Encouragement is something I love to dole out to people. It’s one of many things I provide my clients, and because it’s one of my spiritual gifts, it comes naturally to me. It’s amazing what an encouraging word can do for someone, and it’s even more amazing what it can do for the person giving it out.
A Balance of Encouragement
This reminds me of a post I wrote for my SUP: Spiritual Understanding & Prayer blog last year. I had been out paddling with one of my friends and we decided to teach ourselves some maneuvers on our stand up paddle boards. These maneuvers included walking forward and backwards on our boards while still staying balanced on them in the water, a difficult challenge for just about every paddle boarder when first trying it.
My friend and I would occasionally look over to each other to see how we were both doing. She encouraged me as she saw me trying to walk (I wasn’t graceful, but instead looked like a baby taking its first steps). And while it felt good to have encouragement from her, it felt even better to encourage her! She was doing awesome, and I just kept saying, “There you go! You’ve got it!” Just saying those words to another person lifted my own spirits so high.
It’s Better to Give Than to Receive
So if you find yourself in need of some encouragement today, try to give some to someone else. You may just find the phrase “it is better to give than to receive” to be true not just for gift-giving. A genuine and thoughtful offer of encouragement can greatly reduce your own feelings of discouragement.
One way you can encourage your friends is to share the paNASH blog with them so they too can benefit from the many posts that provide positivity, encouragement, and direction for their own lives and careers.
