{"id":24,"date":"2013-09-30T02:22:01","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T02:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/becausethisisyourlife\/?p=24"},"modified":"2013-09-30T02:23:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T02:23:15","slug":"how-would-you-prefer-to-be-appreciated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/becausethisisyourlife\/2013\/09\/how-would-you-prefer-to-be-appreciated.html","title":{"rendered":"How Would You Prefer To Be Appreciated?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Is it possible for you to remember the same thing you quite often forget?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Yes it is&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And you do this many more times than you&#8217;d like to admit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Not only that but this is something that can and does leave you feeling &#8220;down&#8221;&#8230;unless the complete opposite occurs. And as a result you start feeling &#8220;up.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Now here&#8217;s what&#8217;s funny about this&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">When it occurs in just the &#8220;right way&#8221; you realize something that is guaranteed to change your life to the way you want it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And what this centers around is asking one all important question.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">First think about this&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">If you had only 24 hours left to live what would you do?\u00a0Like every other human being you&#8217;d say &#8220;thank you&#8221; and &#8220;I love you&#8221; to those who have contributed to your life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">At times you may not be fully aware of this. However, at your true essence&#8212;and once you reflect on your life&#8212;you&#8217;ll see this to be true&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Along with the answer to that all important question I mentioned a minute ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And that question is&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">How would you prefer to be appreciated?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\"><strong>1. Tag&#8230;you&#8217;re it-<\/strong> Up until my teenage years I used to play tag with the other kids in my neighborhood. It was a fun game where a bunch of kids would pick someone to be &#8220;it&#8221; and then that person had to run after the other kids and &#8220;tag&#8221; one of them to be &#8220;it.&#8221; And then the cycle would start all over again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">When it comes to you being appreciated it works in a similar fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">How?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">It starts by realizing that appreciation makes up a part of the true meaning of gratitude. Thankfulness and grace are the other two parts of the TAG.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And each of these three parts are equally vital to one another.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">In the game of &#8220;tag&#8221; when you&#8217;re &#8220;it&#8221; the other kids run away from you. It is your job to run after and tag the next person to be &#8220;it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">In the game of life when you come from a place of being &#8220;it&#8221;&#8230;or as some may refer to as &#8220;I&#8217;ve arrived&#8221; and others refer to as being &#8220;cocky&#8221; or having an &#8220;ego&#8221; the same thing will have a tendency to happen&#8230;people will run away from you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">However, the difference in the game of life is that you don&#8217;t run after people and tag them to be &#8220;it&#8221;&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">But rather take a deeper look at yourself and ask, &#8220;how would I prefer to be appreciated?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And this begins by looking at your life&#8212;and life in general&#8212;from a different perspective&#8230;from a perspective that is designed to work for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\"><strong>2. The balancing act-<\/strong> There are two ways to look at life&#8230;from a one sided or two sided perspective. Most people look to live a one sided life of trying to be happy, positive, nice, kind, peaceful, and so on. These are certainly important. Just as equally important are the opposites of those&#8230;this forms the balancing act of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And the same thing is true when it comes to how you would prefer to be appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Earlier I mentioned about when &#8220;it&#8221; occurs in the &#8220;right way&#8221; that your life is guaranteed to change to the way you want it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">The &#8220;it&#8221; is having true appreciation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">The &#8220;right way&#8221; is seeing both sides of life equally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Just know that seeing life as being two sided is one of the ways you would answer the question of &#8220;how would you prefer to be appreciated.&#8221; There&#8217;s another one I&#8217;ll get into in a few minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">When most people want to be appreciated they seek out the one sidedness&#8212;more support than challenge, more pleasure than pain, more giving than taking, more kind than cruel, more niceness than meanness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">That&#8217;s only half of the picture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Being appreciated does involve the other half at times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">For example&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Let&#8217;s say you&#8217;re a parent and you give your child everything they want. In other words you rarely say &#8220;no&#8221; to them. At some point when you find yourself saying &#8220;no&#8221; to them they won&#8217;t listen. Some people refer to this as having &#8220;spoiled&#8221; your children.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">When this happens you won&#8217;t be appreciated because you tried to follow the one sided approach.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Versus&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">The two sided approach where you would provide an equal balance of &#8220;yes&#8221; and &#8220;no.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Those of you who are parents can certainly relate well to this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">In fact, this dynamic takes place in all interactions between human beings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">What it comes down to is&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">The way you would prefer to be appreciated does involve an equal exchange of both sides. If you try the one sided approach you&#8217;ll always be reminded&#8212;and in ways you don&#8217;t want&#8212;that you&#8217;re not being appreciated in the way you want.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And this leads to the second way of answering, &#8220;how would I prefer to be appreciated.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\"><strong>3. On your golden platter-<\/strong> Let&#8217;s now come back to remembering the same thing you quite often forget. And I&#8217;m sure you can see what that is. In case you don&#8217;t it&#8217;s being appreciated&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">But the question again is&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">&#8220;How would you prefer to be appreciated?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">What is so ironic is that the answer involves something that&#8217;s true to you but at the same time is the very thing you quite often forget.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">And that is&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">To be loved and appreciated for who you actually and authentically are&#8230;for your whole true self.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">So, who are you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">What is your whole true self?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">How do you know who you actually and authentically are?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">It starts by being aware of whether you&#8217;re living a life of &#8220;should&#8217;s&#8221;, &#8220;have to&#8217;s&#8221;, &#8220;got to&#8217;s&#8221;, and &#8220;supposed to&#8217;s&#8221; while pretending to be who you really are<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Or if you&#8217;re living a life of &#8220;I love to&#8217;s&#8221;, &#8220;I&#8217;m inspired to&#8217;s&#8221;, &#8220;I&#8217;m blessed to&#8221;, and &#8220;This is what I&#8217;ve always dreamed of&#8221; and being who you really are.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">Remember&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">No matter what you do in life you&#8217;re going to have people liking and disliking you, supporting and challenging you, praising and criticizing you&#8230;equally. And the more you get of one, the more you&#8217;ll get of the other&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">So you may as well be your actual and authentic self&#8230;Because this is when you&#8217;re appreciated in the way that you would prefer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">It still goes back to what I&#8217;ve said many times&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">You never have to give up any of your self to be the special person you are&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';color: black\">While continuing to be the unique and magnificent person that you&#8217;ve been since the first day you came into this world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it possible for you to remember the same thing you quite often forget? Yes it is&#8230; And you do this many more times than you&#8217;d like to admit. Not only that but this is something that can and does leave you feeling &#8220;down&#8221;&#8230;unless the complete opposite occurs. And as a result you start feeling&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Would You Prefer To Be Appreciated? - Because This Is Your Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/becausethisisyourlife\/2013\/09\/how-would-you-prefer-to-be-appreciated.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Would You Prefer To Be Appreciated? - Because This Is Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is it possible for you to remember the same thing you quite often forget? 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