Thank you so much for joining me on this journey towards having the life you want. It’s already impacted my life in positive ways and I hope it is helping you as well.
One of the ways that you can raise your level of happiness right now, today, is to tell the people you care about that you care about them. It sounds too simple, but most of the best things are!
By expressing your love to your friends, family, significant other, or kids, you are not only improving their lives, you are improving your own as well. We all long to be noticed, to feel that we matter in someone’s life. By letting someone know that they matter to you, you are making a difference. This can’t help but make you feel good inside as well as brightening their day.
I’ve put together a list of 72 ways that you can express your love. Some of these may be most appropriate coming from a parent to a child while others may be best coming from a wife to a husband and others may work well for friends.
Keep in mind that there are 5 love languages so if you are saying to your child every day, “I love you”, but their love language is physical touch, a hug might make them feel more loved than your words would. Your challenge today is to choose one thing off this list and do it for someone you love.
1. Write “I love you” on the mirror in lipstick along with the person’s name. (don’t worry. It washes off!)
2. Include a love note in your child or spouse’s lunch to surprise them.
3. Cover a door with post-it notes expressing all the different things you appreciate about that person.
4. Write on a (fake) ten dollar bill “My life is richer because of you.”
5. Text a suggestive message to your spouse.
6. Fill a spray bottle with food coloring and water and write a message in the snow. (this one won’t work if you live in Florida!)
7. Light up when they come in the room. Let the look on your face say it all!
8. Say “I’m sorry.”
9. Buy them their favourite treat.
10. Say “thank you” for something specific that they do.
11. Give them a hug.
12. Sing them or play them a song that expresses how you feel. Bonus points if you make the song up!
13. Tell someone else how much you appreciate that person.
14. Make their favourite meal.
15. Sneak a note under the sun visor in their car so that the next time they put it down, it will fall on them unexpectedly. This one might be particularly fun to do with your newly driving teenagers!
16. Call a friend up just to tell them that they are important to you.
17. Give them a backscratch.
18. Leave magic love notes for your kids if you’re going to be away.
19. Bring someone flowers just because. A few weeks ago, my friend Richelle brought me flowers after a hard month but said they were in celebration of an achievement I had had. It really helped me reframe my thoughts and every time I saw them on the counter, I was reminded that someone had thought of me.
20. Read your child a sappy book. These are our favourite sentimental children’s books.
21. Go on a one-on-one date with your child or spouse or friend.
22. Listen, really listen.
23. Snuggle.
24. Leave a trail of papers on the floor, each one with a memory made with that person and ending with a page that says “My best memories have you in them.”
25. Put down your phone. Make eye contact.
26. Pray with them. Often, we tell our friends or loved ones that we will pray for them. This time, pray with them right at that moment out loud.
27. Bring them some homemade cookies.
28. Use Crayola window writers to draw hearts or write messages on their car window or house windows. This again might be fun to do for your teenager. It wipes off easily so they can erase it before their friends see and tease them!
29. Play with them. This one goes for your kids but also for your friends or spouse. Swing at the playground, play tag, have a tea party!
30. Offer to run an errand for them to make things easier for them because you appreciate all that they do.
31. Take extra time when doing tuck-ins with your kids.
32. Give a gift without there being an occasion.
33. Say “I’m glad you’re you.”
34. Record a message into a card or book. You can even buy a personal alarm clock that would let you record a “Good morning my love. Hope you have a great day!” message.
35. Make a homemade card with a handwritten message.
36. Look through old photo albums together and reminisce.
37. Spell out the person’s name in strawberries or make a pancake in the shape of the first letter of their name.
38. Put alerts on your loved one’s phone that will beep with messages like “Thinking of you” or “You’re fabulous”.
39. Drop off their favourite tea or coffee.
40. Let them overhear you gushing about them to someone else.
41. Make a coupon book for them specific to the things they like. My oldest daughter Miss Optimism (who is 12) made one for me with coupons for things like “water from the water cooler”, “a Slurpee”, “breakfast in bed”, “nachos”, and “help cleaning up”. She knows me well! The ones she made for my husband said things like “pedicure”, “back scratch”, “lunch for your work”. What made them so special was that she had thought about the things we each like. (oh, and the breakfast in bed was fabulous! hash browns, eggs, grapefruit, bacon, and tea…she is a treasure!)
42. Drop everything. Once in awhile, drop everything if someone you care about phones or ask you to go for coffee. It will show them how important they are to you.
43. Write a letter…and mail it, even if it’s to someone in your own house. Getting mail is special. I once wrote a letter to a former teacher to let her know that her pushing me and believing in me had made a difference.
44. Draw a heart or spell out “I love you” on their back with your fingers.
45. Create a scavenger hunt either with notes about what you love about them or little treats you know are their favourite.
46. Send magic message bananas in their lunch.
47. Teach your kids the “I love you” sign in sign language. It becomes a great code for when they are in a sports or art class and you can send it to them from across the room. I also do it with my kids in the rear view mirror when we’re in the van. They love it!
48. Call a friend and say that you are going to pick her/him up and you have two hours to do whatever she/he needs.
49. Make a time capsule of your relationship.
50. Carve your initials and theirs into a tree.
51. Get the kids babysat out of the house and surprise your husband when he gets home by answering the door in an apron.
52. Call your in-laws to let them know what a good job they did raising your spouse.
53. Cut sandwiches into hearts.
54. Call a radio station to dedicate a song to someone you love.
55. Tape papers to your kids’ backs. Write one thing you appreciate about each of them on their paper and have them do the same for each other.
56. Put a note in their shoe.
57. Leave a treat under their pillow.
58. Create a special CD or playlist of songs for your friend or spouse.
59. Choose one member of your family to honour for a day. Have everyone share the things they appreciate about that person and give them the royal treatment all day.
60. Buy heart stickers at the dollar store and put them on your kids’ or nieces and nephews’ faces just to be silly and remind them they are loved.
61. Hang your kids’ drawings or certificates of accomplishment in a prominent place so they can see your pride in their achievements.
62. Let them help you.
63. Write a message on the toilet paper on the layer underneath what is showing to surprise the next person to use it.
64. The next time your child needs a bandaid, take a permanent marker and draw a heart on it.
65. Say yes. “Yes, I’ll colour with you.” “Yes, I’ll make you hot chocolate right now.” “Yes, we can play a game.” “Yes, we can stop at the playground.”
66. Go outside to wave good-bye, make silly faces, blow kisses, jump up and down…
67. Make a list of the things you know to be the most important to that person and put it somewhere you will see it to help you remember to prioritize those things.
68. Ask for help. Letting others help you shows that you trust them enough to rely on them.
69. Create a special tradition for just the two of you to share.
70. Keep your promises.
71. Make a slideshow or short movie to express your love.
72. Don’t wait to tell someone that they have impacted your life. We are not guaranteed tomorrow and living a life without regrets means telling people that you love them TODAY!
Join us this month as I share ways to help you move towards the life you want to live. Join me in the challenge. Ready to jump off the cliff?
These are great! I’m going to use some of these for sure!