Going Beyond Gratitude
62If you have spent any time at all on personal development or self-improvement, you have no doubt heard of the importance of gratitude.
Gratitude improves our self-esteem. It raises our vibrational level and assists us in attracting good things. Without gratitude, we cannot expect to receive the abundance we want in our lives.
But while practicing gratitude is necessary and good for you, it is not the be-all and end-all. There is another step beyond simple gratitude that you need to master.
It is called appreciation. Appreciation begins where gratitude leaves off.
With gratitude, you are aware of the good things in your life and you acknowledge that you are grateful that you have them.
Appreciation goes a step further. With appreciation, you actively seek out things to appreciate, even when they may seem difficult to find. You learn to appreciate things that, at first glance, don’t seem to contain anything to be grateful for.
For example:
You have gone to the DMV to renew your driver’s license. The room is full and your expected wait time is over an hour. Your first instinct may be to resent the time you feel is being wasted.
When you practice appreciation, you can find several things in this situation to appreciate. This situation gives you time to stop and think. You can appreciate the fact that you are sitting in a chair and don’t have to spend your wait standing. You can appreciate the fact that you are inside instead of outside in the weather. You can appreciate the fact that you are eligible to receive a license to drive.
I’m sure that with a little effort you could find many more things to appreciate, but you get the picture. No matter how bad or uncomfortable the situation, there is something about it to appreciate. You simply have to actively look for it.
Once you have learned this, you can apply it to any situation, any circumstance. You can make it into a game and try to see how many things you can appreciate at any given time.
But don’t be phony. It doesn’t work if you don’t really feel the appreciation.
Now get out there and appreciate!
