Appreciation and Acceptance
When you appreciate someone for some good you saw in them, they get encouraged to repeat their good behavior. They'd want to perform it more, to feel loved more!
Now, for the behavior you don't appreciate in them, it doesn't help to argue with them about it and try to change it forcefully. Here is where acceptance comes! What is acceptance? 1) Sometimes it could mean overlooking the bad and refocusing on the good in them. 2) At times it could mean validating their thoughts and feelings -this helps them feel calmer. 3) Not sharing or enforcing your conflicting views if that's going to only cause headaches and hostility. 4) Calmly sharing your insights only if they seem open to learning from you. 5) Sometimes it could be accepting that they aren't good for a team/community and taking a step with the good of the community in mind. 6) You tell!
As you practice appreciation and acceptance, one feels calmer and comfortable with you. Because you not only make them feel valued through appreciation but are making them feel accepted as they are/ choosing to be. They could be themselves and free with you. Now, a calmer mind sees better and thinks better. As you appreciate and accept them, they will begin to appreciate and accept you too! And when that happens, change happens! We learn from the good in one another, and the bad tends to change towards good!
Could appreciation and acceptance, when practised together, help foster meaningful connections and individual growth? Share with us!
Inviting PAT (Peer Appreciation Team) for the discussion: @fristo @WarmLightXO @sunishiningandsoareyou @GloriaD @Reemhelp @GoldenRuleJG @mamtasha22 @anjellyna @gentleFox20 @JasmineFlower222 @Lou73 @NicholasW @ArtemisStormWolf @CalmWaves3939 @magicalOcean594 @Jujubears @CosmicMiracle @Here4good74 @SirenOfSerenity @Delicatebutterfly78 @MikaelaW @MelodyOfTheOcean @dTanushree @Harsvin @UniversalSmile @cristlecares @gentleemperor @HopefulBambi @CalmTimesAhead @StargirlTina @iCareUK @GoldenNest2727 @justFarheen @Estrellitaa
@Fristo
Practicing appreciation and acceptance means "you're training your mind to look at the bright side of someone" instead of complaining about the dark side.
Our intellect has taught us to compare everything in certain patterns of good or bad, big or small, right or wrong. So, when we practice appreciating and accepting someone's way of "being" we are also accepting the fact that darker side exists within each of us and its okay.
So what good happens when we accept and appreciate each other?
We can disagree on certain things, have different views, different likes and dislikes, different opinions and yet work together flawlessly.
One of the best examples of this practice can be seen in families with more than one child. Siblings are our first practice for love, kindness, compassion, acceptance etc.
Another example would be schools, a place where we spend time with people of our age since childhood. Every student is unique in their own way. Maybe some of us had friends who were exactly opposite of our way of "being". Yet we had so fun being with them.
This is what appreciation and acceptance does.
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” —Voltaire
@Fristo
What a beautiful post Fristo! I agree, everyone wants to feel loved and enjoys being appreciated. It can feel icky at first if you're not used to it but embrace it! Gratitude and appreciation has changed how I view the world 🥰
Connecting with others through appreciating them is such a wholesome experience and it's definitely brought me closer to people. I think it helps people to feel safe and seen.
🦊
