When was the last time someone really deeply saw you and then acknowledged in words, your gifts, your brilliance, your beauty, your most profound nature?
Even as I say that, I feel my feminine heart softening.
I’ve learned from many teachers that deep acknowledgement is one of the most profound needs we have for intimacy. Intimacy in relationship, intimacy in partnership, intimacy in collaboration. We all long to be deeply seen and acknowledged.
There are different love languages of course.
I love words of affirmation. I love touch. Others love gifts or quality time or acts of service.
But underneath all of our love languages is this foundational need to be appreciated, to be seen, to be contacted.
This is a very deep need we all have for authentic acknowledgement.
These days there are so many messages, so much information as we’re scrolling, as we’re reading, as we’re ingesting so much information.
We’re looking for connection. We’re aching for intimacy, but what we’re getting is little hits of dopamine that keep us looking for more little hits of dopamine.
This leaves us feeling empty.
What is it that deeply fills us? Profound, authentic acknowledgement, the deep mirror of someone seeing us, knowing us, and appreciating us.
There’s an art to giving deep acknowledgement to people. I learned this in a workshop with the Cafe Gratitude team, I think about 10 years ago. They actually practised in their business the art of deep acknowledgement. They taught their employees to acknowledge each other, which I thought was so brilliant. And what I learned there is the art of acknowledgement is not about flattery.
If you flatter someone for wearing a beautiful shirt, that’s nice. They know at least that you’re looking at them. But deep acknowledgement that we long for is the acknowledgement of the characteristics we embody, the acknowledgement of the deeper archetype we are, the acknowledgement of the power underneath that radiates through us in a unique way.
So in this workshop, I learned to acknowledge people for a characteristic that they embody to me. So I might acknowledge someone for their courage. That’s a characteristic, that’s a strength that I might find in anyone, but in this moment, I’m acknowledging it in you.
I’m acknowledging your courage, your courage to step through the challenges, to commit to what you want, to take action towards your desired goals, even though you’re scared and overwhelmed and busy. That’s courage.
And so when I acknowledge that characteristic in you, it goes deeper than just your cute blouse. And it begins to touch the humanity that we all share.
I might even acknowledge the archetype in you. So I might say, wow, your courage is amazing. That’s a characteristic. I see the warrior in you. I notice how even in the toughest times, you keep fighting. You keep striving for what you believe in. You stand as that peaceful warrior, as that warrior of righteousness and you keep at it from your dedication and your passion.
And so when I acknowledge the warrior in you, I’m actually acknowledging an archetype that lives inside of you. And this is another form of deep acknowledgement.
Doesn’t it feel good when someone genuinely sees that deeper power in you and can put words to it? You can use this gift, this art of deep acknowledgement in your relationships right now.
Daring to acknowledge in your kids not just oh you made a pretty picture but wow you’re an artist I see the artist in you. I feel the creativity in you thank you for sharing your creativity with the world.
Whoa that goes deeper with your partner not just you look pretty today but wow, I acknowledge the deep magnetic beauty of you. The ageless, timeless magnetism that you hold that draws me to you over and over again. That’s a deeper acknowledgement.
This deep acknowledgement feeds all of our personal relationships. The whole reason why I teach about the magic mirror quiz as a tool in business is so that we can create that level of deep acknowledgement, that transformative, connective, trust-building, appreciation, and dare I say it, love that we have for the people we’re here to serve.
Of course, this type of magic mirror deep acknowledgement quiz goes much deeper than a lot of the dumb, silly, playful, or very sales-oriented business quizzes that you find out there.
I’m not talking about just putting people into buckets. I’m not talking about scoring people before you even know them. I’m talking about acknowledging their deeper archetype, their deeper gifts.
And in so doing, we create real connection, even through a little automated quiz. We create profound trust. We create the kind of compassionate connection that we’re all longing for.
What thrills me about my soul gift quiz is that I get thank you notes from people all over the world consistently, saying thank you for seeing me. I’ve gotten thank you emails from teenagers in the Midwest reaching out to say, you’re the first person to really see my gifts. And I never met them. They just took my quiz.
So for me as a business owner, but a compassionate, hopefully a channel of genius, a channel of goodness, an attempt at serving the world to hear that just my little lead gen quiz is changing lives is profoundly acknowledging and satisfying. Meanwhile, lots of people who are taking my little quiz are also coming towards me to ask if we can work together.
I’m letting you know that this deep acknowledgement that you can bring into your relationships right now, please do. It’s so easy to make acknowledgements of the people around you that you care about, of not just flattery, but of the deeper characteristics and qualities and archetypes that you feel and appreciate in them.
Also, when we imbue our little marketing quiz with that level of profound acknowledgement, the business does what its soul came here to do.
If your business has a soul, which it does, let the soul of your business draw the souls that it’s here to serve. Go deeper, go deeper into acknowledgement.
And if you want to learn how to do this, I’m right here to teach you. That’s my focus this month. That’s the focus for the next couple months because this tool of this magic mirror, deep archetype quiz is the most profound tool I’ve found to cut through a marketplace that feels crazy making and impersonal and robotic
And to create profound connection even through a little quiz that opens the door and then strategized follow up that goes deeper and deeper and deeper with them, even before you ever met them.
Check it out, I wanna share this magic with you. And I hope that you begin right away sharing deep acknowledgement with the people around you. Just watch what happens to your intimacy, to your beloveds as you share. Thank you for being here.
Mellissa was a Stanford-educated business lawyer until her intuitive abilities awakened in the year 2000 with the birth of her daughter. Now she bridges the worlds of business strategy and intuitive intelligence. Creative designers, Fortune 500 executives, and thought leaders hire her to teach them how to Channel their Genius – to create on demand, to stay in their flow state, and to create lucrative businesses that follow their souls’ calling.