Earlier this week I posted about feeling unappreciated and unacknowledged. Well, the Universe heard me–or everyone in the world is reading my blog.

I received two wonderful e-mails thanking me for Valentine’s cards, a thank you note from a friend “For listening,” a phone call from someone to say they missed me, and my hubby came through with cards and roses on Valentine’s Day. Not to mention Dawn’s comment on that post, which started the whole thing off.

The bottom line? It pays to ask for what you want. Sometimes you get it. And not necessarily in the way you expect.

I like to give. I give my time, my home, my cooking, stuff. It’s my “love language.” So when I don’t “get” back, I feel a teeny bit unloved. Unappreciated. Unnoticed. And I’ve been feeling a lot of that lately.

It’s not that I develop relationships in order to “get” from others. In fact, I tend to give–and give too much. But lately I’ve started to feel as though I give and give and give and never get anything in return.

What’s really interesting, though, is that I don’t feel that way when I coach, and it has nothing to do with getting paid. My clients pay me back with trust. They share their journeys with me, and invite me along their path of self-discovery. They give me the gift of themselves–and I need nothing more. Yet they give me more, when they consider my ideas, say “thank you,” tell me something worked. Or didn’t. I think I value that as much as anything–because if they trust me enough to say “you’re wrong,” that’s a gift.

So why am I not just as satisfied with what I get back from my other relationships? Perhaps it’s because those relationships are based more upon doing than being. Perhaps it’s because our roles are less defined. I don’t know.

But I know I love coaching. And my clients. Which is why I’m so picky about who I invite into my practice. And why I love my practice so very, very much.