the Gift of Appreciation!

Think of three people in your life that you truly appreciate, respect, and admire. Just pick the first three people who come to mind. Write down their names.

Over the course of Spring, give each of these people the gift of your genuine appreciation. You can write them a card, send them an email, give them a call, meet with them in person, or connect with them in whatever other way works for you. It does not really matter how you contact them or what form it takes, what matters is that you express your deep appreciation for them in a heartfelt, genuine way. Let them know what you admire about them, what positive impact they have in your life, and just thank them for being them. Give this gift of true appreciation without attachment, expectation, or agenda and see what happens – for them and for you!

Read [ A Little Bit of Appreciation Goes a Long Way ]
written by Mike Robbins

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Spring Updates

When I was in Primary School, we had a Spring Tradition that was followed by the Standard Five (Grade 7) students every year. Each of the Standard Five students were grouped together, two boys and two girls who would then choose a group of 12 students from the Standard Four class, and together they would raise money to purchase bouquets of Spring Flowers to be given on the 1st September, ‘Spring Day’ - to that years chosen members of the community in ‘Appreciation’ for their contribution.

The person had to be chosen carefully by the group, as they would have to explain their choice to the Spring Day committee, before the person in question was approved. This simple ‘Gift of Appreciation’ was deepened by the thought and careful consideration that went into the preparation for that day, and it was considered an honour in our community to be chosen to receive a Spring Bouquet from our school.

I was part of this particular tradition for both my Standard Four and Five years, and the most challenging part of the whole exercise was choosing a person, as each of us in the group realised how many people we could chose to honour with this ‘Gift of Appreciation’. The Standard Five students were also lucky enough to be escorted by a teacher to hand over the bouquet, so it was a day off from our normal school routine as we did something different and exciting. The person we chose was both humbled by the honour and grateful enough to give us juice and cookies and extend our trip that much longer. Being in boarding school made this activity that much more fun, as any trip outside of our school boundaries was a welcome respite.

Although, I know I enjoyed the experience of giving the ‘Spring Bouquet’ that year, the memory was outshone by another experience I had. During the [ Winter ] term, I was selected as head prefect for the ‘Baby Wing’ of our boarding school, which was considered the most challenging task of responsibility. The ‘Baby Wing’ homed all the little ones, Grade One and Two’s and Standard One’s (Grade Three). Each term the prefects changed to a different ‘Wing’, so that the different responsibility and ages of children was shared by all the prefects through the year. At the start of the third term, there was some confusion as to who would look after and take responsibility for the five Grade One students, the really little one’s aged 6 and 7. The problem was that all five had long hair, which meant the prefect who was responsible for them had to be up at the crack of dawn, 5:30 am, get dressed and be ready to help these little one’s when they got up with the bell at 6:00 am. The other burden was comforting them when they were understandably homesick. Although I had done my share through the cold [ Winter ] term, I volunteered to continue with the responsibility through to the end of the year.

That evening of Spring Day, after enjoying the excitement at school, the five little one’s called me into their dorm for a surprise, and what a surprise it was! They had saved their pocket money for weeks and coerced the dorm matron to secretly purchase a Spring Bouquet just for me. Tied in a ribbon to the bouquet of flowers was also a lock from each of their long hair!

You can imagine how I felt at this amazing and wonderful Gift of Appreciation!

Five little girls aged 6 and 7, each special and unique and who I will always remember. To be honoured and appreciated in such a way was truly amazing for a young thirteen year old girl!

I always try to honour the experience by giving a ‘Gift of Appreciation’ to five people I know, who have touched my heart and influenced my life by just being the person that they are..... this year I will continue that tradition, although it’s still a difficult and challenging choice as there are often so many people I can be appreciative of, for the things they do for me and the influence the have in my life!

Share what and who you appreciate, by sending your story in an [ E-mail ] - Thanks!