There are some things that a person picks up through experiences, and there are some things that stay with them throughout their lives. These values and characteristics that define a person, should be shaped in such a way, that attracts a positive force towards them. I am going to list down a few such traits that helped me through life, which you should consider adopting yourself.

Multilingualism

As a standing rule, a person should know at least 3 languages as a Bharatiya: Hindi, English and the mother tongue. Mother tongue is unique to the person’s birth place and the family’s background. After you learn these languages, there is a great chance you can interact with any person across the country. However, every state in this country, has a different language which is spoken at large. Hence, if you plan to travel to a different place, it’s a good idea to learn at least one of the many languages that are spoken natively. This practice entails many positive implications, such as:

• Respect: When you greet someone and converse with someone in their native language graciously, they tend to take it positively. Naturally, they will ask you if you are a native, so be prepared to answer the same too. As long as you are honest and gracious about your intentions, there is no reason for the other person to feel anything but good. In the process, you also develop some sense of respect for the culture and humbles you as a person.
• Politeness: Natively, a lot of regular expressions have a sense of politeness in them. It might be associated with how it is spoken as well. For instance, in Tamil, you would say Vanakkam ( வணக்கம் ), which is equivalent to saying Namaskar in Hindi / Sanskrit ( नमस्कार / नमस्कारः ), however, in Tamil it is a much more formal and polite way of saying so, which has certain spiritual significance associated to it. Similarly, in Mandarin, when you try to say “you” in order to address the second person, you can either say Nǐ ( 你 ) or Nín ( 您 ). However, Nín is considered to be more polite and usually said to an elder or someone respectable.
• Status: Naturally, if you are somewhat comfortable with the language, you will be able to negotiate and / or engage in socially stimulating conversations which can create an image related to status in the sub conscious of the native person. It comes extremely useful when travelling on a budget, ordering food, looking for addresses and other such activities.

Practice gratitude

It goes without saying that expressing gratitude is important because it makes you more polite, and politeness can impact how people perceive you and favour you. Keeping in mind that linguistics can play a vital role in this, one should practice expressing gratitude in the native language of the speaker, and doing so whenever they assist you with anything. For example, if you make an enquiry, if you ask for some help, if someone helps you out of their free will or is serving you as part of their job, you should always say thank you, preferably in the native language, but if you are unsure, just say it in English.

Stay active and aware

Staying aware of your surroundings is important. It helps one to act on their feet given any situation. A lot of people spend their time in a virtual world, either in a phone, or a book, or whatever takes them away from reality. Given the fact that the world has gone to absolute trash, nobody can blame them either. However, it should never be an excuse for one to not be aware of what’s going around them. It should never be the case when a person who is in need of assistance is not provided any just because people can’t get their head out of a screen. Therefore, be active about helping people, or doing things that might help someone. It is very much possible that whatever you do, could possibly stay with the other person for a long time, or even save their life.