Acknowledgement – a Powerful Medicine!

The act of acknowledgement recognizes and honours, contributing to an enhanced sense of appreciation and self-worth. It contributes to creating an environment of unconditional love and support – like fertilizer is to plants, acknowledgement and gratitude expressed create the context and required conditions for growth.

To acknowledge and be acknowledged is a pre-requisite for healing, for healthy relationships with others and a healthy relationship with our Selves.

Acknowledgement Focuses Attention

Acknowledgement focuses our attention on a specific aspect of our Being or Doing, in the present. We can also acknowledge transgressions – identifying injustice, terms & conditions not met…in this context, acknowledgement may require courage. Taking a stand, we speak our mind, our truth, thereby retaining or reinforcing our integrity.

To be acknowledged by someone or acknowledging your Self in private is one thing; to be acknowledged in public is quite another thing. Either can be deeply moving – moving us to centre, helping us ground so we can share more of our authentic selves. The experience quiets the mental chatter and silences the ego momentarily – the ego, always eager and engaged in important busi-ness.

The impact of accepting and integrating the acknowledgement received enables us to relax – we breathe in more deeply and exhale more freely.

Relaxation is to be who you are.  Tension is to be who you think you should be. Chinese Proverb

Without acknowledgement, by self or others, life can be experienced as desert-like – it may seem hard, brutal, nasty and short and leave us feeling stressed, strained, depleted and exhausted.

Acknowledgement acts like water to parched earth, refreshing, renewing and revivifying – but we have to receive it to benefit. We can let it run off or take it in, and when we do, we can feel the roots of our being growing deep, finding strength – the spine lengthen to extend our frame to its full height, we stand tall. It feels so good!

Can you get too much acknowledgement?

I don’t think so….that is, not if the acknowledgement comes from a grounded, centered and authentic state of being, uncontaminated by any impure motivations or hidden agenda.

Acknowledgement as a Practice

Acknowledgement as a practice, much like gratitude, instills trust and creates a safe environment for open communication and collaboration. The act of providing acknowledgement, appropriate and sensitive to the situation, can produce enormous benefits, enhancing confidence, self esteem, self-worth to invigorate purpose, promote engagement and deepen the level of commitment.

Learn more about emotional intelligence and how you can develop yours.