Encouragement goes a long way - Ethical Foundations

Character Building Weekly

Encouragement goes a long way

30 November - 6 December 2020

Encouragement goes a long way

Encouragement goes a long way, much further than you often realise. Having one person encourage and support you means the world to most of us.

Some people are lucky enough to have one best friend their whole life and being there for each other through thick and thin, good times and bad, life’s joy and life’s difficulties make life so much more enjoyable when you know someone, genuinely, has your back, and you have theirs.

But the beauty of encouragement is you don’t even need to be best friends with someone to encourage them. The wonderful thing about life is that you can give encouragement to a stranger, and be encouraged by a stranger. Some people are so generous and give their time, their knowledge, their skills or kind words.

Who needs encouragement

Everyone needs encouragement. Everyone needs more confidence in the ability to do something. Everybody is not so great at something – whatever that something is, they need encouragement to learn how to do it.

The one person who can encourage you constantly is yourself, and if you need help, then I encourage you to seek out a life coach, like myself, to support and encourage you to live the life you love.

The best way of encouraging yourself when you’re feeling down is to help someone else. Offer to do voluntary work. Helping others makes you feel good about yourself.

What encouragement can do

Encouragement when feeling down can lift you up. People share their perspective and, sometimes, it offers a way of thinking that you hadn’t considered before.

I have read articles where people have shared that they were in really in positions when they were stressed, or felt really lonely and had negative thoughts. Then because of an interaction with a stranger, it changed their world, because it saved their life.

You don’t always know the impact that you’ve had on someone but if every day you encourage someone, anyone, just know you have made a difference. Sometimes you’ll know what it is, but most times you won’t. Do you know who you are going to encourage today?

PARENTING TIPS

1. Be careful of your words – use words that encourage and not criticise.

2. Tell your child you are proud of them when you notice they are committed, dedicated, perservering, self-disciplined. Tell them what qualities you notice in them.

3. Remind your child that they have learnt so much in their lives already, to walk, to talk, to dress themselves, and that everyday we learn something new regardless of what age and we don’t learn things in one day – everything takes time.

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Character Building Weekly

Encouragement goes a long way

30 November - 6 December 2020

Encouragement – goes a long way

What is encouragement?

What is encouragement? In a nutshell – support. Encouragement goes a long way and is a beautiful trait to use when used with a pure heart and pure intentions.

Everyone needs encouragement

Everyone needs to be encouraged throughout all stages of life. Babies receive encouragement when they learn to walk. Children need encouragement to share their toys with their siblings and friends, to pick up after themselves, to put things back in place, to study, and we all need encouragement to try something new.

Internal encouragement

We all need support from others as well as

ourselves. As we grow older, we use internal motivation to do things such as

bigger cleaning jobs around the house, looking for employment, taking on

additional studies, keeping our finances in order and maintaining our

relationships with work colleagues, friends and family.

Friends of encouragement

Responsibility and self-discipline are required to

live the life you imagine for yourself. Caring is a quality that is a beautiful

trait to have as it is often seen and felt by the heart of those you care for.

Compassion and empathy can also be used when being encouraging.

The balance of encouragement

While being encouraging is supportive, it does not necessarily positively mean support. Unfortunately, being encouraging has been used negatively also. So-called friends or partners have, historically, encouraged their other half to commit suicide. People encourage others to self-harm, especially young adults. Online friends have encouraged young adults to run away from home and hand over or pay for goods or services because they have supposedly fallen in love with a stranger who has the gift of the gab (an expression that means someone can express their words to their advantage).

Encouragement, like

most things in life, can be used positively and negatively. It is essential to

use your wisdom and remove yourself from harm’s way if people are encouraging

you to do things that are not necessarily in your best interests.

If something is a

‘secret’, there may be cause for concern. There is a difference between secrets

and discretion, and learning the difference comes with maturity, which

naturally takes time.

If you are

encouraging someone, or someone is encouraging you to be mindful of who the

outcome benefits and – be kind, be kind, be kind.

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Trish Corbett

info@ethicalfoundations.com.au

Trish is the author of 'How to Raise Kids With Integrity - for parents, childcare educators and teachers' and blogs about a characteristic each week so that the main role models in a child's life can help children grow with self-awareness and self-confidence so they can make a positive difference in their world by recognizing and acknowledging character qualities in themselves and others. This works for adults too! Try it - sign up for a weekly email.

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