There's More

If you keep a gratitude diary, good for you. However, it’s not enough. Being grateful is only the beginning. To truly appreciate anything or anyone, you must put some work into it. If for example, you list your spouse in the journal, but you never spend any time having fun with your spouse and truly enjoying their company, you’re not really appreciating them.

Same goes for your children. You could write down every day how grateful you are for their smiling faces and laughter ringing through the house, but if you’re not down on the floor, making the laughter ring and smiling right back at them, how will they know you appreciate them?

You can be extremely grateful for your next door neighbor, but if you never take them a plate of food or a bouquet from your garden, will they know you appreciate them and think they’re a great neighbor? Or the sweet teenage girl who makes your latte every morning at the Starbucks; you look forward to her smiling face and most days you think you’d die without that latte, have you every offered to pay for a latte for the girl making yours?

These are just examples. I’d love to hear from all of you. What can you think of to show appreciation to another person?