I have noticed recently how many things I still wish I could show my parents and get their approval. My mom and dad have both passed away, and they were loving and giving people, so this is not a quest for approval that I never heard as a child and it’s not a desire to win my parent’s affection later in life.
After thinking a little, I realized that I always got happiness from their approval. I would take pride in being recognized for whatever I had done. I think that as an adult, we tend not to recognize our own good works and we don’t get much approval from the rest of the world. That’s really a shame, since giving your approval and lauding someone’s efforts takes so little effort on our part, but creates so much happiness. Small cost, big return – but still we complain more than we praise.
So here goes – - – You really did a good job on that. Great work. You should really be proud of yourself!
