Appreciation Is Life

I was recently looking through one of my favorite classic books How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in the Dale Carnegie Program and then to be an Associate Instructor.  But this time, when looking thorough the book again, I noticed that 3 of the 27 principles that Carnegie discusses all deal with giving appreciation.

I was surprised that I hadn’t noticed it before because two of my favorite quotes center on appreciation.  One from Mother Teresa “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” 

And the other from Robert Cavett “Three billion people on the face of the earth go to bed hungry every night, but four billion people go to bed every night hungry for a simple word of encouragement and recognition.”

Note that these two quotes put both food and appreciation on the same level of significance.  Food is critical to life.  Without food the body dies.  Without appreciation for who we are or recognition of what we do…that can slowly and painfully kill the soul.

When did you last “feed” a little appreciation to someone on your team…your friends…your family…or a loved one?  It takes so little, and would mean so much.

“Give honest, sincere appreciation.”  - Dale Carnegie