The start of the year can be a high-energy month filled with a flurry of activity—from attending the last string of parties from the holidays, to jumpstarting a brand new phase at work, motivating the kids to get back in the swing of things as soon as classes start to keeping your household help up and about, cleaning up the Christmas decorations and putting the house in order again.
Everyday, we interact with friends, loved ones and coworkers and it is rare that we stop ourselves mid-routine to truly appreciate the relationships and bonds we’ve formed with them. We can all start the year right by taking time off our To Do lists to indulge in thoughtful gestures that tell the people around us they are in our thoughts.
Here are a few simple ideas to keep you genuinely connected to those you relate to everyday.
Friends
• Share a link on their Facebook walls to an website you know they’ll appreciate. If you’ve got more time, clip a magazine article and send it via snail mail—communicating via the Internet is so common these days that the rare handwritten letter is always a welcome thing.
• Instead of gifting a generic, tangible item, gift your friends with time you can spend together—a gift certificate to a nail spa for your circle of friends, or a private walking tour around Binondo or Intramuros for your barkada is a wonderful gift more memorable than anything tangible.
Family
• Leave a Post-It note with a cheerful quote in your kid’s packed lunch. It will be a nice surprise, especially when matched with his or her favorite sweet treat for dessert.
• Surprise a family member with a homemade breakfast in bed. Too often, we’re too busy to take our time in the morning—enjoying the most important meal of the day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee while still snuggling under the covers recalls the pleasant warmth of family.
Coworkers
• Arrange a bowl of candy that anyone on your floor or office can take a treat from in the middle of a busy day. It’s the small things that count!
• Fold an origami flower and tuck in your colleague’s keyboard at the end of the day. It’ll be a fun surprise to boost their mood the very next morning—especially when everyone is feeling burned out and rundown at work.
