Gifts That Leave Lasting Impact

One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is appreciation.

We see over and over again the powerful impact of meaningful appreciation. This holiday season is a perfect opportunity for you to use appreciation as an expression of your “being for” the people in your life.

When authentically expressed from the heart, giving appreciation creates greater connection, deepens relationship and often leaves the person with a renewed sense of inspiration and strength. The more depth you include, the greater the impact. This can be accomplished by sharing specific details about what you appreciate and why, including how it impacts you personally.

Another invaluable expression of “being for” the people in your life is to give them the gift of listening generously.

Truly listening to someone by bringing forth your authentic curiosity and desire to understand and appreciate their perspective is a gift that most people don’t receive very often. What they usually get instead is a semi-distracted listening that is usually followed by advice, opinions, judgement, or reactivity.

Through your generous listening, you open the possibility of the person feeling heard at a deep level. To be heard is fundamentally validating for each of us. What a wonderful gift to give at this time of year, especially to the people who you care about the most. The more you can bring forward your listening skills of paying attention, replicating, re-creating, and when appropriate co-creating, the greater the impact you will have.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season,

The Collaborative Way Team