Like a rollicking belly laugh, presence is contagious. Often, when you help someone else feel fully alive, it wakes up your own spirit as well.
The Practice
Choose someone in your life who's been struggling lately, who may have lost touch with the kind of confidence and ease that can come only from within. Next, think about what you most admire or appreciate about the person. Perhaps it's kindness, enthusiasm, or the tendency to crack a joke when people take themselves too seriously.
Now is the time for you to share. Offer your praise in person if possible, but if not, just pick up the phone. Make it clear that you have no agenda in communicating other than to express your appreciation. Notice how it feels to speak the words. Notice whether they create joy, embarrassment, a combination of the two, or something else entirely. Then, over the next few weeks, notice whether the entire relationship changes at all. Finally, notice whether any of your other relationships are affected as well.
— Raphael Cushnir in How Now