“The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for—and dying for, if need be—is the opportunity of making someone else happier and more useful.” —Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography.
People often seek to elevate themselves rather than others by focusing on their strengths and merits. This is unfortunate. People have become so busy that they don’t find time to care for others. The world has become ruthless with cutthroat competition. It is a rat race where no one cares about others. That is the current scenario globally.
God blessed us with life. If everyone thinks of contributing something to others by whatever means, most of the problems will be resolved, and people will feel better, bigger, and greater. However, very few people have the time to think along those lines as they don’t find to think through. They are used to routine activities because most people don’t even breathe properly due to high stress levels. Where will the world go? Who will save the world and the people? It is time to think through and do something for others to make a difference.
How to make others feel important
Make a habit of spending time daily listening to and empathizing with people. It comforts them. If possible, observe people around you, say a few good things, and motivate them. Who knows, the man whom you motivate might be on the brink of disaster.
Here is a short story about making others feel more important and saving lives. There was a young woman who was walking in the street. A man who was passing by saw the woman, stopped her shook her hand, and said, “Hi young woman! Where are you going? You look so beautiful! Have a great day!” The woman was shocked at the stranger who warmly shook her hand and greeted her with a great smile, saying that she looked great. She was coming back from the medical store with a small bottle in her hand wrapped with a cover. She was in a great depression as her boyfriend cheated on her and married something another woman. She felt let down and depressed. She lost all her confidence and felt inferior that she was not looking, and probably that led her boyfriend to dump her and search for some other woman. During the great depression, she went to a medical store to buy poison to end her life. When she was going back after buying a small bottle of poison, the stranger shook her hand, praised her beauty, and wished her a great day. Then she went to her home and looked in the mirror whether she was looking beautiful. She looked at the mirror several times and began smiling, thinking, “Yes, I am beautiful! What the stranger said was right. My deserted boyfriend is not lucky enough to enjoy my beauty, but she gradually developed confidence.” Finally, she threw away the poison bottle, and she went on to build a great career with a good man and became an international celebrity.
This story reveals the importance of making others feel important, thus saving them from the brink of committing suicide. We don’t know how much difference we make by praising and elevating others.
It is essential to appreciate and elevate others. Learn to look at the similarities rather than differences. Learn to look at the strengths rather than weaknesses because what goes around will return to you. Here are a few nuggets to make others feel more important.
- Listen to the other person with the right body language. Step into the shoes and empathize. Nod in agreement appropriately. If the other person is in distress don’t disturb and allow him/her to ventilate problems. Then present your solutions.
- When a person achieves something praise liberally, but be specific and objective to avoid sounding like a flattery.
- Identify the key strengths of people and praise them whenever and wherever possible.
- Adopt the mirroring technique where you need to convert your body language as per the other person as it helps in connecting with the other person making him/her feel comfortable and creating a common ground.
- Remember the fact that people have different needs, egos, emotions, and feelings. You cannot adopt a fixed approach or style to touch them. You need to identify each person’s situation and issue to touch and strike an emotional chord with them.
- Above all, always handhold others.
Remember, it takes several years to build relations, but it takes a few seconds to break it. Hence, present a positive attitude and praise and make others feel more important to touch and connect with them emotionally and successfully.
People might ask, “When people don’t find time for themselves, how can they find time for their family, friends, and society?” Yes! It is true. As we have a responsibility towards our children, we have equal responsibility towards future generations for passing on society’s values and virtues. Hence, it is time for us to think, act, and make a difference for others to take this human civilization to greater heights of glory, not in terms of material but in ideals and ideas.
