As summer brings fun vacations and distractions like the FIFA World Cup, it's a time to review our annual goals to make adjustments for more success to come. When you're going a million miles an hour during normal times, slowing down or having distractions of summer fun can make one anxious.
Then, I saw this message from Esther Hicks, motivational speaker and author, about embracing appreciation: "Let your dominant intent be to feel good which means be playful, have fun, laugh often, look for reasons to appreciate and practice the art of appreciation. And as you practice it, the Universe, who has been watching you practice, will give you constant opportunities to express it. So that your life just gets better and better and better."*
The difference between appreciation and gratitude is that gratitude is more of overcoming a struggle and feeling grateful. While appreciation, according to Hicks, is being “pure, unconditional alignment that accelerates your manifestation of desires”.
Try This: Practice the Art of Appreciation
It really gave me pause to consider how appreciating more of the good things in my life will make my life better. So here are a few things to encourage you this week:
- Make a list of 2-3 things each day that you love and feel good about. Start a dedicated journal where you write only about what you genuinely love and appreciate.
- After morning coffee or during a break, write yourself a handwritten note about something that makes you feel good right now. Keep the notes in a folder or box on your desk to access when you need to raise your energy baseline.
- Take five minutes after waking up to notice and savor your surroundings. Before looking at your phone or getting distracted by daily pressures, review your list of things you love either by memory or grabbing your journal.
What I enjoyed about practicing appreciation is reaching for thoughts that help you feel better. While gratitude is another important tool, it focuses on being thankful versus appreciation recognizes quality, value or significance of people and things. These both are great tools, but I had not realized the value of simply appreciating others and things in my life!
* Esther Hicks: https://abraham-hicks.com/