When you care about someone, it’s natural to want to help them feel their best. Your friends, family, coworkers, and other connections make up your supportive social network. There are many ways to make anyone’s life seem a little bit nicer. One simple act can turn around a bad day, or make a special event feel even better.
How Do People Like To Give, and Receive, Love?
The idea behind love languages is that everyone prefers to receive and show affection in one of five ways. A person’s love language is how they show people that they care, and it’s also how people try to interpret other people’s actions. Belonging to one love language doesn’t mean you can’t give or accept affection in other ways. Your love language is simply your default, and how it’s easiest for you to approach relationships.
How To Randomly Brighten Someone’s Day
To find out the perfect way to brighten someone’s day, think about habits and trends that show up in your relationship with them. The coworker who always offers to buy your morning coffee may have gifts as their love language. A family member who clears the table after every holiday meal might feel drawn to acts of service. And if you leave sweet notes for your loved ones to discover throughout their day, that sounds like words of affirmation.
Once you learn what someone appreciates, you can uncover subtle ways they show your appreciation. Here are some easy, thoughtful ways to brighten someone’s day and show you care.
#1. Share Coffee Or A Meal
One of the easiest ways to brighten someone’s day can be as simple as a cup of coffee! By indulging in delicious flavors of food or drinks, you’re creating a moment during an experience that brings you closer together. Picking up dinner or grabbing them coffee shows that you thought of them in that moment and is a great way to instantly boost someone’s mood.
For something a bit more interactive, consider getting in the kitchen and making the food together before eating or drinking to amplify the bonding experience. And if you’re going out, make the time to talk over appetizers, entrees, and dessert.
#2. Spend Time Together In Nature
Getting a breath of fresh air not only can make someone’s day: it can also brighten your mood as well! Ask a friend or a loved one to ride a tandem bicycle, go canoeing, or head over to any one of Michigan’s beautiful beaches. Take the time to focus on the journey and experience of spending time with your person, as opposed to the exact outdoor activity or destination.
Breathing fresh air also raises levels of oxygen that in turn boosts the levels of serotonin in your brain which will help the two of you feel more energized.
#3. Reach Out With A Personal Conversation
Reaching out to spend private time with someone to discuss something personal can really make an impact on their day. Just being there to recognize their contributions to the conversation and thank them for their interesting thoughts. When reaching out to have a personal conversation with someone make plans ahead of time and block off the time on both of your calendars. This will allow the two of you to stay completely focused on connecting without any distractions or interruptions.
After your talk, text or email with a summary of your discussion and what you took away from the conversation. This shows you were present in the conversation and you were practicing active listening to your specific person.
#4. Relive Happy Memories
One of the best ways to brighten someone’s day is to relive shared positive memories from the past. You can do this by looking through old pictures or social media posts together and tell them how much the experience means to you and how glad you are to have shared it. Try recreating the physical experience as much as possible by visiting the site of a successful work project together.
Framing an old picture is also a reminder of this happy time together and makes for an unforgettable and unexpected gift.
#5. Learn A New Skill Together
A unique way to brighten someone’s day is to surprise them with a way to learn a new shared skill together! These shared skills can be taught with hands-on training in workshops, tutorials, classes and more. Listen to a motivational speaker in person or online and brainstorm together how to apply the ideas to your own lives.
Consider taking a local cooking or art class either in person or online and watch your relationship grow as you both attain new skills. You can typically find these classes on social media or through local colleges or community centers.
