Posts Tagged ‘gratitude’

 

In Part 1 of this blog series I confessed that the practice of gratitude has been one that I’ve not been able to sustain in the manner that I aspire to.

Practicing gratitude just isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.

And yet, the bottom line is the delightful word practice.

Oh yes, I’m practicing gratitude.  I’m working on it.

I’m a work in progress and so are all the things I’m practicing.  Big relief.

All I need to commit to is … Read the rest of this entry »

 

To be perfectly honest, I’ve been feeling kinda cranky the last few weeks. I’m not seeing things in my usual positive mode.

No, I’m feeling rather grumpy, actually.  Sigh.

And then I realized that letting myself wallow in my crankiness wasn’t doing much for me.

I wasn’t venting and then moving on.  I wasn’t expressing my feelings and then letting them go.  Oh no.  Not the last few weeks.  No siree.  I’ve actually glowered and scowled at times lately.

But you know what?  Read the rest of this entry »

     

I started this short series with the reminder that it takes time to build and maintain solid relationships.  And it takes our attention.  And we need to properly nourish our valued relationships. 

How do we do that? 

I propose that we nourish our relationships with a 4-pronged approach. 

Start by interacting with consideration; demonstrate respect for each other and for the relationship. 

Add a regular dose of appreciation and gratitude for the qualities of our loved ones.

Communicate with an open mind, asking questions of ourselves and others.  Be curious.  Be open.  Be receptive.

Here’s the last of the four points that I want to remind us of:

Expression.

Express your consideration!  Express your appreciation!

Express yourself.

An fun place to start (or return to) is The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  Using the 5 Love Languages provides us with a variety of ways to express ourselves in our relationships.  Here they are, briefly:

• Words of Affirmation
• Quality Time
• Receiving Gifts
• Acts of Service
• Physical Touch

Yes, different people prefer different forms of expression.  Heck, different days and moods inspire (require?) different forms of expression.

If you’re in a relationship that you value, you owe it to the other person, to the health of the relationship, and to yourself, to communicate that. 

Delve into all the options available to express yourself. 

Don’t keep it inside.  Express it.  Own it.  Revel in it!

How do YOU express yourself in your relationships?  I’d love to hear from you!

~Margie