Gratitude is great. I thoroughly recommend it.
I live my life with an attitude of gratitude and encourage my clients to incorporate gratitude into every aspect of their life.
Gratitude gives us those feelings of contentment, a richness and deep soul reward.
All delicious and delightful feelings, but …
… as we dive deeper in our personal development, as we let go the layers of ego and expectation, as we become more and more present in the moment and conscious of our affect on the world around us we start to look outside, we start to ’see’ so much more.
We start to truly APPRECIATE the little things around us, we start to appreciate the beauty in the people in our lives, we appreciate the impact the little details have, we open our hearts even wider and all the appreciation to flow out and create connections on a level not previously available.
Short version:
Gratitude is about how YOU feel about something
Appreciation is recognising and reflecting the how you feel and the value something brings to your life
Gratitude is the emotion, appreciation is the action
What could this look like in real life?
Imagine your partner has just prepared you dinner, nothing fancy, just a regular week night dinner.
You are grateful they have thought ahead and used their time and energy to provide nourishment. You are grateful they thought about your needs and provided for you. You are grateful you have a loving caring partner.
And you say “thank you darling for cooking tonight”
Dropping into the moment a little deeper, you appreciate the care they took in selecting a meal that was calorie friendly using fresh organic ingredients. You appreciate what impact it has on their life. You appreciate the connection they are offering you through their act of love and service.
And you say “thank you darling for cooking tonight, I appreciate how tired you must be and I am so grateful for the care you took to buy fresh ingredients on the way home tonight. I love how much time and care you have put into our meal, it smells delicious”
Gratitude and appreciation in our daily practice
Journaling, affirmations, mantras, meditations, intentional language, conscious self talk etc all use language as the base of the practice.
So it’s vital we get the language right!
It’s pretty common to use gratitude and appreciation interchangeably, but for the next week or so, become conscious of your choice around these words.
Use them, in fact please use them so much everyone around you knows they are ‘word of the week’ for you, but when you use them be super conscious of your selection:
Gratitude - how you feel about something, past tense, inner work
Appreciation - recognising the value and actioning it, here and now, outer work
For example, you might be working on your money stuff. Journalling might be part of your daily practice. And today you might be releasing limiting beliefs with some forgiveness work.
It might look something like this: Thank you Mum for the lessons in frugality.
I am GRATEFUL for the lessons you showed me, I know you were doing what you thought was right based on your life experiences.
I am GRATEFUL you loved me and wanted me to be a good wife and mother. I am GRATEFUL you gave me the skills to live on a tight budget and still feed my children.
Please forgive me for choosing a new way of looking at money. Please forgive me for choosing a wealthy pathway. Please forgive me for not continuing the ‘money is evil’ cycle. Please forgive me for stepping away from your beliefs and behaviours.
I forgive myself for not making better financial choices. I forgive myself to learning ‘I’m not worth it’. I forgive myself for continuing the poverty cycle. I forgive myself for not knowing better. I forgive myself for taking so long to make better choices.
I APPRECIATE the value money brings to my life. I APPRECIATE the freedom money provides me. I APPRECIATE living a wealthy life.
I am worth it. I am worth spending money on. I am ready to receive abundantly. I am ready to live my first class life.
I am sorry Mum for not following your poverty mindset, please forgive me for breaking the cycle as I step into abundance. Thank you for all you have given me. I love you.
Did you notice the past tense emotions of the gratitude, and the present focus, the manifesting emphasis of the appreciation?
How could you bring more gratitude and appreciation practice into your day? How could adjusting the nuances impact your outcomes?
Appreciation the hell out of it. Literally.
Take a moment to consider a big theme in your life - what would happen if you took another look and allowed yourself to be GRATEFUL for the challenges it presented you with. For example: your job sucks and you have a nasty boss.
Sit with the GRATITUDE for a few minutes, maybe even write a list of how grateful you are.
Now dive a bit deeper.
Take a look at that list.
Can you see the true value of what each item means? What positive impact does that make on your world? How could you express that?
Continue sitting with these thoughts of APPRECIATION and start to craft some language around exactly what and how you appreciate the value and positive impact. Distill this down to a short phrase, three or four words that sums up your appreciation of this theme.
Write it down.
Write it on your mirror.
Set it as a reminder.
Say it out loud to whoever and whatever needs to hear it, as often as possible.
If we take the crap job & nasty boss scenario and wash it in APPRECIATION, it could look something like this:
I am grateful to have a job that keeps a roof over my head so I feel safe. I am grateful to have a boss that creates opportunities feel all of my emotions, often in one day. I am grateful to have a job with a great team where I feel accepted and respected.
I appreciate the freedom and security. I appreciate having a job that is meaningful to the community. I appreciate my job allows my boss and the team to excel in their roles. I appreciate the significance my job provides me.
“I appreciate the financial freedom and the difference I am making in my community” - that feels a whole lot better than: “why do I have to do turn up and put up with this shit everyday?”
Now it’s your turn - what could this look like in your life?
A client favourite technique is the ‘Gratitude Walk’, this is a deceptively simple but surprisingly challenge technique
The short version of the Gratitude Walk: take yourself fir a walk and reflect on all the things your are grateful for in your life. Starting with yourself, moving out to the next circle of family and friends (village), then take that out to the macro circle of society and the world around you. Advanced level: say it out loud.
Now let’s rinse the Gratitude Walk in Appreciation, let’s turn that dial up and experience the full impact of our wonderful lives.
Take yourself for a walk, following the same process as before (Self, Village, Society) express something you are grateful for then dive deeper and find 3 elements to truly appreciate.
How does that feel? What else can you do with this? How could you amplify or extend that awareness?
I would love to hear what difference this exercise makes in your life - drop me a line or DM me (Facebook or Insta).
Linda x
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