April 1, 2016

A –Appreciation

I have chosen 26 Tips for a Happy Married Life 
as my theme for A-Z April challenge, 2016. 

Today the word is Appreciation.


In the early years of marriage I took little effort to notice and appreciate David for all the little things done for me. But as time passed, children came in taking away a lot of my time and energy and married in a joint family coping with in laws made it challenging to look for bright side of life. I got busy with work, home, kids and slowly I found it difficult to appreciate him. 

I even stopped appreciating myself and started getting into a race of running in and running out of the house to meet the demands both at home, meeting every one’s need and responding to kids and work front – busy meeting deadlines. In the process I neglected our relationship – it was as if both of us got so involved working for the family, but never found time to appreciate and take time for each other. That’s how we took one another for granted.

It took a lot of time; and plenty of experiences both positive and negative to slow me down and ask myself some very serious questions that challenged me to look within, take responsibility for what I have created for myself and my family. I had to recreate a new experience by changing the way I perceived our relationship. Once I understood the family dynamics and what was happening in me that impacted the outer reality. I decided to change and bring in small acts of kindness and began a new cycle of appreciating my husband for what he was; and everything he did for me and our family. Appreciation helped us in building loving relationships, within the family bringing us closer and enjoy and deeper and stronger bond with each other.


All of us love to hear the positive aspects of our personality and it makes us feel good and motivates us to become better day after day. Make appreciation a habit, start thanking your spouse whenever you find him being helpful either with domestic work or any other work, for the outdoor work, for fixing things like the washing machine, or television or sometimes even the computers. “The seed of goodness is found in the soil of appreciation says Dalai Lama”

In the whole process of appreciating David I began to appreciate myself everyday; and catch myself immediately whenever I make a negative statement about myself. Appreciation is a liberating act, leading us to be happy and fulfilling married life. It is often a common saying that “Appreciation in marriage is an antidote for divorce”

I love this quote of Dalai Lama which says “The seed of goodness is found in the soil of appreciation”

Would love to hear your thoughts appreciation?

Be Blessed & Be Happy !

18 comments:

  1. True, in our daily struggles of life, we dont realize when we start taking each other for granted and miss out on the basic and small gestures like appreciating your partner and even self. The quotes from Dalai Lama and Voltaire are so profound and apt! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to hear from you shilpa to know that these small things happen, sometimes even without our knowledge. I am glad to you liked the quotes !!

      Delete
  2. This is beautiful! Indeed we often take each for granted...appreciating one another is the key to a happy married life!

    Shubhangi @ The Little Princess

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for being here, and very kind of you affirm what I have posted :)

      Delete
  3. Enjoyed your blog. There are far too many people who don't show appreciation these days, both within families and other interactions. And it's important.
    @Bill_Gutman from
    Bill's Blog - Looking Back

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed what I posted; thanks for being here, appreciate you !!

      Delete
  4. Wise words! Thanks for a great post about appreciation. I appreciated it!
    @WidowBadass from
    The Widow Badass Blog

    ReplyDelete
  5. Appreciation is so easy to take for granted - but a little of it can work such magic. when you consider how a partner's kind words can lift you, it should be easy to realize how important it is to speak up, too.

    So glad I found you through the A to Z Challenge! Good luck.

    - Eli @ Coach Daddy (#1240)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are very right and all of us like to experience that magic and very well said to speak is very important too. All the best for the challenge, hope to connect with you !!

      Delete
  6. Loved this, Genevive. I saw your theme on FB and came rushing here. The first two paras of your post describe the story of my life. I am so caught up in all my other responsibilities that I have stopped appreciating my husband. Your posts will help greatly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cynthia, hugs to you, and so nice to hear after a long time. Thanks for connecting with me and I am happy to know that my post helped you :) stay blessed !!

      Delete
  7. Very true Jan, appreciation when a person is with you is more important then doing things later on...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rightly stated aparna, why wait for them to leave this earth. Appreciate them when they are alive and with us :)

      Delete
  8. This post is so well written.. I remember when it were a few months of my marriage, I used to compliment and appreciate him a lot but after reading this post, I realize I've not done this in a long time.. I do sometimes but can't seem to remember when..

    I think I know what I should do now :)

    Thanks to you :)

    Cheers
    Geets

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dear, glad to hear from you and am happy to know that this post reminded you to begin again. wishing you the very best :)

      Delete
  9. This is very true - good luck with the rest of the challenge :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for being here, and wishing you the very best !!

    ReplyDelete

Recent Comments

Recent Comments Widget