The Art Of Appreciation
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What do you value more? Finding a partner who understands you or one who appreciates you? How would it feel to wake up in the morning and be told how much you are loved? I've certainly turned these questions over in my head quite a few times. Honestly, I've always been interested in finding someone who really gets me and if you'd ask me what I mean, I'd quickly say, someone who understands, who empathizes, you know.. But now that I think about it, I realized that what I want more than that is someone who simply appreciates certain ways I see the world, and respects certain choices I've made, even if he doesn't completely understand how my mind works. As a matter of fact, the guys with whom I've had the least in common or who didn't seem to entirely understand where I was coming from, did seem to treat me better and were more into me than the guys with whom I had a common ground.
I’ve met so many couples whose main relationship issue boils down to not feeling appreciated by their partner. It’s so easy to take each other for granted and to get caught up in a pattern of not expressing your appreciation of each other. When you do not show appreciation in relationships you risk the chance of running into trouble as appreciation is one of the best expressions of love and care. It is extremely important to show appreciation to your partner because as they say, you never know the value of what you have until you lose it. Sad to say, some people are often engrossed in what they hope to achieve, forgetting what they already have.
Now what can you do to really let your partner know how grateful you are for everything that they do? I guess the first step is to think about all the special things that your partner does for you, not only physical things like doing the household chores or making your favorite dinner. How about the way that he/she is sensitive to your feelings? Or makes an effort to be respectful to you in front of other people? It’s all the little and big things that count. Once you have all these things in mind, it will be a piece of cake for you to appreciate your partner and show them how much everything they do for you means to you. If you deliberately, proactively choose to focus on what you value about your partner as much and as often as you possibly can, you’ll find that the love in your life just grows and grows.
As you see, that’s the true meaning of appreciation. It’s not just another word for gratitude, a polite “thank you” after someone has done something nice for you, but appreciation as valuing. The thoughts you think, when you are appreciating someone or something, are thoughts about their worth, their value to you, what they mean to you, and why they matter.
What about in our everyday life? Would the same concept apply? You bet! Showing appreciation can be done in many ways. But the most important thing is simply recognizing how fortunate we all are. The fact is that, in this country, even our slums are better than the best of what many other countries in the world have to offer. So it's time to focus not on what we lack, but to fully appreciate what we already have. To give gratitude for our health, our family, our friends, our possessions, however large or small, right now. It's time to count our blessings instead of discounting them.
Appreciation is a cornerstone of love, one of its most important elements. Whether it is appreciating the beauty of the sun rising in the morning, acknowledging the joy of spending quality time with loved ones or the intimacy of making love to your partner, appreciation in general helps pave the way for a deep connection, intimacy, and honesty in our relationships.
I’ve met so many couples whose main relationship issue boils down to not feeling appreciated by their partner. It’s so easy to take each other for granted and to get caught up in a pattern of not expressing your appreciation of each other. When you do not show appreciation in relationships you risk the chance of running into trouble as appreciation is one of the best expressions of love and care. It is extremely important to show appreciation to your partner because as they say, you never know the value of what you have until you lose it. Sad to say, some people are often engrossed in what they hope to achieve, forgetting what they already have.
Now what can you do to really let your partner know how grateful you are for everything that they do? I guess the first step is to think about all the special things that your partner does for you, not only physical things like doing the household chores or making your favorite dinner. How about the way that he/she is sensitive to your feelings? Or makes an effort to be respectful to you in front of other people? It’s all the little and big things that count. Once you have all these things in mind, it will be a piece of cake for you to appreciate your partner and show them how much everything they do for you means to you. If you deliberately, proactively choose to focus on what you value about your partner as much and as often as you possibly can, you’ll find that the love in your life just grows and grows.
As you see, that’s the true meaning of appreciation. It’s not just another word for gratitude, a polite “thank you” after someone has done something nice for you, but appreciation as valuing. The thoughts you think, when you are appreciating someone or something, are thoughts about their worth, their value to you, what they mean to you, and why they matter.
What about in our everyday life? Would the same concept apply? You bet! Showing appreciation can be done in many ways. But the most important thing is simply recognizing how fortunate we all are. The fact is that, in this country, even our slums are better than the best of what many other countries in the world have to offer. So it's time to focus not on what we lack, but to fully appreciate what we already have. To give gratitude for our health, our family, our friends, our possessions, however large or small, right now. It's time to count our blessings instead of discounting them.
Appreciation is a cornerstone of love, one of its most important elements. Whether it is appreciating the beauty of the sun rising in the morning, acknowledging the joy of spending quality time with loved ones or the intimacy of making love to your partner, appreciation in general helps pave the way for a deep connection, intimacy, and honesty in our relationships.
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