Love. Many meanings from superficial; “I love this latte!”, to more deeply expressed; “I love you with all my heart.”

Such a charged word. Such a four-letter word!

As we look at our current societal climate, expressions of love are needed more than ever. There are ways to demonstrate love every day in all the contexts of your life. While it’s fairly simple, it’s not always easy.

Compassion. This may be easiest family, or toughest. Because of your deep attachment, you can put yourself in your loved ones’ shoes and understand issues from that point of view. It may also be the toughest based on how many times you’ve worn those shoes! Remember, they may have also stood numerous times in your size-12s and helped you through the challenges and issues you may not yet have mastered. It takes work. Mostly, it takes love.

Patience. This is a personal challenge for this writer. As a “let’s go!” personality, patience is the virtue that gets thrown under the bus most often. We may all have “that friend” who needs to be told the starting time for any get-together at 30 minutes earlier than everyone else so they can show up just 30 minutes late. What we don’t know is the unexpressed struggle with focus, with depression, with taking an extra 10 minutes to pick up the host’s favorite, hard-to-find specialty “thing” that they happened to see on the way home getting ready for the event….

Appreciation. We can actually apply a spirit of love in the workplace. How can you recognize and appreciate all the amazing things that your colleagues manage in the workplace? There are loads of options beyond financial recognition.

• Public and specific acknowledgement of a job well done: “Thank You, Mark, for managing through the angry client, listening to the problem, taking corrective action and maintaining the client relationship.”
• Simple affirmations: “Kathryn, you did a great job tackling the last tech problem, I know you are diligent and smart and I trust you to get to the bottom of this one as well.”
• Listening without interrupting. Guilty as charged – and is this you, too? If you feel the need to “add value” by paraphrasing your colleague in a meeting, it treats your audience as though they are not intelligent, demeans your colleague, extends the length of the meeting (who needs that?!) all so that you can demonstrate that you are smart. Tip – breathe and take 5, no 10 seconds to see if your input will truly contribute to the conversation.

Forgiveness. For everyone, first yourself. Comedian Lily Tomlin has a great line: “Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.” Knowing that forgiveness is the gift you give yourself, really, and letting go is freeing, what’s not to love about forgiveness? We all need forgiveness and if you can’t get there – go back and read Compassion.

Thank you for reading our blog and take a few minutes to find a way to show love today!