Appreciation comes back to you!

We recently enjoyed Appreciation Day at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and it got us thinking about the importance of appreciation. There’s a saying, “The deepest craving of human nature is the need to feel appreciated.” We recognize there are several benefits of feeling appreciated and there are also significant benefits of expressing appreciation.

When you express your appreciation to someone, it shows that you care and the other person enjoys feeling appreciated. It makes people happy, they feel special and you can also feel good about the result you created. Both giving and receiving appreciation can help build self-esteem.

Companies would benefit by showing more appreciation to their employees because one of the key reasons people leave companies is that they don’t feel appreciated. When employees feel appreciated, often they will be more productive, their attitude is better and the business becomes more profitable.

Here are some ways to show appreciation. An easy way to express appreciation is just to tell people that you appreciate them. It’s also helpful to tell them why and list something specific about them and their actions. This often encourages them to do more of a desired behavior. Another way is to write short personal notes and put them somewhere they will find them. We do this in our relationship and it is a wonderful feeling to come across a special note of appreciation. People often will reciprocate and appreciate you more. When you express appreciation, it comes back to you.

At Appreciation Day, we talked to Susie Hopper, Public Relations Media Specialist for the Arboretum. We asked about Appreciation Day and why it’s important. Susie said, “It is really important to us at the Arboretum because these members help us do everything we do. They pay an annual fee and then they have access to the Arboretum year-round. We have two days a year where we have events like this to let them know how much we care. There are 27,000 members and not all of them come to everything but today I think we had four or five thousand.

We try to have something for everyone. We have yard games here so you see adults and little kids playing everything from checkers to many other games. Then we have ice cream from Sabastian Joe’s made especially for the Arboretum with honey in it and our mint so it’s really super-good. Of course, we always serve popcorn, that’s kind of a tradition. We have a food truck, a band, Sawyer’s Dream, here and then over on the main area we’re having Origami in the Garden tours and there are two bands there. We served cake all afternoon for the 60th Anniversary of the Arboretum.”

We acknowledged how much we were enjoying this Appreciation Day. We asked Susie, if people missed this one, when would the next one be happening. Susie answered, “It will be in the spring. It may be indoors but when you have this beautiful weather, with the Arboretum with all of our gardens, it’s ideal. The Arboretum also appreciates their volunteers. We have over 900 volunteers during the year. We wouldn’t function if we didn’t have them and we are so grateful.”

We also talked to members, Marty and Marie Johnson, and asked them what they enjoyed about Appreciation Day and the Arboretum. Marty offered, “It’s just the gorgeousness of it. It’s a fantastic place to come, relax and walk around. The flowers, my wife just loves them. She has a few places she likes, too. It’s always been nice to come here just to wind down and enjoy nature.” We asked Marie what are her favorite flowers and she offered, “The roses. And it was nice to get an extra discount in the store because of Appreciation Day.” Marty said, “The flowering trees are great to see and it gives you ideas about what you can do around your own home. The amount of time that’s been taken to put this place together is just phenomenal.” Marie added, “This was the first year we went to the plant sale and got some plants from here, and we’ll see how they do at our house.”

We talked to some people at Appreciation Day but we wondered about you. Do you feel appreciated?

Here’s a challenge: To feel more appreciated, actually show your appreciation. Spread appreciation to the people around you in business and personal relationships. The more appreciation you give, the more it comes back to you. We want you to know that we appreciate you!

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are Success Coaches and owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2018 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.