Fun Ways to Practice Appreciation

Gratitude is the cozy feeling we get inside that lifts our energy when we think about all the goodness we have. If I can connect to the feeling of Gratitude in a stressful place it feels like I've put up a barrier around me that doesn't let any of the bad juju of the outside come to get me. 

A sense of gratitude acts like an energy force field around me!

Gratitude is the feeling. When we share our gratitude with someone else, we show appreciation. If you're like me, you probably used those words interchangeably for years. The Grammar Queen in me loves that I learned something new!

Gratitude = feeling. 

Appreciation = sharing gratitude feeling with someone else

By my calculation, appreciation triples the goodness of gratitude. Before you show appreciation you had a moment of gratitude (#1). And you felt so good in that moment, you thought "I need to share this!" You seek out your friend in some way and you get another burst of gratitude joy (#2) while you give them the same feeling (#3). 

I believe that appreciation, like gratitude, is a habit that we would all be served to start! So how might I get into the habit? Mix together something I enjoy with the habit of appreciation!

I love pretty art and, as a Coach, I like uplifting statements too. I looked on etsy and recalled an artist I had purchased cards from before - Lori Portka. She has bright colored art with lovely statements on them. Even the ones without words express a lot of emotion to me.  She has a pillow that I'd been eyeing for my friend Josie in El Paso. (Josie now has said pillow!)

She also has a month of gratitude cards--a bundle of 30 large postcards with one of her pieces of art on each. Perfect!

I bought two sets - one for me and one for a friend. I'm not sure how much gratitude multipliers that adds up to but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in the quadrillions. :)

But I didn't stop with just buying the cards. 

I did a little self-coaching.

What else do I need to make me follow through?

Stamps! I went out to usps.gov and bought some pretty garden stamps. I also bought stamps for the friend who will get the other pack to help her follow through too.

Where will I do this? 

For me, my desk is the obvious choice. I'm at it every day of the week.

When will I start?

I'm going to start the day my holiday vacation starts. I have a really busy week before it so I want to set myself up for some success.

Speaking of success...how will I measure success?

It would be great to do one per day. If I get 30 cards sent out by Valentine's Day I'll consider that a success. Some days I might miss writing the card. Something will probably pop up that throws off my routine. I don't feel like I have to get this done in 30 days to have an impact on me so there's no use putting pressure on myself. I tend to feel shame much too easily already!

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If cards aren't your thing, maybe you make personalized memes and send to one person a day to tell them what you appreciate about them! 

Maybe it's just a text saying "I was thinking about you today and just want to tell you how happy I am that you're my friend." or "Thank U 4 being my ride or die."

Or gasp! a phone call. (Be prepared for the person to answer as though they're picking up a street corner payphone that was ringing as they walked by. People are not used to ringing phones anymore!)

I'm going to leave you with this little mind-blowing thought.

You don't even have to LIKE someone to appreciate them. 

Sending you Love & Magic in bucket loads,

Marjorie