22 Days of Gratitude

This month on my Facebook Page, readers are joining me in expressing gratitude each day from November 1st – Thanksgiving (in the US, November 22nd.) I’ve blogged elsewhere about The True Meaning of Appreciation, but I wanted to touch on it here too. To appreciate something, we don’t just notice it and add it our list of “things I’m thankful for.” Rather, we notice the thing, and then we take some time to bask in it. We spend a few moments truly relishing this person, place or thing. True appreciation means “to increase in value.” When you take time to look at the beauty around you and soak it in, to really taste the food you’re eating, one delicious bite at a time, to honestly listen to the person you’re with and think about what he’s saying, you are increasing the value of each of these things in your own mind and heart. The more we appreciate the things around us, the more we attract things to us that we will appreciate even more.

You cannot improve your life by looking at everything you do not like, and taking notes of what could be better. Criticizing everything about your home, your job, your friends, your relatives, the meal you just ate or the movie you just saw might seem like a fun pastime, but when you do it, you’re inviting more things with the same qualities that you’re griping about. And trust me, they’ll come to you.