By: Brent Longnecker, Founder & CEO of 1 Reputation
E² is a new blog… and I pray a special one. E² stands for ENCOURAGEMENT and EDUCATION—two elements we can never get enough of and sadly, in short supply today.
Today will be on ENCOURAGEMENT. Albert Einstein - who I love - was a man of many talents and wonderful quotes. He once said:
“The best way to cheer yourself is to first cheer somebody else up.”
So true.
For our words and our actions either encourage or discourage others—there is no middle ground. The words spoken in our lives have a tremendous amount of impact on where we will be tomorrow. When we ENCOURAGE, we are, in essence, imparting courage. Further, positive words and actions are sometimes very difficult to remember, while negative words and actions are actually, always hard to forget. A long time ago, I heard a psychologist state that “it takes 10 words of encouragement to make up for one of discouragement.” WOW! Bottom-line, if you are living and breathing, we all need encouragement.
Think about it... without encouragement, life could soon feel pointless and burdensome. Without encouragement, we could be overwhelmed by the very real and perceived pains of our lives. Without encouragement, we can quickly feel undervalued. Without encouragement, we can begin to think only internally of ourselves and never think outside ourselves to bless others and use the talents we have been given to make a difference.
Interestingly, the word “encouragement” has a fascinating etymology worth sharing. Specifically: From Middle English encouragen, encoragen, from Anglo-Norman encoragier, from Old French encoragi. Roots are in the 15th century. Its original meaning was “to foster, give help or patronage. To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope, or spirit... To spur on, strongly recommend.”
Bottom-line, WE ALL need encouragement!! That, we must all agree on.
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Finally, when I was researching the roots of the word “encourage”, I was struck by how important the word was back in history around the 15th century on “giving courage” and “to motivate”! I went back and counted sixty different wars during that century - 60! Then, as I cross-referenced it against the viruses at the time, guess what had everyone’s attention while wars were everywhere? The black plague. As I thought about that and about how key those words are today, I wondered about the impact COVID has and is having on our future mental health. I thought about what a “great distractor” this virus has been for us.
Look for others to encourage. Make it a habit. A smile, opening a door with a kind word or maybe just a text is all people need.
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