There is more hunger for love and appreciation in the world today than for bread.
– Mother Teresa
People come alive when they feel appreciated. I’ve seen it myself. True transformations from the simplest act of appreciating someone. This is no secret in the business or management world for motivating staff, but I feel that it is missing in the world of our daily lives. Appreciation does something to people that is more powerful than magic, more concrete than actions, and more contagiously uplifting than kindness, praise, or success. My greatest desire for those I love, and for all whom I interact with, is that I in some way will contribute to them feeling appreciated.
The saddest people I know do not know that they are loved. These are those people who love others with great abandon and generosity, they give, give, and give, and tragically, their efforts become expectations rather than exceptions. Sadness only compounds itself the more one feels under-appreciated, for the absence of appreciation translates into the absence of love. Life is simply not meant to be lived without love.
Mother Teresa was right. We all need love and appreciation more than the food that we put into our bodies.
Make sure that you are leading the world around you; teach others how to show appreciation. As you do, you will see lives light up around you. Survival mode will turn off, and life will start to sprout, for this is what life is all about — love. Love begets love as appreciation is shared, expressed, and celebrated.
Celebrate those in your life today — those you love, those you barely know, and those you admire. People need to hear how much they are loved, we all forget sometimes and need to hear it ourselves. It is up to us to create a movement in this world. Rise up, be an appreciation leader, and start emanating love everywhere you go.