encourage

To encourage. When we take a moment from our busy every day lives, and stop to encourage someone. What does that mean to you?

It's the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, or hope. When we encourage others, we are sparking them to go on. Stimulating and affirming them to move forward.

I grew up in a home where the word encouragement was never spoken. No stimulation to go forward. No affirming the importance and qualities that made you...you. I can remember very vividly the almost constant yelling from my father that I would never amount to nothing. I would probably just concede the fact, that a garbageman was all I would ever amount too.

Now I am not blaming my father for anything. I look back at his life and I see the same struggles that I felt, were very much a part of his every day life as well. He had no mentor as his father died when he was very young. I love my dad for how hard he tried to make things right, when he didn't have anyone to show him how or what he was doing right or wrong. He did the best he could. He was a very under appreciated man, and I bet he never got any encouragement from anyone.

Coming from this type of background and the struggles I have had, I realize how important encouraging is.

I have always loved sports and was very active. I remember my brother and I joining a Pee Wee baseball league. Back than you didn't need a parent to sign you up. So my brother and I went to play. We had a ton of fun. The excitement of the games and the people cheering you on was great. But it would have been so much more fun to have had our parents or someone in the stands cheering us on. When the games were over, my brother and I grabbed our gloves and quietly walked home by ourselves.

Needless to say, I have learned the incredible value to encourage and validate others. It is a lost art in our society today. I am an internet marketer and part of my job is to encourage and entice others to continue forward despite the circumstances. It is so easy, the minute things don't go our way or just don't fall into the right pattern that we had figured on, to say, "I quit". Have you ever been there? Who hasn't.

Have you ever engaged in a conversation with someone and all you do is ask the questions about them, and they are more than willing to give you the answers. Why? We love to talk about ourselves. Our achievements. Where we are going and what we are doing.

We all love to be encouraged. Validated. To know that someone else finds me important. I mean something to them. They like me. What I do has value. This is so prevalent in older people. As they get older they don't feel valued anymore. So many times they are dropped off at the home and are never visited again. They wither and die alone.

You see this a lot in teens today. Teen suicide's are at an all time high. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-olds. Mom's, Dad's, talk to your children. Go to their games. Get involved with their lives. Show them how much you love them. Don't just tell them. It could change them forever.

This goes for everyone. There is not one person reading this that could not now, or maybe at some point used a word of encouragement. We get beat up at work. We get beat up on the freeway. We get beat up walking through the airport.

If you know someone who is alone or just struggling with life. Give them a call. Stop by for a visit. Take them out for a cup of coffee or lunch. Than just shut-up and ask them how they are doing. Than be quiet and listen. Give them encouraging words. Validate them. Pick them up and help them to continue forward. Give them a hug and the affirmations that will build them up.

Go back to the age old classic, "The Wizard of Oz". Remember the scene at the end of the movie, where they had all been discouraged after the great "OZ" didn't really do anything that they had thought he would. Dorthy sat down with them and gave them all the words of encouragement that gave them the strength to carry on and persevere. The Lion, Tin Man, and the Scare Crow all where different after that talk with Dorthy.

Which one are you? Need some encouragement? Need a little lift? Don't quit. You are important. You have value. The world would be such an empty and different place without you. Don't let a person or circumstances get you down. There is a new day tomorrow. Stay with it, and you will see. Quitters never win and winners never quit. It is a wonderful life because you are in it.

God bless you all.