Express Appreciation – A Simple Way to Foster Closeness in Relationships

One of the simplest things that you can do to foster closeness in a relationship is to express appreciation. It also has a positive impact on your mood and the recipient’s mood!

In my signature presentation, The Grateful Day™, exercise #3 is to express appreciation for one person every day.

This is an important and powerful activity because the strongest predictor of happiness is your relationships. Knowing the research in this area, I made sure to incorporate this idea into The Grateful Day™.

Take the time to express appreciation for the people in your life. On your busiest day, it does not need to take more than 30 seconds to send a text.

You could also make a phone call or handwrite a gratitude letter. You can get really creative with this one!

So often, we have nice thoughts about people, but we don’t share them. Research demonstrates that one reason we don’t share is because we underestimate the positive impact that our words of appreciation have on the recipient.

We think that it doesn’t matter, so we don’t send it.

Or we feel awkward and vulnerable, so we don’t say it.

Your recipient values your kind words more than you realize!

Add an element of surprise and reach out to someone you have not had contact with in a while. Research indicates that the surprise factor has a powerful positive impact on the recipient.

Your words of appreciation just may be the kindest words that the person receives all day.