend) I’d also suggest respect other people’s time. If you have an appointment, a meeting, a date, do your best to be punctual. It’s nothing more important to relationships quality time than punctuality. And when you show others that you value their time and you don’t want to waste it unnecessarily, they will feel appreciated and valued.
This sometimes gets forgot in our busy noisy world, or mistreated as unimportant, but I have to tell you, nothing says that you are respecting people like being punctual. People make promises easy and set high standards verbally, but when it comes to action, punctuality is a clear proof of respect, responsibility, and appreciation.
Make a habit to plan your time before a meeting and always leave earlier. Do your math and estimate how much time it will take you to get there, on the average, then add 15 minutes more. It’s better to get early, wait around nearby and arrive at the precise moment than to be late.
I have to tell you, the impression you make on people when they know you can be counted on, you can be trusted, will be your legacy. People will trust you more and will believe in you more. If you are that kind of person that is always late, don’t ask why everybody has doubts about you.
Serve people
One of the most beautiful reasons to be alive is to serve others, to bring happiness all around you. Either if you do it as a parent, as a lover, as a nurse or as a businessman, making this world a little brighter just because of your presence will make you feel special and those around you the same.
Small acts of kindness and favors done from the heart, without expecting nothing back, will make the person who receives it feel appreciated and cherished. It’s something beautiful when somebody pays attention to your needs and try to meet them. You can’t imagine the level of romance this can bring to your relationship, the level of joy in your family and the powerful positive connection created in your workplace. And it’s also very simple to do.
Create a habit to switch your mentality in such a way that you serve those around you. Switch your mindset from taker to giver. Ask yourself “How can I serve those around me more? How can I be a better positive model?” You will be amazed about the heights your relationships will reach.
How do you make people that you care about feel appreciated? How they make you feel appreciated? Share it with us in the comments below.
