The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

Yes, expressing appreciation to friends is healthy and beneficial for both you and your relationships, fostering trust, strengthening bonds, and promoting overall well-being.

Here’s a more detailed look at the benefits:

For Your Relationships:

Strengthens Bonds:

Acknowledging and appreciating your friends’ presence and contributions builds a foundation of trust, respect, and mutual support.

Promotes Positive Interactions:

Expressing gratitude shows your friends you care, which can lead to more positive interactions in the future.

Encourages Reciprocity:

When you appreciate someone, they are more likely to reciprocate those acts of kindness and appreciation.

Reduces Loneliness and Increases Social Connection:

Regularly expressing gratitude can lead to stronger social bonds and lower rates of loneliness.

For Your Well-being:

Increases Happiness and Optimism:

Gratitude is associated with greater happiness, optimism, and life satisfaction.

Reduces Stress and Anxiety:

Practicing gratitude can help reduce stress and anxiety levels.

Improves Sleep:

People who practice gratitude before bed often report better sleep quality.

Enhances Physical Health:

Research suggests that gratitude can improve sleep, mood, and even immunity.

Increases Self-Esteem and Confidence:

Appreciating what you have and the people in your life can lead to increased self-esteem and confidence.

The reality is that when you have strong connections that allow you to be 100% vulnerable, authentic, and real, you need to nurture those and take care of them like precious jewels or fragile cargo.

Like the box that brought the special award in the movie, A Christmas Story, treat these special connections as if they are “FRAGILE” pronounced “Fra-gee-lay” si vous ples.

Another example of some people that I need to be grateful for today and treat as a rare commodity are the very old friends that I’ve recently reconnected with believe it or not on Facebook. I couldn’t be on Facebook for a long time because I had not fully processed or integrated the memories and the experiences of my teenage years and dreading those up by reconnecting with folks from the 70s and 80s was emotionally too much for me.

Now, however, I’ve reconnected with a few dozen old-school friends from high school and junior high/elementary school. These old friends are connecting with me on new subjects that match my current(not past) interests like personal growth and wellness, neuroscience, spirituality and keeping shit real. For that reason, the people that have gravitated to me that I used to be friends during a past life are special to me in an interesting way for finding me in my new mindset and reality. They have no need or upside to be my friend for popularity or for social status at school anymore and no one knows that they’re back in touch with me now or staying in touch with me so it’s very organic and authentic in that regard.

So, I appreciate them very much.

Just like Rob and Kent.

And I’m going to make sure that they know that they were my inspiration for my daily blog today so that they can feel appreciated and feel the love that I have for them and the love I have for our friendship.

If there’s someone that you can think of right now as you read this that you appreciate your first person you think of is probably the person that you should reach out to today and just send a text or a note or a call or FaceTime and just say thanks for being my homie.

That’s an attitude of gratitude.

Love

and

Gratitude

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